GC121-0009
Rates, patterns, and driving forces of thermal environment changes in Xi’an, China

Wednesday, 16 December 2020
Poster
Rui Guo, Central South University of Forestry and Technology (CSUFT), National Engineering Laboratory for Applied Technology of Forestry & Ecology in South China, Changsha, China and Shuguang Liu, Faculty of Life Science and Technology, and National Engineering Laboratory for Applied Technology in Forestry & Ecology in Southern China, Central South University of Forestry and Technology, Changsha, China
Abstract:
Urbanization has profound impact on economic development and ecological quality. One of the serious ecological problems caused by urbanization is the change of thermal environment that directly affects the quality of environment and people’s life. In this study, the rates of change and spatial patterns of the thermal environment from 2000 to 2018 in Xi’an city was quantified and analyzed using surface urban heat island (SUHI) and land surface temperature(LST). The LST data, enhanced vegetation index (EVI) and normalized difference built-up index(NDBI) used in this study was acquired or derived from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS). We investigated the effect of landscape composition on the thermal environment using correlation analysis. Lorenz curve was used to examine the spatial heterogeneity in distribution and variation of high temperature area in Xi’an. In addition, we examined the temporal trends of LST and explored its relationship with temporal trends of EVI and NDBI. We found that: (1) SUHI increased overall from 2000 to 2018. During the daytime, the intensification of SUHI was more prominent in new urban areas while it was mainly more prominent in old urban areas during the nighttime; (2) The distribution of high temperature areas in Xi’an’s districts varied across years, with pronounced uneven distributions in 2000 and 2018, and warming and cooling spots varied greatly over the study area as well; (3) Impervious surface has large contribution on the thermal environment while ecological land plays a substantial role in mitigating SUHI, and the effect of landscape composition on thermal environment were different in daytime and nighttime. Analysis of urban thermal environment change can provide basic data and information for urban planning and nature resource management to adjust the landscape configuration to reduce adverse effect of urbanization on ecological environment.

Key Words: Urban thermal environment, spatial patterns, landscape composition, trend analysis

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