Effect of land-use intensity on surface temperature: A study on Chittagong city corporation area

Heat and temperature is on the news of the air in the today's world. High temperatures in urban areas have a direct impact on human health and are associated with heat related problems and excess summer deaths. This study is carried out to know the trend of land surface temperature and assess the impact of land use intensity on temperature in the Chittagong City Corporation Area, Bangladesh. A general linear model was used to estimate surface temperatures using Landsat TM, ETM+ and OLI_TIRS are used in the year 1991, 2003 and 2015 the months of May. Land use and its environmental effects can be quantitatively defined by land-use intensity. In this study, land-use intensity metric was improved using a geographic mapping method. The results revealed the temperature increased when the land-use intensity increased via a hierarchical transition owing to forest land reductions of 26.25%, respectively; built-up land increased by 48.45%. The temperature increase was driven more by the external environmental degrades than by land use intensity changes. The temperature response to land-use intensity changes was more sensitive in low altitude areas than in high altitude areas.