Appraisal of Urban Heat Island and Its Impacts on Environment Using Landsat TM in Peshawar, Pakistan

Abstract

Last couple of decades witnessed a rapid escalation in urban temperature of Peshawar city and its neighboring localities. This alarming condition gave birth to climatic term Urban Heat Island (UHI) created drastic alteration in surface temperatures. In this study, thermal infrared remote sensing data has been employed to map out and monitor such micro-climatic variation in temperatures in land use/land cover exposed surface to the environment. To assess these outcomes resulting from human activities, Landsat TM data band 6 was subjected through ERDAS Imagine 2013. For further processing, ARC GIS helped a lot in making maps to pinpoint the heat island in and around the city. Moreover, a relationship of land surface temperature with urban sprawl, environmental and industrialization was established. This study has shown a substantial upsurge in temperature about 1 to 3 degrees. Urban sprawl and industrialization at the edges are accounting for these conditions. Urban and industrial data has also reinforced the fact being drawn from remotely sensed data. Hence, evaluation of Land surface temperature data captured through remote satellite has proven to be effective tool not only for monitoring and analyzing temperature but also for assessing its adverse impacts on the environment and climate.

Identification and selection of suitable landfill sites using GIS-based multi-criteria decision analysis in the Peshawar District, Pakistan

“…District Peshawar is the largest district of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan and covers an area of 1257 km 2 (Mehmood et al, 2017; Raziq, 2016). Geographically it lies between 33° 43′ and 34° 12′ North latitude and 71° 22′and 71° 46′East longitude (Figure 1).…”

“…The soil is alkaline and calcareous having low organic matter with clay, silt and sandy loam texture (Siddiqui, 2006). The study area faces great seasonal variation with hot summers and severe winters (Mehmood et al, 2017). The mean minimum and maximum temperature during summers is between 25 °C to 40 °C and 4 °C to 18 °C in winters.…”

“…The 30 years average pattern of rainfall is recorded as 400 millimetres (Adnan and Iqbal, 2014). The wind speed swings from 24 knots on hot days of June to 5 knots on cold days of December while humidity ranges from 46 to 76% from June to August (Mehmood et al, 2017).…”

The Land Surface Temperature Dynamics and Its Impact on Land Cover in District Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

“…The major cities of Pakistan like Karachi (Mahboob et al, 2015), Lahore (Saleemi, 2015), Faisalabad, Multan are exposed to rapid urbanization and associated impacts. Like other cities of Pakistan, Peshawar city is also affected by rapid urbanization (Mehmood et al, 2017). Peshawar hosts millions of international refugees from Afghanistan (Ghufran, 2011;Mehmood et al, 2017;Wareing et al, 2010).…”

“…Like other cities of Pakistan, Peshawar city is also affected by rapid urbanization (Mehmood et al, 2017). Peshawar hosts millions of international refugees from Afghanistan (Ghufran, 2011;Mehmood et al, 2017;Wareing et al, 2010). Moreover being the provincial capital and security issues in other parts of the province during the last two decades, Peshawar has received unprecedented internal migration that results in immense pressure on the resources and environment and accelerated the urbanization (Ali et al, 2012;Mehmood et al, 2016).…”