Host: The Association of Japanese Geographers
Name : Annual Meeting of the Association of Japanese Geographers, Spring 2020
Date : March 27, 2020 - March 29, 2020
Land surface temperature (LST) is receiving great attention as a measure of urban health and sustainable development. In recent years, with rapid urbanization and industrialization, the urban heat island phenomenon, which causes excessive energy consumption and climatic and environmental deterioration in the urban core, has become prevalent in many big cities. Optimizing land use/cover allocation can reduce the effect of the urban heat island. Therefore, monitoring land use/cover changes and analyzing their effects on LST are crucial for supporting healthier urban development.
Sapporo in northern Japan is the largest city in Hokkaido. Due to the warm temperate continental climate, the frequency and intensity of urban heat islands in autumn are higher than those in other seasons. Annual mean air temperature and total annual precipitation in the region are 8.5 °C and 110 cm, respectively.
This study examined spatiotemporal land use/cover changes in Sapporo from 1985 to 2015 and explored the relationship with LST during three periods. Furthermore, an attempt was made to simulate future land use/cover transformation in Sapporo under two scenarios for 2030 and 2050 and discuss the future pattern of LST to support environmental health and sustainable development. Satellite images, which have advantages of high resolution, atmospheric corrected consistency, and fast updating, were selected as the data sources. The maximum likelihood supervised classification method was used for deriving land use/cover maps. Then, Land Change Modeler (LCM) was employed for estimating the spatial patterns of land use/cover changes and simulating scenarios (spontaneous scenario (SS) and healthy city strategy scenario (HCS)) to comprehend the uncertainties of the possible future landscape.
The results of the analysis show that: (1) land use/cover types and spatial distribution have strong influences on LST, (2) spatial expansion has been the most significant factor affecting urban heat island phenomenon over the past 30 years, and (3) green spaces and water areas help cool the city. This study revealed a strong relationship between land use/cover distribution and LST, opening research avenues for future LST prediction. The result of analysis not only contributes to urban health and sustainable development but also provides significant insights into the promotion of city competence.
