Investigating the Influence of Land Cover Land Use Changes on Surface Temperature Using Modis Time Series Data

Recently, urban heat islands (UHIs) have emerged as a significant challenge for humanity due to the effects of urbanization and fast industrial growth. The primary factors contributing to UHI involve the substantial heat emitted by urban structures and human-made heat sources. These heat sources lead to an elevation in the temperature of urban areas compared to their surroundings. Various research methodologies have been used to study and analyze this effect and to correlate it to climate change. It has been found that integrating green spaces within cities would positively impact urban heat islands by lowering their land surface temperature (LST). The main objective of this study is to investigate the spatial and temporal changes in Dubai’s LST over the last twenty three years and correlate them with Land Cover Land Use (LCLU) data. The study reveals an inverse urban heat island effect in the Dubai area, wherein the summer day temperature in urban areas is lower than the surrounding regions. Conversely, winter nights exhibit higher temperatures in urban areas. Furthermore, regions experiencing significant industrial growth were identified as statistically significant using the Mann-Kendall test.