Southern California land surface temperature differences under different landscape composition

In the last decade, due to prolonged and persisting drought conditions, California initially restricted water for outdoor landscape irrigation, and subsequently offered turf removal rebates to homeowners. Nevertheless, the effects of turf removal on land surface temperature (LST) in the region have not been investigated. Temperature differences between artificial and natural turf were assessed over time across four counties in Southern California using MODIS/ASTER airborne simulator (MASTER) with a spatial resolution of 5–50 m. Moreover, airborne thermal imagery (submeter spatial resolution) was acquired over selected areas of the city of Riverside, CA, during the summers of 2018 and 2019, including neighborhoods with different income levels, and temperatures for natural turf, artificial turf, and xeriscape were recorded. Environmental and socioeconomic data were compared to the LST in different neighborhoods. Results showed that the LST difference between artificial and natural turf increases in Southern California moving from coastal region to inland. Airborne thermal imagery in Riverside confirmed that University of California artificial turf fields are irrigated during the summer to allow athletes to use the pitch. No correlation between socioeconomic factors and LST of turf and artificial turf fields (and paired differences) was found. On a city scale, natural turf lawns were consistently cooler than xeriscape and artificial turf lawns, closely mirroring mean air temperature. Socioeconomic factors do not describe LST in residential lawns, as warmest and coolest lawns regardless of vegetation are found evenly distributed among different income neighborhoods. Turfgrass removal for water conservation may have unforeseen environmental side effects.