Exploring the relationship between land surface temperature and vegetation abundance for urban heat island mitigation in Seville, Spain
Exploring the relationship between urban heat island conditions and vegetation abundance
Author
Summary, in English
Popular summary
The environmental and social consequences of predicted climate change are expected to be amplified in urban environments due to their elevated temperatures, which are attributable to a phenomenon known as the Urban Heat Island. As most types of vegetation can provide for cooler air temperatures due to their natural cooling effect, increasing amounts of vegetation in urban areas might prove to be a highly effective solution for reducing Urban Heat Island intensity, thereby mitigating some of the worst effects of predicted climate change. This thesis employed remote sensing and geographic information systems to explore the relationship between Urban Heat Island conditions and vegetation abundance based on land-use type in Seville, Spain. The findings showed that within the city of Seville, an increase in vegetation abundance would generally reduce Urban Heat Island intensity. However, this relationship demonstrated that there are distinct differences depending on land-use type. This indicates that increasing the amount of vegetation, with the goal of decreasing Urban Heat Island intensity, may be more effective within certain land-use types than in others. The study therefore illuminated which types of actions would be most conducive to mitigating Seville’s Urban Heat Island.
The environmental and social consequences of predicted climate change are expected to be amplified in urban environments due to their elevated temperatures, which are attributable to a phenomenon known as the Urban Heat Island. As most types of vegetation can provide for cooler air temperatures due to their natural cooling effect, increasing amounts of vegetation in urban areas might prove to be a highly effective solution for reducing Urban Heat Island intensity, thereby mitigating some of the worst effects of predicted climate change. This thesis employed remote sensing and geographic information systems to explore the relationship between Urban Heat Island conditions and vegetation abundance based on land-use type in Seville, Spain. The findings showed that within the city of Seville, an increase in vegetation abundance would generally reduce Urban Heat Island intensity. However, this relationship demonstrated that there are distinct differences depending on land-use type. This indicates that increasing the amount of vegetation, with the goal of decreasing Urban Heat Island intensity, may be more effective within certain land-use types than in others. The study therefore illuminated which types of actions would be most conducive to mitigating Seville’s Urban Heat Island.
Department/s
Publishing year
2012
Language
English
Publication/Series
LUMA-GIS Thesis
Full text
Document type
Student publication for Master's degree (two years)
Topic
- Earth and Environmental Sciences
Keywords
- physical geography and ecosystem analysis
- Urban Heat Island
- land surface temperature
- normalized difference vegetation index
- land-use/land-cover
- climate change
Report number
15
Supervisor
- Ulrik Mårtensson (lecturer)