How urbanization within the Hamilton & Toronto regions between 1987 and 2005 have affected the Urban Heat Island
ABSTRACT:
Since the beginning of the industrial era, society has grown to favour urbanization. In 2011 53% of the world’s population lived in urbanized cities and by 2035 it is estimated that 62% of the world’s population will reside within urbanized cities (UN 2012). This has caused a continuous increase of global mean surface temperature through extensive Green House Gas emission, and change in the natural physical characteristics of the earth’s surface (a change from permeable surfaces to impermeable surfaces). In this study, Landsat TM images were acquired from 1987 and 2005 over the Hamilton and Toronto regions. These images provided the land-use/land-cover (LULC) of the two regions as well as surface brightness temperatures. The two sets of data allowed in determining the impact that the Urban Heat Island has on two growing cities, and how much of an impact a change in LULC has on the surface temperatures. Results show that the UHI effect has become more prominent in areas of rapid urbanization. The distribution of the UHI has localized with growth in the Built-up classification.
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Since the beginning of the industrial era, society has grown to favour urbanization. In 2011 53% of the world’s population lived in urbanized cities and by 2035 it is estimated that 62% of the world’s population will reside within urbanized cities (UN 2012). This has caused a continuous increase of global mean surface temperature through extensive Green House Gas emission, and change in the natural physical characteristics of the earth’s surface (a change from permeable surfaces to impermeable surfaces). In this study, Landsat TM images were acquired from 1987 and 2005 over the Hamilton and Toronto regions. These images provided the land-use/land-cover (LULC) of the two regions as well as surface brightness temperatures. The two sets of data allowed in determining the impact that the Urban Heat Island has on two growing cities, and how much of an impact a change in LULC has on the surface temperatures. Results show that the UHI effect has become more prominent in areas of rapid urbanization. The distribution of the UHI has localized with growth in the Built-up classification.
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