Long Term Monitoring of Land Use – Land Cover Change and its Effect on Surface Temperature by Use of LANDSAT Images and Google Earth Engine Platform

Abstract

The harmful impacts of fast urbanization and population growth on nature are becoming more pronounced every day. Human demands are growing in tandem with population growth, and the most common solutions advocated to address these needs are agricultural development and urbanization. The increase in urban areas causes a decrease in forest and green areas that contribute to the occurrence of urban heat islands and an increase in surface temperature. This study, choosing the city of Istanbul, the largest metropolis of Europe, as the study area, investigates the land cover - land use (LCLU) changes and their effects on the surface temperature covering the years 2001, 2011, and 2020. To produce an urban heat island, LST data from Level 2 Collection 2 data of Landsat satellite images were used. The urban thermal field variance index (UTFVI) was calculated form the LST data, which can be considered as an indicator of urban heat islands (UHI). When the heat islands in urban regions were compared to those in rural areas, it was discovered that the heat islands in urban areas were much observable with higher surface temperature. When the UTFVI index maps of different years were compared, it is determined that UHI is increased about 21 percent between 2001 – and 2011 and by 5 percent between 2011 and 2020. These findings are also comparable with the increased amount of urban areas through these dates.