Spatial and temporal investigation of the effects of land cover and land use changes on urban heat islands: The case of Eskişehir city centre

The rapid increase in urban population leads to the establishment of new residential areas within cities. The expansion of urban settlements, along with industrial and commercial facilities driven by various needs, results in changes to land cover, an increase in impermeable surfaces, a reduction in green spaces, and the drainage of wetlands. Anthropogenic changes in land cover (LC) within urban areas disrupt the temperature balance of cities, causing certain urban locations to heat up more than their surroundings. In this thesis, changes in LC in the urban settlement and surrounding areas of Eskişehir, a city with a rapidly growing urban population, were identified, and their relationship with land surface temperature (LST) was examined. Furthermore, the areas exhibiting urban heat island (UHI) effects within the study area were determined. The study utilized CORINE land cover data from 1990, 2000, 2006, 2012, and 2018, and conducted LST and NDVI analyses using Landsat satellite imagery from the summer and winter seasons of the same years. The analyses and findings revealed that the most extensive land classes in the study area were permanently irrigated land and non-irrigated arable land. Over the study period (1990–2018), the largest spatial changes were observed in industrial and commercial units and non-irrigated arable land. In the study area, the highest LST values during winter were recorded in permanently irrigated lands, while during summer, they were observed in non-irrigated arable lands, the airport, and industrial and commercial units. The land classes with the lowest LST values were industrial and commercial units and non-irrigated arable lands in winter, and permanently irrigated lands in summer. Areas with vegetation, both within urban settlements and in their immediate surroundings, exhibited lower LST values during summer and higher values during winter. In conclusion, the analyses and findings indicated that the UHI effect was not observed across the entirety of the Eskişehir urban area. While the UHI effect was not detected in urban settlement areas during winter, it was observed during summer in the military and civilian airports and the Organized Industrial Zone.