Thermal Response to Land-Use Land-Cover Patterns: An Experimental Study in Famagusta, Cyprus

The transformation of land-use land-cover (LULC), as induced by human and natural processes, drives the biogeochemistry of Earth and influences the complex interaction between many factors. The most significant outcomes of these interactions are the thermal responses and changes in land-surface temperature (LST). The consequences of these factors can be seen in both global and regional scale changes in climate-remote sensing methods are widely used in constraining these changes and, thus, there is an increasing shift toward LULC studies. This study uses a hybrid method to investigate the thermal responses to LULC patterns by analyzing LST. This method combined the normalized difference vegetation index, normalized difference built-up index, normalized difference barrenness index, and normalized difference moisture index, and is then applied to a study area in Famagusta, Cyprus. The results of this study can help to guide future development and land-use optimization, in Famagusta or any other area in which the method is applied. The study results show that agricultural intensification contributes to increased LST (x over bar $\bar{x}$ = 313.3), whereas wetland (x over bar $\bar{x}$ = 307.5) and forested land decrease the LST. Positive correlations are recorded between increased LST, the normalized difference built-up index (r = 0.702, p < 0.01), and two digital elevation models (r = 0.372, r = 0.364, p < 0.01), while negative correlations existed between LST and the indices of normalized difference vegetation (r = -0.082, p < 0.01), barrenness (r = -0.711, p < 0.01), and moisture (r = -0.702, p < 0.01).