Comparative Analysis of Urban Heat Island and Associated Land Cover Change Based in Suzhou City Using Landsat Data

One of the significant environmental consequences of urbanization is the urban heat island (UHI). To study the urban heat island in Suzhou city, remote sensing and GIS technology were utilized to quantitatively analysis the thermal spatial and temporal distributions. Landsat TM images from 1986 and 2004 were selected to derive brightness temperature and land cover maps. Then statistics and GIS buffer analysis were conducted to investigate the thermal pattern changes over 18-year period. The combined analysis of the temperature images and land cover maps indicate that there is an evident development of the UHI in the 18 years and significant coherence between the urban thermal patterns and urban spatial distributions. This paper also suggests the advantages of remote sensing as an objective and effective method for assessing and understanding spatial characteristics and dynamic changes of urban thermal environment.