Monitoring land surface temperature relationship to land use/land cover from satellite imagery in Maraqeh County, Iran

North-western Iran experiences high surface temperatures - a situation that is likely to become increasingly severe due to both climate change and the growing area of sealed surfaces as a result of socio-economic development. Land surface temperature (LST) is a key parameter with respect to land use and land cover (LULC). In this study, the Surface Energy Balance Algorithm for Land (SEBAL) method has been applied to Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper (ETM+) imagery for Maraqeh County in north-western Iran (East Azerbaijan Province), in order to model the spatial variation of LST and to determine its quantitative relationship with LULC. The LST was found to be low for orchards and water bodies, while pasture lands and areas currently under cultivation had moderate LSTs. The results suggest that LST can be significantly increased by urbanisation, desertification, and any other processes that result in an increase in non-vegetated surfaces. High LST values were found to be associated with rural and urban settlements, and also with several bare areas of exposed soil, while the maximum LST values were associated with areas of rock outcrop. Our results indicate that LST has an inverse relationship with moisture content and biomass.