THE URBAN HEAT ISLAND OF PORTO ALEGRE, RS, SOUTHERN BRAZIL: AN ANALYSIS BETWEEN 1985 AND 2019 THROUGH THE RADIATIVE TRANSFER IN THE INFRARED THERMAL

Abstract

The objective of this study was to verify the evolution of surface temperature associated with land use and land cover from 1985 to 2019 in Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil. The methodological procedures were performed in five steps: 1. Definition of the study area; 2. Land use and land cover classification from images of Landsat 5 satellite Thematic Mapper (TM) and Operational Land Imager (OLI) from Landsat 8 satellite; 3. Calculation of surface temperature from TM sensor band 6 and OLI sensor band 10; 4. Analysis of temperature evolution over the historical series; and 5. Temporal relation between surface temperature and land use and land cover classes. The results demonstrated that higher temperatures were associated to the evolution of two classes of land use and land cover: urban area and exposed soil, with the former occupying 31% in 1989 to 75% in 2018 of the study area. When comparing the first and last decade of the historical series for each season, there was an average increase of 4.18 °C in the surface temperature of the districts. Thus, adopting policies that mitigate the effects caused by densification and urban sprawl are necessary, mainly through the conservation of vegetated areas and water reservoirs, as these are crucial for the maintenance of air humidity and evapotranspiration.