The urban heat island (UHI) refers to the phenomenon of higher atmospheric 21 and surface temperatures occurring in urban areas than in the surrounding rural areas. Mitigation 22 of the UHI effects via the configuration of green spaces and sustainable design of urban 23 *Manuscript Click here to download Manuscript: ISPRS_Manuscript_final_R1_2013_12_20_final.docx Click here to view linked References 2 environments has become an issue of increasing concern under changing climate. In this paper, 24 the effects of the composition and configuration of green space on land surface temperatures 25 (LST) were explored using landscape metrics including percentage of landscape (PLAND), edge 26 density (ED) and patch density (PD). An oasis city of Aksu in Northwestern China was used as a 27 case study. The metrics were calculated by moving window method based on a green space map 28 derived from Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) imagery, and LST data were retrieved from 29 Landsat TM thermal band. Normalized mutual information measure was employed to investigate 30 the relationship between LST and the spatial pattern of green space. The results showed that 31 while the PLAND is the most important variable that elicits LST dynamics, spatial configuration 32 of green space also has significant effect on LST. Though, the highest normalized mutual 33 information measure was with the PLAND (0.71), it was found that ED and PD combination is 34 the most deterministic factors of LST than the unique effects of a single variable or the joint 35 effects of PLAND and PD or PLAND and ED. Normalized mutual information measure 36 estimations between LST and PLAND and ED, PLAND and PD and ED and PD were 0.7679, 37 0.7650 and 0.7832, respectively. A combination of the three factors PLAND, PD and ED 38 explained much of the variance of LST with a normalized mutual information measure of 39 0.8694. Results from this study can expand our understanding of the relationship between LST 40 and street trees and vegetation, and provide insights for sustainable urban planning and 41 management under changing climate. 42 43 44 Keywords-urban heat island, urban green space, landscape metrics, configuration, normalized 45 mutual information measure. 46 Remarkable proliferations of studies focusing on the relationship between LST and green space 79 composition has been reported over the last two decades (

No abstract

The plant ecosystems are particularly sensitive to climate change in arid and semi-arid regions. However, the responses of vegetation dynamics to climate change in Central Asia are still unclear. In this study, we used the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) data to analyze the spatial-temporal changes of vegetation and the correlation of vegetation and climatic variables over the period of 1982-2012 in Central Asia by using the empirical orthogonal function and least square methods. The results showed that the annual NDVI in Central Asia experienced a weak increasing trend overall during the study period. Specifically, the annual NDVI showed a significant increasing trend between1982 and 1994, and exhibited a decreasing trend since 1994. The regions where the annual NDVI decreased were mainly distributed in western Central Asia, which may be caused by the decreased precipitation. The NDVI exhibited a larger increasing trend in spring than in the other three seasons. In mountainous areas, the NDVI had a significant increasing trend at the annual and seasonal scales; further, the largest increasing trend of NDVI mainly appeared in the middle mountain belt (1,700-2,650 m asl). The annual NDVI was positively correlated with annual precipitation in Central Asia, and there was a weak negative correlation between annual NDVI and temperature. Moreover, a one-month time lag was found in the response of NDVI to temperature from June to September in Central Asia during 1982-2012.

The interaction between land use/cover change and landscape pattern is pivotal in research concerning global environmental change. This study uses three different Landsat images of 1989, 1998 and 2009 to study the land use/cover and landscape pattern changes in the middle reaches of the Tarim River basin. envi®, erdas®, ArcGIS® and fragstats® software were used to analyse the land use/cover changes. The objectives of study were to map and study the changes in land use/cover and landscape pattern, and propose some possible factors in making the land use/cover changes from 1989 to 2009. Seven different types of land use/cover are analysed, and the results are listed in tables. From 1989 to 1998, the percentage of farmland, slight–moderate saline land, heavy saline land and water areas have increased; woodland, desert and the undeveloped land have decreased. From 1998 to 2009, farmland, heavy saline land and the undeveloped land have increased; the other types of land use/cover have decreased. The gravity centre of each land use/cover types has shifted. The farthest shifting of the gravity centre was heavy saline land, which occurred between 1989 and 1998. The transformation and changes of land use/covers and landscape occurred more frequently from 1989 to 2009. Other types of land use and land cover changes to saline land have increased, which implied that a serious salinization took place in the Tarim Basin. The results from this study would show the adverse environmental changes (e.g. salinization and desertification) and they can be used for future sustainable management of land resources. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

No abstract