Influence of Land Cover Change on Land Surface Temperature in Zhujiang Delta
珠江三角洲土地覆盖变化对地表温度的影响

The Zhujiang Delta has experienced a rapid land cover change, especially urbanexpansion over the past 25 years due to accelerated economic growth. This paper reports aninvestigation into the application of the integration of remote sensing and geographicinformation systems (GIS) for detecting land cover change and urban growth, and assessingtheir impact on land surface temperature in the region. Remote sensing techniques were usedto carry out land use/cover change detection by using multitemporal Landsat TM/ETM data,and retrieve out the land surface temperature by using single Landsat TM/ETM 6 thermalinfrared data. The integration of remote sensing and GIS was further applied to examine theimpact of land cover change and urban growth on land surface temperatures. The resultsrevealed a notable and uneven urban growth in the study area. This urban development hasraised land surface radiant temperature by 8.9K in the urbanized area. The integration ofremote sensing and GIS was found to be effective in monitoring and analyzing urban growthpatterns, and in evaluating urbanization impact on land surface temperature.