Analysis of the Spatio-temporal variations of thermal patterns of Shiraz city by satellite images and GIS processing

In recent years, climate change has caused an increase in the air temperature and consequently the temperature of the earth's surface. The temperature of the earth's surface has had various effects on urban life and has caused the formation of thermal islands in cities. Thermal islands are one of the important criteria in regional planning. The city of Shiraz is considered to be a large population center in the southwest of Iran on the one hand and one of the important tourism centers of Iran on the other hand, so the purpose of this research is to monitor the spatial form of thermal islands in this city. The satellite images of Shiraz city were first collected and extracted in the hot periods of the year from 1985-to 2020 using the data of Landsat’s 4 and 5 (TM), 7 (ETM+), and 8 (OLI/TIRS). After required preprocessing, the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Land Surface Temperature (LST), Normalized Difference Built-up Index (NDBI), and the urban heat dispersion index were determined by the Urban Thermal Field Variance Index (UTFVI). The regions with UHI, the variation of the temperature in the city, and the relationship between the LST and surface vegetation were evaluated based on the results of image processing to determine the UHIs of Shiraz. The temporal variations of the temperature pattern of Shiraz city indicated that about 12.76 km2 was added to the area of the fourth temperature class from 1985 to 2020. Results of NDVI evaluation in the studied period showed a decline in the vegetation from 22.28 km2 in 1985 to 17.54 km2 in 2020 due to alteration of the land use which can explain the formation and increase of the UHIs in the mentioned regions. At the beginning of the investigated period (1985), the temperature of the earth's surface was 17°Celsius and reached 21°Celsius at the end of the period (2020). The monitoring of the spatial form of the surface temperature of the earth shows that heat islands are moving from the outskirts of the city towards the city center. UTFVI also revealed that the awful regions (very hot temperatures) are mainly concentrated in the west and north-west to the south west of Shiraz (including some parts of districts 9 and 10), south east of district 7, and north of district 1.