UNDERSTANDING LINK BETWEEN LAND SURFACE TEMPERATURE AND LANDSCAPE HETEROGENEITY: A SPATIO-TEMPORAL AND INTER-SEASONAL VARIABILITY STUDY ON KABUL CITY, AFGHANISTAN

Abstract. Satellite imageries were used to study temporal and seasonal patterns of Land Surface Temperature (LST) in Kabul, followed by establishing an interrelation with Land Use Land Cover (LULC) changes occurring in the city. LULC and LST changes were examined based on Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) and Landsat Operational Land Imager (OLI), Thermal Infrared Sensors (TIRS). LST Maps were derived from the thermal band of Landsat images for decadal study (Winter/Summer; 2008–09 and 2018–19). Visible bands were utilized for supervised LULC classification in the same decade. Results showed that Kabul City expanded rapidly over the study period from 232.28 km² to 371.08 km² in one decade (2009–2019). Other land cover classes i.e. barren land, mountains and vegetation, were observed to be converted to urban class i.e. residential, commercial, and industrial. High LST zones of Kabul city consisted of mountains, barren land and urban areas. Notable difference of 3 °C was observed between urban and vegetated lands. This study successfully identified the areas (i.e. district 12, district 13 and district 17) currently affected by rapid urban sprawl. The results also highlighted the changes in LST pattern caused by urbanization. The study will help the government, private sector investors and land planners to develop sustainable land management policies.