International Journal of Economic and Environment Geology (Feb 2020)
Assessing the Impact of Builtup Areas on Development of Urban Heat Island in Lahore, Pakistan
Abstract
The aim of present studyis to evaluate and assess the impact of built-up areas on development of the urban heat island (UHI).The study mainly focused on Lahore,which is one of the mega cities of Pakistan. In terms of population size,Lahore is the second largest city of Pakistan with 11.13 million inhabitants. The geospatial techniques (Remote Sensing and Geographical Information System) along with statistical applications were applied to find out the Land Cover Land Uses changes and consequent development of builtup areas overthe period of 2000 and 2015. To study the UHI, the meteorological data of each 30 minutes for 36 days starting from 30thJune 2015 to 4thAugust 2015 were collected through direct on site observation by using digital weather station. The results of UHI were cross checked by obtaining land surface temperature by using thermal infrared (TIR) band 6 of the Landsat-7 TM. The results show that the LCLU and built environment have direct impact on development of UHI. The areas where there was more vegetation cover had less temperature while in urban areas, the temperature was measured higher. Over the period of 36 days, the average UHI remained 5.5°C and the highest intensity of UHI was observed as 8.3°C thus augmented research rationale. The study suggests establishment of a thick network of automatic weather stations in Lahore to gauge the urban heat island intensity and to plant indigenous trees on vacant swaths and develop urban forest to mitigate city’s rising temperature.
