Urbani izziv Volume 30, No. 2, December 2019
: 105-112
(Articles)
UDK: 911.375.1(497.711)
doi: 10.5379/urbani-izziv-en-2019-30-02-004
Author
Gordana Kaplan
Eskisehir Technical University, Earth and Space Sciences Institute, Eskisehir, Turcija
kaplangorde@gmail.com
Title
Evaluating the roles of green and built-up areas
in reducing a surface urban heat island using remote sensing data
Abstract
Rapid urbanization has several negative effects on both
the environment and human health. Urbanization has
also become an important contributor to global warming.
One of these effects is the urban heat island (UHI),
which is caused by human activities and defined as the
temperature difference between urban and surrounding
rural areas. With rapid urbanization in the past few decades,
Skopje has experienced remarkable UHI effects.
To investigate the roles of built-up and green areas in a
surface UHI, this article uses satellite data from Landsat
ETM+ to analyse the land surface temperature and
high-resolution Planet Scope DOVE data to analyse
built-up and green areas. For geostatistical analyses, seventeen
randomly selected subareas in Skopje were used.
The results show a significant correlation between the
UHI and built-up areas, and strong correlation between
green areas and areas not affected by the UHI, indicating
that the UHI effect can be significantly weakened with
additional green areas. One of the significant findings in
the study is the ideal proportion of built-up (40%) and
green areas (60%), where the UHI effect is weak, or in
some cases prevented. For future studies, investigating
other factors that may contribute to the UHI phenomenon
is suggested.
Key Words
surface urban heat island, remote sensing, satellite imagery, urbanization, land surface temperature