Evaluating the Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Land Surface Temperature in Relation to the Land Use/Land Cover changes in Nag-Hammadi District, Egypt, using Remote Sensing and GIS

Abstract

In this study, three multi-temporal remotely sensed data acquired from Landsat-5 Thematic Mapper (TM) and Landsat -8 Operational Land Imager/Thermal Infrared Sensor (OLI/TIRS) in 1990, 2005, and 2020 were used. The maximum likelihood classifier (MLC) was opted to classify land use and land cover (LULC). Land surface temperature (LST) and LULC spectral indices i.e., Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Normalized Difference Built-up Index (NDBI), Normalized Difference Latent Heat Index (NDLI) and Bare Soil Index (BSI) have been computed and their relationships were examined. The overall accuracy of LULC was more than 93%. The analyses showed a notable transformation in LULC over the study period. For instance, built-up areas increased 103.7% with a rate of 45.5 ha/year and agriculture land increased by 28.9% with a rate of 186.4 ha/year. Whereas, bare soil was sharply decreased by 36.4% at a rate of 227.7ha/year. The minimum and maximum LST values increased by 2.9°C and 4.9°C, respectively, from 1990 to 2020. Furthermore, LST has a negative relationship with NDVI and NDLI (NDVI: 1990: r2 = 0.62; 2005: r2 = 0.62; 2020: r2 = 0.65. NDLI: 1990: r2 = 0.79; 2005: r2 = 0.78; 2020: r2 = 0.61) and a positive relationship with NDBI and BSI (NDBI: 1990: r2 = 0.68; 2005: r2 = 0.73; 2020: r2 = 0.44. BSI: 1990: r2 = 0.77; 2005: r2 = 0.78; 2020: r2 = 0.53). These results provided useful information about LULC changes and its impact on LST, which are necessary for experts and land-use planners to formulate sustainable LST mitigation policies, create an environmental comfort in Nag-Hammadi district, and other geographical locations with similar conditions.