Analysis of the Relationship between Urban Land Use and Urban Heat Island using RS Methods

Remote sensing has considerable potential for providing accurate, up-to-date information in urban areas. Urban remote sensing is complicated, however, by very high spectral and spatial complexity. In this paper, beside traditional per-pixel method (annual NDVI change detection using Landsat TM images), Normalized Endmember Spectral Mixture Analysis (NSMA) was applied to map urban land cover. The TM images were acquired over the city of Szeged, Hungary in 1986 and 2009. The urban land use categories were classified according to the standard deviation (SD) of NDVI values of 8 TM images in 1986. Significant linear connection was calculated between the SD values and the sub-pixel rate of impervious surfaces. Impervious surface, one of the most important elements of the VIS model, has been recognized as a key indicator in assessing of the change of the urban environment in the last 25 years in the city. Fractional images of impervious surfaces developed from LTM images acquired in 1986 and 2009 were compared with each other and with the SD image of NDVI values. The spatial statistical analysis of internal land use change was developed on the the traditional urban zones.

Later, the urban land cover map was the main database for the estimation of spatial distribution of urban heat island. The result of the geostatistical analysis demonstrated a very strong connection between urban land cover classes and spatial characteristics of urban heat island.