Measuring changes in spatio-temporal LST variations and evaluating their relationship between greenhouses and their surroundings

Abstract

Thermal infrared (TIR), frequently used in remote sensing studies, allows the analysis, modeling, collection, and evaluation of environmental parameters. Land surface temperature (LST) algorithms are used to detect urban heat islands and, accordingly, to identify concrete indicators of global warming resulting from urban heat islands. In this study, the land surface temperature change in agricultural land use where greenhouses occupy a dense area was determined in a time-dependent manner. To provide a suitable growing environment for the development of plants in greenhouses, the environment inside the greenhouse is kept warmer than its surroundings, especially in the winter. The investigation of the effect of this internal temperature on the external surface temperature constituted the motivation for this study. For this purpose, the determination and analysis of the land surface temperature change were carried out in the relevant region. The study material consists of agricultural fields containing greenhouses in the Kumluca district of Antalya province obtained from Landsat 8 satellite images between 2013-2019. LST analyzes were performed on images taken at 3-year intervals, and the results were compared. The results demonstrated that the surface temperatures of the greenhouses increased by about 1°C in the relevant period. Moreover, similar temperature increases were observed in other land cover classes. As a result, it has been concluded that while the surface temperatures of the greenhouses were generally lower than the building surface temperatures, they were higher than the green cover surface temperatures.