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 (

Abstract:Increasing anthropogenic activities have significantly altered ecosystems in arid oasis regions. Estimating the impact on a wide range of ecosystem services is important for decision making and the sustainable development of these regions. This study analyzed time-series Landsat data to determine the influences of oasis land-use changes on the ecosystem services in the Kashgar region in Northwest China. The following results were found. The total value of the ecosystem services in the Kashgar region were approximately $10, 845.3, $11,218.6, $10,291.7, and $10,127.3 million in 1986, 1996, 2005, and 2015, respectively. The water supply, waste treatment, biodiversity protection, and recreation and cultural services were the four ecosystem services with the highest service value, contributing 77.05% of the total ecosystem services. The combined contribution rate of food production and raw material value was only about 4.02%, relatively small. The sensitivity analysis indicated that the estimated total ecosystem service value (ESV) for this study area was relatively inelastic with respect to the value coefficients. The findings of this study will be crucial for maintaining the stability and sustainable development of the oasis region, where socio-economic development and the integrity of the natural ecosystem complement each other. Furthermore, the results provide a scientific basis for decision makers in land use management, and provide a reference for researchers in the Northwest China.

Abstract. The Tarim River basin, located in Xinjiang, NW China, is the largest endorheic river basin in China and one of the largest in all of Central Asia. Due to the extremely arid climate, with an annual precipitation of less than 100 mm, the water supply along the Aksu and Tarim rivers solely depends on river water. This is linked to anthropogenic activities (e.g., agriculture) and natural and semi-natural ecosystems as both compete for water. The ongoing increase in water consumption by agriculture and other human activities in this region has been enhancing the competition for water between human needs and nature. Against this background, 11 German and 6 Chinese universities and research institutes have formed the consortium SuMaRiO (Sustainable Management of River Oases along the Tarim River; http://www.sumario.de), which aims to create a holistic picture of the availability of water resources in the Tarim River basin and the impacts on anthropogenic activities and natural ecosystems caused by the water distribution within the Tarim River basin. On the basis of the results from field studies and modeling approaches as well as from suggestions by the relevant regional stakeholders, a decision support tool (DST) will be implemented that will then assist stakeholders in balancing the competition for water, Published by Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union. 84 C. Rumbaur et al.: Sustainable management of river oases along the Tarim River acknowledging the major external effects of water allocation to agriculture and to natural ecosystems. This consortium was formed in 2011 and is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. As the data collection phase was finished this year, the paper presented here brings together the results from the fields from the disciplines of climate modeling, cryology, hydrology, agricultural sciences, ecology, geoinformatics, and social sciences in order to present a comprehensive picture of the effects of different water availability schemes on anthropogenic activities and natural ecosystems along the Tarim River. The second objective is to present the project structure of the whole consortium, the current status of work (i.e., major new results and findings), explain the foundation of the decision support tool as a key product of this project, and conclude with application recommendations for the region. The discharge of the Aksu River, which is the major tributary of the Tarim, has been increasing over the past 6 decades. From 1989 to 2011, agricultural area more than doubled: cotton became the major crop and there was a shift from small-scale to large-scale intensive farming. The ongoing increase in irrigated agricultural land leads to the increased threat of salinization and soil degradation caused by increased evapotranspiration. Aside from agricultural land, the major natural and semi-natural ecosystems are riparian (Tugai) forests, shrub vegetation, reed beds, and other grassland, as well as urban and peri-urban vegetation. ...

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