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Detecting urban landscape factors controlling seasonal land surface temperature: from the perspective of urban function zones

Environmental Science and Pollution Research volume 28, pages 41191–41206 (2021)Cite this article

Abstract

Understanding the impact on the thermal effect by urbanization is of great significance for urban thermal regulation and is essential for determining the relationship between the urban heat island (UHI) effect and the complexities of urban function and landscape structure. For this purpose, we conducted case research in the metropolitan region of Beijing, China, and nearly 5000 urban blocks assigned different urban function zones (UFZs) were identified as the basic spatial analysis units. The seasonal land surface temperature (LST) retrieved from remote sensing data was used to represent the UHI characteristics of the study area, and the surface biophysical parameters, building forms, and filtered landscape pattern metrics were selected as the urban landscape factors. Then, the effects of urban function and landscape structure on the UHI effect were examined based on the optimal results of the ordinary least squares and geographically weighted regression models. The results indicated that (1) Significant spatiotemporal heterogeneity of the LST was found in the study area, and there was an obvious temperature gradient with “working–living–resting” UFZs. (2) All types of urban landscape factors showed a significant contribution to the seasonal LST, in the order of surface biophysical factors > building forms > landscape factors; however, their contributions varied in different seasons. (3) The major contributing factors showed a certain difference due to the variation of urban function and landscape complexity. This study expands the understanding on the complex relationship among urban landscape, function, and thermal environment, which could benefit urban landscape planning for UHI alleviation.

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Availability of data and materials

The data presented in this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to the privacy agreement among co-authors.

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Acknowledgements

We would sincerely thank the editors and anonymous reviewers, for their valuable advices regarding this manuscript.

Funding

This study was financed by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41701206), the Humanities and Social Science Foundation of Ministry of Education of China (20YJCZH198), the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province, China (ZR2017BD011), and the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2017M622256).

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Affiliations

  1. College of Geography and Environment, Shandong Normal University, Jinan, 250358, China

    Tong Li & Lei Yao

  2. School of Civil Engineering, Shandong Jiaotong University, Jinan, 250023, China

    Ying Xu

Authors
  1. Tong Li
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  2. Ying Xu
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  3. Lei Yao
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Contributions

Conceptualization: Lei Yao and Tong Li Methodology: Tong Li Software: Tong Li Formal analysis: Tong Li and Ying Xu Writing—original draft: Tong Li Writing—review and editing: Lei Yao Supervision: Lei Yao and Ying Xu Funding acquisition: Lei Yao and Ying Xu Resources: Lei Yao

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Correspondence to Lei Yao.

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Li, T., Xu, Y. & Yao, L. Detecting urban landscape factors controlling seasonal land surface temperature: from the perspective of urban function zones. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 41191–41206 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-13695-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-13695-y

Keywords

  • Urban function zones
  • Urban heat island
  • Urban landscape
  • Land surface temperature
  • Spatiotemporal heterogeneity