Landscape Dynamics and Land Surface Temperature in the Upper Citarum, Indonesia

Abstract

The Citarum River Basin is a critical focus of the Indonesian government due to extensive landscape changes that cause environmental degradation. This study analyzes the landscape dynamics and land surface temperature (LST). A cloud computing platform and multivariate analysis were used to understand the phenomenon in the Cirasea Watershed, West Java, Indonesia, known as the Citarum River’s zero point. Landscape data refers to land use and land cover (LULC) resulting from random forests in Google Earth Engine, whereas LST is obtained from the radiative transfer mechanisms formula. Both data were obtained from Landsat series satellite images, which were validated using field surveys. The data were analyzed quantitatively to understand the differences and correlations between variables. This study shows that landscape dynamics are associated with significant changes in LST from 1993 to 2023, reaching 2.34 °C. The LST in forests and water bodies was highest compared to other LULC types. Road (0.42), elevation (0.72), and population (0.58) were also significantly related to LST. The relationship between LULC and LST is an indicator for further and comprehensive investigation in order to better understand the potential accumulative impacts in the future.