Impact of COVID-19 Lockdown on Vegetation Indices and Heat Island Effect: A Remote Sensing Study of Dhaka City, Bangladesh

Mizbah Ahmed Sresto, Md. Manjur Morshed, Sharmin Siddika, Hussein Almohamad, Motrih Al-Mutiry and Hazem Ghassan Abdo
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Mizbah Ahmed Sresto: Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Khulna University of Engineering and Technology, Khulna 9203, Bangladesh
Md. Manjur Morshed: Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Khulna University of Engineering and Technology, Khulna 9203, Bangladesh
Sharmin Siddika: Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Khulna University of Engineering and Technology, Khulna 9203, Bangladesh
Hussein Almohamad: Department of Geography, College of Arabic Language and Social Studies, Qassim University, Buraydah 51452, Saudi Arabia
Motrih Al-Mutiry: Department of Geography, College of Arts, Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, Riyadh 11671, Saudi Arabia
Hazem Ghassan Abdo: Geography Department, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, University of Tartous, Tartous 2147, Syria

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 13, 1-23

Abstract: It is predicted that the COVID-19 lockdown decreased environmental pollutants and, hence, urban heat island. Using the hypothesis as a guide, the objective of this research is to observe the change in vegetation pattern and heat-island effect zones in Dhaka, Bangladesh, before and after COVID-19 lockdown in relation to different forms of land use and land cover. Landsat-8 images were gathered to determine the vegetation pattern and the heat island zones. The normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and the modified soil-adjusted vegetation index (MSAVI12) were derived for analyzing the vegetation pattern. According to the results of the NDVI, after one month of lockdown, the health of the vegetation improved. In the context of the MSAVI12, the highest MSAVI12 coverages in March of 2019, 2020, and 2021 (0.45 to 0.70) were 22.15%, 21.8%, and 20.4%, respectively. In May 2019, 2020, and 2021, dense MSAVI12 values accounted for 23.8%, 25.5%, and 18.4%, respectively. At the beginning of lockdown, the calculated LST for March 2020 was higher than March 2019 and March 2021. However, after more than a month of lockdown, the LST reduced (in May 2020). After the lockdown in May 2020, the highest UHI values ranging from 3.80 to 5.00 covered smaller land-cover regions and reduced from 22.5% to 19.13%. After the end of the lockdown period, however, industries, markets, and transportation resumed, resulting in the expansion of heat island zones. In conclusion, strong negative correlations were observed between the LST and vegetation indices. The methodology of this research has potential for scholarly and practical implications. Secondly, urban policymakers can use the methodology of this paper for the low-cost monitoring of urban heat island zones, and thus take appropriate spatial counter measures.

Keywords: COVID-19; urban heat island; vegetation indices; land use; land cover (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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