Remote sensing analysis demonstrates that urban expansion elevates surface temperature, indicating the protective role of vegetation and water bodies in sustainable city planning.
Key Points
To assess the 20-year impact of urbanization and land use and land cover dynamics on land surface temperature to support sustainable urban planning and SDG Goal 11.
Analyzed multitemporal Landsat satellite data (Landsat 5-TM and Landsat 8-OLI) for Bhopal City, India across three time points: 2000, 2010, and 2020.
Calculated remote sensing spectral indices—including NDVI, NDWI, NDMI, NDBI, NDBaI, and SAVI—to correlate specific land cover types with changes in land surface temperature.
Progressive urbanization and expansion of built-up areas over the 20-year period were directly associated with rising urban land surface temperatures.
Higher proportions of vegetation canopy and surface water bodies consistently correlated with reduced land surface temperatures across the landscape.