Trend Analysis of MODIS Land Surface Temperature and Land Cover in Central Italy

Ebrahim Ghaderpour (), Paolo Mazzanti, Francesca Bozzano and Gabriele Scarascia Mugnozza
Additional contact information
Ebrahim Ghaderpour: Department of Earth Sciences & CERI Research Centre, Sapienza University of Rome, P.le Aldo Moro, 5, 00185 Rome, Italy
Paolo Mazzanti: Department of Earth Sciences & CERI Research Centre, Sapienza University of Rome, P.le Aldo Moro, 5, 00185 Rome, Italy
Francesca Bozzano: Department of Earth Sciences & CERI Research Centre, Sapienza University of Rome, P.le Aldo Moro, 5, 00185 Rome, Italy
Gabriele Scarascia Mugnozza: Department of Earth Sciences & CERI Research Centre, Sapienza University of Rome, P.le Aldo Moro, 5, 00185 Rome, Italy

Land, 2024, vol. 13, issue 6, 1-15

Abstract: Land Surface Temperature (LST) is an important climate factor for understanding the relationship between the land surface and atmosphere. Furthermore, LST is linked to soil moisture and evapotranspiration, which can potentially alter the severity and regime of wildfires, landslide-triggering precipitation thresholds, and others. In this paper, the monthly daytime and nighttime LST products of Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) are employed for the period 2000–2023 in order to find areas that have been cooling or warming in a region of great interest in Central Italy, due to its complex geological and geomorphological settings and its recent seismic sequences and landslide events. The annual MODIS land cover images for 2001–2022 are also utilized to investigate the interconnection between LST and land cover change. The results of the non-parametric Mann–Kendall trend test and its associated Sen’s slope reveal a significant nighttime warming trend in the region, particularly in July, linked to forest and woodland expansion. Grasslands toward the coastline with low elevation (less than 500 m a.s.l.) have experienced significant heat waves during the summer, with an LST of more than 35 °C. A significant negative correlation between the elevation and LST is observed for each calendar month. In particular, the daytime and nighttime LST have more than 80% correlation with elevation during winter and summer, respectively. In addition, nighttime warming and gradual drainage are noticed in Lake Campotosto. The results of this study could be useful for wildfire and landslide susceptibility analyses and hazard management.

Keywords: Central Italy; land cover; Land Surface Temperature; MODIS; trend analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/13/6/796/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/13/6/796/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jlands:v:13:y:2024:i:6:p:796-:d:1408617

Access Statistics for this article

Land is currently edited by Ms. Carol Ma

More articles in Land from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().