Spatio-temporal pattern of land use and land cover and its effects on land surface temperature using remote sensing and GIS techniques: a case study of Bhubaneswar city, Eastern India (1991-2021)

Urbanization produces substantial land use changes by causing the construction of different urban infrastructures in the city region for habitation, transportation, industry, and other reasons. As a result, it has a significant impact on Land Surface Temperature (LST) by disrupting the surface energy balance. The objective of this paper is to assess the impact of land-use/land-cover (LU/LC) dynamics on urban land surface temperature (LST) of Bhubaneswar City in Eastern India during 30 years (1991-2021) using Landsat data (TM, ETM + , and OLI/TIRS) and machine learning algorithms (MLA). The finding reveals that the mean LST over the entire study domain grows significantly between 1991 and, 2021due to urbanization (beta coefficient 0.400, 0.195, 0.07, and 0.06 in 1991, 2001, 2011, and 2021 respectively) and loss of green space (beta coefficient - 0.295, - 0.025, - 0.125 and - 0.065 in 1991, 2001, 2011 and 2021 respectively). The highest class recorded for agricultural land (49.60 km(2), accounting for 33.94% of the total land area) was in 1991 followed by vegetation (41.27 km(2), 28.19% of the total land area), and built-up land (27.59 km(2), 18.84% of the total land area). The sharp decline of vegetation cover will continue until 2021 due to increasing built-up areas (r = - 0.531, - 0.329, - 0.538, and - 0.063 in the 1991, 2001, 2011 and 2021 respectively). Built-up land (62.60 km(2), accounting for 42.76% of the total land area, an increase of 35.01 km(2) from 1991) as the highest class followed by water bodies (21.57%, 32.60 km(2) of the land area), and agricultural land (31.57 km(2), 21.57% of the land area) in 2021. Remote sensing techniques proved to be an important tool to urban planners and policymakers to take adequate steps to promote sustainable development and minimize urbanization influence on LST. Urban green space (UGS) can help improve the overall liveability and environmental sustainability of Bhubaneswar city.