Urban Heat Island and Land Use/Cover Dynamics Evaluation in Enugu Urban, Nigeria

This study specifically estimated the effect of land use/cover change (LULC) processes on land surface temperature (LST) in Enugu urban and its suburbs. With Landsat images and supervised classification technique, four LULC classes comprising built-up areas, vegetation, rock outcrop, bare ground/farmland areas were delineated. The LST was extracted from the thermal bands of the images. The rate of change in land cover classes between 2009 and 2018 showed that from 2009 to 2013, built-up areas increased from 31.65% to about 47.5%, while vegetation cover decreased from 18.43% to 11.23%. Also, the periods witnessed about 8.69 km2 of vegetation being converted to other land surfaces. The trend in the LST in Enugu urban showed the highest mean temperatures of 34.5°C in 2018 and 32.26°C in 2015. However, in 2013 there was a slight decrease in mean LST to 31.65°C which further decreased to 31.26°C in 2009. This change in temperature suggests that urbanisation could have significant effect on the micro-climate of Enugu city. Result also revealed weak relationships between LULC classes and the LST throughout the years. The results of the surface heat intensity for the urban and rural areas showed general increase over the years and this suggests that rural areas are also experiencing high temperature which could be due to the loss of vegetation, increase in artificial surfaces and urban encroachment. Findings from this study could be useful for effective urban land-use planning, policy development and management in Nigeria, and elsewhere.

Effect of the shelterbelt along the Tarim Desert Highway on air temperature and humidity

The temperature and humidity of the shelterbelt micro-climate on both horizontal and vertical scales in the extremely drought area were measured with multiple HOBO temperature and humidity automatic observation equipments in the hinterland of the Taklimakan Desert. The results show that the shelterbelt ecosystem of the desert highway plays typical micro-climate adjustment rolesin stabilizing surface air temperature and increasing air humidity, and so on. Solar radiation significantly affects both temperature and humidity of surface layers, and it has a positive correlation with the temperature but a negative correlation with the air humidity. When it is cloudy, the weather has a great impact on keeping temperature and humidity in the shelterbelt. The shelterbelt also significantly influences the environment, and the micro-climate in the belt has an obvious characteristic of cooling and humidification: compared with the original sand area, the temperature in the shelterbelt is always lower and the humidity is always higher. Moreover, the temperature range at the shelterbelt edge is greater than that in the sand area, but the humidity is always higher. Our conclusion is that the vertical-effect range of temperature of the shelterbelts is 4 -10 m, and the humidity range is 6 to 8 m; the horizontal-effect range of temperature is 16 m and the humidity range is about 24 m.

Assessment of terrace gardens as modifiers of building microclimate

Hard concrete roofs cause excessive heat gain impacting thermal comfort in buildings.Terrace gardens promoting greening at higher levels of built structures are seen as one of the key mitigating strategies for modifying building microclimate and improving urban health.We have undertaken a research project to quantitatively assess the value of a terrace garden in a residential scale.A garden patch of about 15 m 2 in area,a typical size available in most urban terraces is developed.Surface temperatures are measured over a period of 15 months between July 2018 to January 2020 using four thermocouple sensors,placed within and outside the garden bed,on and below the roof.We compare the thermal performance of the terrace garden across years,seasons,time of the day,presence or absence of garden bed and type and height of vegetation.The surface temperature data was found to correlate well with the ambient air temperature values.The results show that the terrace garden moderates and stabilises the ceiling temperatures and reduces it by about 2-3°C in winter months and 5-7°C in hot summers.The garden also provided nearly 400 g of fresh monthly vegetable harvest per m 2 of garden.Further,the cooling impact of the terrace garden with natural,tall,wild vegetation is higher as compared to planted vegetation.The study demonstrates a sustainable approach to terrace garden design at residential scale through quantified dual benefits of temperature control within buildings and urban farming.