Influence of vegetation on surface temperature in urban areas through Landsat 8 satellite images

Abstract

TThe emergence of urbanization has caused changes in environmental conditions due to the increase in the number of vehicles, replacement of the original soil by impermeable surfaces, reduction of air circulation due to buildings, canalization of rivers, cutting of trees, among others. In this sense, the exchange of natural vegetation by cities generated an increase in temperatures in urban centers. Thus, the present study aimed to analyze the influence of vegetation cover on the temperature of the earth's surface in the urban limits of the city of Rio Paranaíba - MG. The terrestrial surface temperature was determined from band 10 and the vegetation index (NDVI) was calculated from the near infrared (NIR) and red (RED) bands of the Landsat 8 satellite. with the image of the panchromatic band of the same satellite. The results showed that the merged images have better definition for temperature and NDVI. This study demonstrated the possibility of identifying areas with higher and lower temperature and amount of vegetation, as well as the dependence between them. In this sense, it was observed that when increasing the vegetation index, the temperature decreases, causing the joint use of the spatialization of temperature and vegetation cover to present significant results for urban planning. Thus, the central areas of the city, which have lower NDVI values, had higher temperatures than the more extreme areas, where the NDVI is higher, reducing approximately 0.71°C, providing the region with better thermal sensation and more comfort.