Effect of Land Use/Cover Changes on Urban Cool Island Phenomenon in Seville, Spain

Eulalia Jadraque Gago, Saioa Etxebarria Berrizbeitia, Rosalía Pacheco Torres and Tariq Muneer
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Eulalia Jadraque Gago: School of Civil Engineering, University of Granada, 18071 Granada, Spain
Saioa Etxebarria Berrizbeitia: Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of the Basque Country, 01006 Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain
Rosalía Pacheco Torres: High School of Civil Engineering, Technical University of Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain
Tariq Muneer: School of Engineering and the Built Environment, Edinburgh Napier University, Edinburgh EH10 5DT, UK

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 12, 1-22

Abstract: This paper analyses Seville’s surface urban heat island (SUHI) phenomenon, comparing spatial and temporal patterns of land surface temperature (LST) during July 1987, 2000 and 2017. Landsat data captured throughout three July months were analyzed for the different years, techniques of geographic information systems, ecological variables and geospatial approaches and used to carry out the analysis. The results indicate that from 1987 to 2017, the averaged LST has increased by 9.1 °C in the studied area. The urban areas are colder than their surroundings, suggesting the role of baresoil and cultivated land in the reversal of the SUHI phenomenon. The results show that a fraction of green space has a high unstandardized coefficient (β) through the three time periods. A decreasing trend is also observed in the standardized β “fraction of impervious surface” in the three time periods. The linear regression analysis shows a negative relationship of mean LST with impervious surface fraction due to the presence of shadows projected by buildings, and a positive relationship with green space fraction caused by the influence of baresoil and cultivated land that inverts the LST behavior pattern. The study concludes that there is a need to implement SUHI mitigation strategies during the initial phases of engineering projects where the origin of this problem can be acted upon, since the process of creating streets and public space offers a valuable opportunity to restore the environmental quality and diminish the effects generated by climate change.

Keywords: urban heat island; land surface temperature; impervious surface; greenspace; baresoil and cultivated; land use/land cover; remote sensing; Seville City (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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