Estimation of Relationships Between Land Surface Temperature and Land Use Diversity in the Contai Municipality Area, West Bengal

Abstract

The variation of land surface temperature (LST) in the urban area is depending on the land use and land cover (LULC) pattern. In a recent period, the changing LULC pattern is creating a harsh impact on the urban environment by increasing temperature with the built-up area development. The contradictory pattern of LST has been observed in the built-up and vegetation-covered surfaces within an urban area. The urban morphology is also an important determinant of LST variation. The purpose of the present investigation is to find out the relationships between LST patterns and land use diversity of Contai municipality area. The LULC pattern and LST have been estimated based on the Landsat 8 (OLI/TIRS) satellite data of 2018. The resultant data sets have been further correlated to estimate the impact of escalating built-up areas and vegetation cover on LST variation. The correlation shows that with the increasing built-up density the LST has been increasing (0.11), whereas, it is reverse with the vegetation density (-0.13). The municipality town of Contai should maintain buffer areas of vegetation cover surface to reduce or to stabilize the increasing LST pattern at present.