Effects of land surface temperatures on vegetation phenology along urban–rural local climate zone gradients

Context

Urbanization and local urban climate have multiple impacts on vegetation phenology in urban and suburban areas. Understanding these effects and their interactions with the surface urban heating effect remains limited.

Objective

We employed a time series of Earth observation data to analyze land surface phenology (LSP) dynamics and related environmental drivers in the highly urbanized Pearl River Delta (PRD) region.

Methods

First, local climate zone (LCZ) maps were generated from Earth observation datasets of 2000 and 2019. Second, LSP (i.e., start, end, and length of season) were extracted from vegetation indices for 2000–2019. Thirdly, land surface temperature (LST) was used as an explanatory variable based on the LCZ of cities. Finally, interannual trends of LSP and their association with LST were analyzed, depending on the distance gradient of vegetation to compact high-rise buildings.

Results

Urban surface characteristics showed that LSP in regions dominated by compact and high-rise urban areas presented significant spatiotemporal variation at the start and end of season than those dominated by open, mid-rise, and low-rise areas. The impacts of spring and autumn LST in the daytime on LSP were slightly more substantial than those in the nighttime. The association of decreasing spring LST in the daytime with a delayed start of season is especially pronounced in urban domains.

Conclusions

The results indicate that vegetated areas adjacent to urban domains presented greater spatiotemporal dynamics than suburban and rural regions. Our study emphasizes the dependence of spatiotemporal changes in vegetation phenology on the effects of urban surface warming.