Assessing the impacts of vegetation loss and land surface temperature on Surface Urban Heat Island (SUHI) in Gazipur District, Bangladesh

Rapid replacement of vegetated land with impermeable land (built-up areas) is a major factor in the increase in Land Surface Temperature (LST), while increased LST worsens the temperature in cities and creates the Surface Urban Heat Island (SUHI) effect. The study aims to measure vegetation loss and Land Surface Temperature of the Gazipur district between 2000 and 2020 and explore the relationship among Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), LST, and Urban Thermal Field Variance Index (UTFVI). The Landsat TM/OLI images with minimum cloud coverage have been used to derive different indices. The mean NDVI values are 0.21, 0.16, and 0.22 in 2000, 2010, and 2020 respectively which indicates a general improvement in the health of the vegetation. Besides, the highest LST values throughout 20 years, represent a general increasing trend. As a consequence, different land covers have experienced fluctuations in mean temperature. The result shows that the mean temperature of bare land, buildup, vegetation, and waterbody has increased by 4.77, 2.01, 2.25, and 2.23 °C respectively from 2000 to 2020. The strongest SUHI zone’s area grew by about 28% between 2000 and 2020. Additionally, the highest index value of UTFVI was 0.39 in 2000 and grew to 0.43 in 2010. It changed to 0.49 in 2020, or ten years later. Thus, the SUHI effect’s increasing intensity is visible. Also, regression analysis has been used to explore the correlation between the derived indices. Stakeholders from different sectors like urban planners and policymakers may take insights from this study to work to promote greenery for a healthy urban environment.