Spatiotemporal Patterns and Drivers of the Surface Urban Heat Island in 36 Major Cities in China: A Comparison of Two Different Methods for Delineating Rural Areas

Urban heat islands (UHIs) are an important issue in urban sustainability, and the standardized calculation of surface urban heat island (SUHI) intensity has been a common concern of researchers in the past. In this study, we used the administrative borders (AB) method and an optimized simplified urb...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inSustainability Vol. 12; no. 2; p. 478
Main Authors Niu, Lu, Tang, Ronglin, Jiang, Yazhen, Zhou, Xiaoming
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Basel MDPI AG 08.01.2020
Subjects
Algorithms
Anthropogenic factors
Heat
Methods
Regression analysis
Remote sensing
Researchers
Rural areas
Spatial analysis
Spectroradiometers
Standardization
Statistical analysis
Statistics
Sustainability
Temperature
Urban areas
Urban development
Urban heat islands
China
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Summary:Urban heat islands (UHIs) are an important issue in urban sustainability, and the standardized calculation of surface urban heat island (SUHI) intensity has been a common concern of researchers in the past. In this study, we used the administrative borders (AB) method and an optimized simplified urban-extent (OSUE) algorithm to calculate the surface urban heat island intensity from 2001 to 2017 for 36 major cities in mainland China by using Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) images. The spatiotemporal differences between these two methods were analyzed from the perspectives of the regional and national patterns and the daily, monthly, and annual trends. Regardless of the spatial or temporal scale, the calculation results of these two methods showed extremely similar patterns, especially for the daytime. However, when the calculated SUHI intensities were investigated through a regression analysis with multiple driving factors, we found that, although natural conditions were the main drivers for both methods, the anthropogenic factors obtained from statistical data (population and gross domestic product) were more correlated with the SUHI intensity from the AB method. This trend was probably caused by the spatial extent of the statistical data, which aligned more closely with the rural extent in the AB method. This study not only explores the standardization of the calculation of urban heat intensity but also provides insights into the relationship between urban development and the SUHI.
ISSN:2071-1050
2071-1050
DOI:10.3390/su12020478