Linking land surface temperature and local climate zones in nine Croatian cities

This study provides the first comprehensive analysis of local climate zones (LCZ) and surface urban heat island (SUHI) in nine Croatian cities utilizing land surface temperature (LST). LCZ Generator web application was used for LCZ classification. The LST was assessed for all cloud -free pixels during the summer seasons 2013-2021 using Google Earth Engine, a cloud -based geospatial analysis platform. Tukey's HSD test was applied to determine the significance of LST differences between the pairs of LCZs. LCZ classification shows high classification accuracy among cities, with an average of 83%. Results reveal urban thermal characteristics that have not been studied yet in detail in Croatia. Inter- and intra-urban LCZ differences occur in terms of their LST, which is mostly attributable to the differences in urban morphology, climate, soil moisture, and karst terrain between cities. Across all cities, LCZ classes with a high proportion of vegetation experience lower LST values when compared to compact urban classes. However, natural LCZ classes in coastal cities are warmer than inland ones. Pairwise comparison confirmed that in most of the cities exists a statistically significant difference in LST among LCZs, while LCZ-based SUHI intensity is stronger in inland cities.