Spatio-temporal analysis of the urban green infrastructure of the city of Granada (Spain) as a heat mitigation measure using high-resolution images Sentinel 3

Abstract

At present, and motivated by a substantial growth of the population, a considerable expansion of urban areas is taking place through the modification of land uses. These changes, together with global warming and extreme weather events, produce increases in the temperature of the earth’s surface and a deterioration of the environment that affects people’s quality of life. The green areas of cities are upheld as one of the best for adapting to such phenomena, since they help lower outdoor temperatures. In this research, using high-resolution Sentinel 3 satellite images and the TsHARP algorithm, the Land Surface Temperature (LST) and the Park Cool Island (PCI) were obtained at a resolution of 10 m over green areas in the city of Granada. The objective was to analyze the relationship between surface, PCI effect and cooling distance. In turn, for each of the eight green areas studied, the following variables were taken into account and included in a statistical analysis known as data panel: normalized difference vegetation index, vegetal proportion, sky view factor, landscape shape index, model digital elevation, wind and solar radiation. Our results report diurnal LST decreases of 1 K and night LST of 0.6 K in green areas as compared to urban areas. There is moreover a correlation between the size of the green areas, the decrease in temperature they generate, and distance of the minimizer effect.