Thirty Years of Land Use/Land Cover Changes and Their Impact on Urban Climate: A Study of Kano Metropolis, Nigeria

Rapid urban expansion and the alteration of global land use/land cover (LULC) patterns have contributed substantially to the modification of urban climate, due to variations in Land Surface Temperature (LST). In this study, the LULC change dynamics of Kano metropolis, Nigeria, were analysed over the last three decades, i.e., 1990-2020, using multispectral satellite data to understand the impact of urbanization on LST in the study area. The Maximum Likelihood classification method and the Mono-window algorithm were utilised in classifying land uses and retrieving LST data. Spectral indices comprising the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Normalized Difference Built-up Index (NDBI) were also computed. A linear regression analysis was employed in order to examine the correlation between land surface temperature and the various spectral indices. The results indicate significant LULC changes and urban expansion of 152.55 sq. km from 1991 to 2020. During the study period, the city's barren land and water bodies declined by approximately 172.58 sq. km and 26.55 sq. km, respectively, while vegetation increased slightly by 46.58 sq. km. Further analysis showed a negative correlation between NDVI and LST with a Pearson determination coefficient (R-2) of 0.6145, 0.5644, 0.5402, and 0.5184 in 1991, 2000, 2010, and 2020 respectively. NDBI correlated positively with LST, having an R-2 of 0.4132 in 1991, 0.3965 in 2000, 0.3907 in 2010, and 0.3300 in 2020. The findings of this study provide critical climatic data useful to policy- and decision-makers in optimizing land use and mitigating the impact of urban heat through sustainable urban development.