CHANGE DETECTION OF URBAN HEAT ISLAND UNDER DIFFERENT ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS USING REMOTE SENSING TECHNIQUES

Abstract

The main purpose of this study was to study and monitor the Urban Heat Island (UHI) / Urban Cool Island (UCI) phenomenon and its adverse effects on both the local and global environment as well as to study the negative effects on human activities in terms of productivity, lifestyle and health issues. It was found that the UHI might accelerate the global warming issue and its related negative impacts, especially on populated and built-up areas. This research focused on the studying and estimating the UHI and to introduce the proper policies and to try to reduce its adverse impacts on both local and global environment. The objectives of this research study were to monitor and quantify the UHI/UCI for two study areas, the first study area is EL-Sheikh Zayed City and the second study area is El-Senbellaween City. EL-Sheikh Zayed City study area represents a desert area that was a desert in the past and transformed into an urbanized area. On the other side, El-Senbellaween City study area represents an agriculture land that was transformed into built-up or urban area. The research study utilized the Thermal Infrared Remotely Sensed data and GIS capabilities to monitor and quantify the UHI/UCI issues. Two main models were designed and developed. The first model introduced wasto calculate the Emissivity-corrected LST for Landsat 5, 7, and 8 imageries. Where the second model was developed to calculate and extract the UHI/UCI values and applied change detection techniques for both study areas in August, 1998 and August, 2018. The main results of this study discussed that both of the study areas suffered from a high rate of urbanization. Most of the newly built-up areas in El-Senbellaween City study area were located over agricultural lands that demolished cultivated lands in Delta over time. On the other side, the built-up areas (urban development) in El-Sheikh Zayed City study area