Assessing Long-Term Thermal Environment Change with Landsat Time-Series Data in a Rapidly Urbanizing City in China

Conghong Huang, Yan Tang, Yiyang Wu, Yu Tao, Muwu Xu, Nan Xu, Mingze Li, Xiaodan Liu, Henghui Xi and Weixin Ou ()
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Conghong Huang: College of Land Management, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China
Yan Tang: College of Land Management, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China
Yiyang Wu: College of Land Management, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China
Yu Tao: College of Land Management, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China
Muwu Xu: Department of Epidemiology and Environmental Health, School of Public Health and Health Professions, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY 14214, USA
Nan Xu: School of Geography and Remote Sensing, Hohai University, Nanjing 210098, China
Mingze Li: College of Horticulture, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China
Xiaodan Liu: College of Land Management, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China
Henghui Xi: College of Land Management, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China
Weixin Ou: College of Land Management, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China

Land, 2024, vol. 13, issue 2, 1-15

Abstract: The studies of urban heat islands or urban thermal environments have attracted extensive attention, although there is still a lack of research focused on the analysis of long-term urban thermal environment change with fine spatial resolution and actual exposure of urban residents. Taking the rapidly urbanizing city of Nanjing, China as an example, this study utilizes the Landsat-derived daytime time-series land surface temperature data to comprehensively assess the city’s long-term (30-year) urban thermal environment change. The results showed that: (1) The overall surface urban heat island intensity showed a noticeable trend of first increasing and then decreasing from 1990 to 2020. (2) It exhibited the detailed spatial distribution of urban heat/cold islands within the urban center boundary. The percentage of surface urban heat islands was 77.01% in 1990, and it increased to 85.79% in 2010 and then decreased to 80.53% in 2020. (3) More than 65% of the urban residents have lived in areas with a surface urban heat island intensity greater than 3.0 °C, which also showed a trend of first increasing and then decreasing from 1990 to 2020. The methods and findings of this study can provide a reference for other studies on urban thermal environment changes and urban sustainable development.

Keywords: urban thermal environment; urban heat island; long-term change; Landsat; heat island exposure (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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