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Micro-scale urban surface temperatures are related to land-cover features and residential heat related health impacts in Phoenix, AZ USA

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Abstract

Context

With rapidly expanding urban regions, the effects of land cover changes on urban surface temperatures and the consequences of these changes for human health are becoming progressively larger problems.

Objectives

We investigated residential parcel and neighborhood scale variations in urban land surface temperature, land cover, and residents’ perceptions of landscapes and heat illnesses in the subtropical desert city of Phoenix, AZ USA.

Methods

We conducted an airborne imaging campaign that acquired high resolution urban land surface temperature data (7 m/pixel) during the day and night. We performed a geographic overlay of these data with high resolution land cover maps, parcel boundaries, neighborhood boundaries, and a household survey.

Results

Land cover composition, including percentages of vegetated, building, and road areas, and values for NDVI, and albedo, was correlated with residential parcel surface temperatures and the effects differed between day and night. Vegetation was more effective at cooling hotter neighborhoods. We found consistencies between heat risk factors in neighborhood environments and residents’ perceptions of these factors. Symptoms of heat-related illness were correlated with parcel scale surface temperature patterns during the daytime but no corresponding relationship was observed with nighttime surface temperatures.

Conclusions

Residents’ experiences of heat vulnerability were related to the daytime land surface thermal environment, which is influenced by micro-scale variation in land cover composition. These results provide a first look at parcel-scale causes and consequences of urban surface temperature variation and provide a critically needed perspective on heat vulnerability assessment studies conducted at much coarser scales.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by National Science Foundation Grants GEO-0816168, GEO-0814692, BCS-1026865, EF-1049251, EF-1049224, and DEB-0919006. We thank Anthony Brazel and Chris Martin for their advice on the MASTER data collection effort and David Hondoula for insightful discussions. All data are available from CAP-LTER (caplter.asu.edu).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Botany and Plant Sciences, University of California Riverside, Riverside, CA, USA

    G. Darrel Jenerette

  2. School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA

    Sharon L. Harlan & Juan Declet-Barreto

  3. Department of Geography and Planning, University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany, NY, USA

    Alexander Buyantuev

  4. Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science Division, Exploration Integration and Science Directorate, NASA Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX, USA

    William L. Stefanov

  5. Natural Resources Defense Council, Washington, DC, USA

    Juan Declet-Barreto

  6. Fulton Schools of Engineering, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA

    Benjamin L. Ruddell

  7. School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA

    Soe Win Myint

  8. The Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beersheba, Israel

    Shai Kaplan

  9. Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA

    Xiaoxiao Li

Authors
  1. G. Darrel Jenerette
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  2. Sharon L. Harlan
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  3. Alexander Buyantuev
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  4. William L. Stefanov
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  5. Juan Declet-Barreto
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  6. Benjamin L. Ruddell
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  7. Soe Win Myint
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  8. Shai Kaplan
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  9. Xiaoxiao Li
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Correspondence to G. Darrel Jenerette.

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Jenerette, G.D., Harlan, S.L., Buyantuev, A. et al. Micro-scale urban surface temperatures are related to land-cover features and residential heat related health impacts in Phoenix, AZ USA. Landscape Ecol 31, 745–760 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-015-0284-3

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