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Abstract
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Article Information:
Mapping Land Surface Temperature and Land Cover to Detect Urban Heat Island Effect: A Case Study of Tarkwa, South West Ghana
Michael Soakodan Aduah, Saviour Mantey and Naa Dedei Tagoe
Corresponding Author: Michael Soakodan Aduah
Submitted: 2011 August, 15
Accepted: 2011 October, 07
Published: 2012 January, 01 |
Abstract:
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Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect controls internal climates of buildings and affects energy use and
comfort of urban dwellers. The objective of this study was to detect UHI from Land Surface Temperature (LST)
and to investigate whether land cover has any influence on UHI in Tarkwa, South West Ghana using satellite
remote sensing techniques. A Landsat 7 ETM+ image, DEM and meteorological data were used to generate
a land cover map with the maximum likelihood classification algorithm whiles LST was modeled with the
Landsat Plank’s curve. Validation of the LST map was achieved by comparing it with air temperature measured
at the UMaT meteorological station. The mean modeled LST of 298.60 Kelvin compared well with the mean
observed air temperature of 298.30 Kelvin. Furthermore, LST ranged between 289 and 305 Kelvin while urban
areas and bare soils had higher LSTs than vegetated areas implying that higher NDVI areas are associated with
lower temperatures. Hence, LST maps produced indicated the existence of UHI effect in the Tarkwa area. From
the study it is evident that impervious and non-evaporative surfaces have high LSTs due to absence of
vegetation. Therefore, uncontrolled land cover changes may intensify the UHI effect. The study has proven that
remote sensing can be used in operational mapping of LST for climate studies, vegetation monitoring and
detecting UHIs in the humid regions of Ghana. This confirms the important role Earth observation and geoinformation
technology can play in environmental monitoring and management as global climate and land cover
changes.
Key words: Geo-information, land cover, landsat, LST, remote sensing, urban heat island,
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Cite this Reference:
Michael Soakodan Aduah, Saviour Mantey and Naa Dedei Tagoe, . Mapping Land Surface Temperature and Land Cover to Detect Urban Heat Island Effect: A Case Study of Tarkwa, South West Ghana. Research Journal of Environmental and Earth Sciences, (01): 68-75.
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ISSN (Online): 2041-0492
ISSN (Print): 2041-0484 |
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