SOURCE:

Faculty: Environmental Sciences
Department: Geography And Meteorology

CONTRIBUTORS:

Awuh, M. E.
Enete, I.C.

ABSTRACT:

This study assessed the impact of land-use/land-cover (LULC) change on urban heat island pattern in Calabar Metropolis, using remote sensing, geographic information systems (GIS) and statistical methods to provide quantitative information on the effect of land use change on Urban Heat Island (UHI) from 2002 to 2016. A first order Markov analysis was used to develop LULC change matrices for the analysis of the rates of land use type conversions from one land use class type to another type and, between the various years’ intervals of analysis. GIS was further applied to extract the coverage ratio of each land use in the context of Land surface temperature (LST) pixels. Using correlation and multiple linear regression this interrelationship was then quantified. LST was shown to correlate very highly with built-up and bare lands yielding values of 0.78 and 0.67 respectively while its correlations with other land use types were found to be far below 0.5. The result revealed that the built-up area was the land use category that significantly influenced the high mean and high LST. The projected Markov CA Model showed that by 2046, built- up area is expected to increase by 535.64 hectares, approximately 9.95 percentage from 2016. The study also revealed that the lowest mean LST correspond to areas covered by water bodies, followed by areas over woodland. The sequence indicates that abundant water is helpful in buffering UHIS. The study recommended that vegetation should be introduced extensively and carefully. The result of this research will be helpful for urban planners and environmental scientists.