Spatial Variation of Land Use/Cover Composition and Impact on Surface Urban Heat Island in a Tropical Sub-Saharan City of Accra, Ghana

Darshana Athukorala and Yuji Murayama
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Darshana Athukorala: Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1, Tennodai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8572, Japan
Yuji Murayama: Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1, Tennodai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8572, Japan

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 19, 1-20

Abstract: Rapid urbanization is one of the most crucial issues in the world of the 21st century. Notably, the urban heat island phenomenon is becoming more prominent in megacities and their hinterlands in temperate and subtropical climatic regions. In the daytime in summer, there exists a high possibility of accelerating the land surface temperature (LST) in desert cities, due to the alterations made by human beings in the natural environment. In this study, we investigate the spatial formation of LST in a tropical sub-Saharan city of Accra, a gateway to West Africa, using Landsat data in 2003 and 2017. Machine learning techniques and the different spatial and statistical methods such as tasseled cap transformation (TCT), urban-rural gradient, and multiresolution grid-based and landscape metrics were employed to examine procured land use/cover (LUC) and LST maps. LUC was classified into five categories: Built up, Green 1, Green 2, Bare land, and Water. The results of the analysis indicate that Built up, Green 2, and Bare land had caused the highest heating effect while Green 1 and Water had caused the considerable cooling effect during the daytime in Accra. The urban-rural difference in LST recorded 1.4 °C in 2003 and 0.28 °C in 2017. The mean size, mean shape, largest patch, and aggregation of Built up, Green 1, and Green 2 had a strong relationship with the mean LST. It is essential for urban planners to carefully examine the formation and effect of the urban heat island (UHI) for sustainable urban development and landscape policy toward mitigation and adaptation planning in Accra.

Keywords: urban heat island; land surface temperature; Accra; urban landscape pattern; tasseled cap transformation; sustainable cities (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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