A spatial autocorrelation approach in examining the impacts of spatial-temporal dynamics of seasonal land surface temperature and land cover changes on the urban climate of the metropolitan city of Bulawayo

Changes in land cover were analysed for seasonal (winter and summer) and spatiotemporal patterns of land surface temperature (LST) over the 1990–2023 period for the metropolitan city of Bulawayo in Zimbabwe using the Local Indices of Spatial Associations (LISA). Local Moran’s I of the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) revealed that clustered vegetation cover was beneficial in reducing the LST in both the winter and summer seasons. However, as the city got more urbanized, the spatial clustering of heavily built-up areas raised the LST, as seen by the positive relationship between Getis-Ord Gi* of built-up areas (NDBI) and LST.