Landscape Metrics as Tool for Investigating the Relationship between Landscape Patterns and Land Surface Temperature in suitable scale(Case Study: Tehran City

Tehran has experienced extensive population growth in the last decades, leading to a high rate of urban expansion. Land use/land cover (LULC) patterns have noticeably been changed to impervious surfaces that led to the changes in the thermal condition and forming heat islands in this city. So this study wants to evaluate the landscape and the Land surface temperature patterns via using the landscape metrics on a proper scale in Tehran.

 In this study, a combination of remote sensing, GIS and landscape ecology approach is used to explain the relationship between land use/cover patterns and land surface temperature in Tehran's urban area. We used ETM + Landsat satellite images of February 28, 2013 to create a five class LULC map of the area through Linear Spectral Mixture Analysis and the maximum algorithm methods.Also, Land Surface Temperature map were prepared according to the available methods for thermal band of the sensor and were presented in four zones. Then, the relationship between LST and land use/cover was investigated using 7 landscape metrics (e.g MPS, PAFRAC, COHESION).

We found that impervious surface has the highest percentage of class and mean patch size, cohesion and aggregation, and landscape metrics very well described the LST zone II with impervious surface dominance. Also, the results showed that the 30 m pixel size is good enough for assessing the spatial and ecological characteristics of LULC patterns and their relationships with LST in Tehran

The results showed the possibility of assessing the relationship between LST and LULC based on the landscape metrics. The findings can be useful for urban planners and environmental managers to decrease urban heat pollution during urban sprawl and development.