Publications

Hereher, ME (2017). Effect of land use/cover change on land surface temperatures - The Nile Delta, Egypt. JOURNAL OF AFRICAN EARTH SCIENCES, 126, 75-83.

Abstract
In this study remote sensing techniques were employed to investigate the impact of land use/cover change on land surface temperatures (LST) for a highly dynamic landscape, i.e. the Nile Delta. Land use change was determined from analyzing a 15 years of bi-monthly normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) dataset acquired from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Terra satellite along with a synchronized 13 years of bi-monthly LST dataset retrieved from MODIS Aqua satellite. Time series analysis for NDVI and LST data was carried out at selected locations experiencing land use change. Mean LST change was determined for each location before and after the land use change. Results indicate that NDVI composite data for 15 years proved sufficient for delineating land use change. Significant spatial changes include the transformation from agriculture to urban land, which increased the LST by 1.7 degrees C during the 13 years and the transformation of bare land to agriculture, which decreased the LST by 0.52 degrees C for the same period. Due to the explosive population growth in the Nile Delta, urban encroachment upon agricultural land could, hence, promote a prolonged regional warming by modifying the micro-climate and other climate-related phenomena. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

DOI:
10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2016.11.027

ISSN:
1464-343X