Determination of the relationship between area size, vegetation cover and surface temperatures in urban green areas: The case of Antalya city

Climate change is accelerating due to factors such as high temperature storage and transmission of building materials to the environment, which increase with urbanization. This situation causes cities to turn into urban heat islands by creating a unique urban climate, threatening the environment and human health. Green areas, which are the main component of ecosystem services in cities, provide many ecological contributions. One of the most important of these contributions is climatic regulation such as regulating temperatures, reducing the greenhouse effect and reducing the formation of urban heat islands. These effects depend on some spatial characteristics of the green area such as plant density, areal size, etc. In this study carried out in a city like Antalya, where the temperature is high and affects a long period of the year, some green areas, which are an important variable in climate change by reducing urban temperatures and even creating a heating effect, were analysed with spatial and remote sensing methods. The climatic effects of 9 active green areas in three different size classes in Konyaaltı, Muratpaşa and Kepez districts, where urbanization is dense, and their impact areas, as well as the climatic effects of 4 different very large urban open green areas on their surroundings were examined depending on various variables. Within the scope of the research, surface temperatures were determined and analysed by mobile measurement and remote sensing, which are methods of determining the effect of green areas on climatic characteristics. The data obtained as a result of these measurements and analyses were evaluated based on various statistical analyses. Accordingly, it was determined that green areas create an average cooling effect of 3 oC in their impact areas and this effect reaches the impact area at a greater distance as the area size increases. In addition, it was determined that the density and quality of plants in the area also changed this effect. According to the seasonal temperature averages, when the vegetation cover was evaluated alone in summer months, it was determined that tree cover (p=0.03) and other vegetation cover were effective (p=0.002) and explained 76% of the model, and when evaluated together with the area size, it was determined that other vegetation cover and area size together explained 80% of the model, especially in July (p=0.000). Similar results were obtained in the average of winter months. Accordingly, especially in February, the ratio of area size and other vegetation had a significant effect at different measurement points (p=0.000) and explained 73% of the model. According to the analysis of surface temperatures, temperature averages are separated at 0-50m and 50-100m spatial distances. It was observed that there was a surface temperature difference as the distance from the centre of each area except for one area, and the temperature difference gradually increased with distance as the areal size increased. Accordingly, it was found that the temperature difference with the centre of the area reached 1.15 oC at 50m, 1.34 oC at 100m and 2.17 oC at 200m.