Urban Heat Island Monitoring and Impacts on Citizen’s General Health Status in Isfahan Metropolis: A Remote Sensing and Field Survey Approach

Remote Sensing

Mohsen Arbabi¹  Zohreh Shaklabadi¹  Mohsen Mirzaei²  Jochem Verrelst³  Masoud Lotfizadeh⁴ 

[1] Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Health, Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences, Shahrekord 88157-13471, Iran;Environmental Pollutions, Grape Environmental Science Department, Research Institute for Grapes and Raisin (RIGR), Malayer University, Malayer 65719-95863, Iran;Image Processing Laboratory (IPL), Parc Científic, Universitat de València, Paterna, 46980 València, Spain;Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences, Shahrekord 88157-13471, Iran;

关键词: urban heat island;    land surface temperature;    split window algorithm;    general health questionnaire-28;    Isfahan metropolis;   

DOI  :  10.3390/rs12081350

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Urban heat islands (UHIs) are one of the urban management challenges, especially in metropolises, which can affect citizens’ health and well-being. This study used a combination of remote sensing techniques with field survey to investigate systematically the effects of UHI on citizens’ health in Isfahan metropolis, Iran. For this purpose, the land surface temperature (LST) over a three-year period was monitored by Landsat-8 satellite imagery based on the split window algorithm. Then, the areas where UHI and urban cold island (UCI) phenomena occurred were identified and a general health questionnaire-28 (GHQ-28) was applied to evaluate the health status of 800 citizens in terms of physical health, anxiety and sleep, social function, and depression in UHI and UCI treatments. The average LST during the study period was 45.5 ± 2.3 °C and results showed that the Zayandeh-Rood river and the surrounding greenery had an important role in regulating the ambient temperature and promoting the citizens’ health. Citizens living in the suburban areas were more exposed to the UHIs phenomena, and statistical analysis of the GHQ-28 results indicated that they showed severe significant (P < 0.05) responses in terms of non-physical health sub-scales (i.e., anxiety and sleep, social functioning, and depression). Therefore, it can be concluded that not all citizens in the Isfahan metropolis are in the same environmental conditions and city managers and planners should pay more attention to the citizens living in the UHIs. The most important proceedings in this area would be the creation and development of parks and green belts, as well as the allocation of health-medical facilities and citizen education.

【 授权许可】

Unknown