Seasonality in the daytime and night-time intensity of land surface temperature in a tropical city area

Variations in urban land surface temperature (LST) links to the surrounding rural areas result to urban heat island (UHI), which is a global problem challenging both cities in develop and developing countries. Satellite data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), covering the period between 2002 and 2013 were analysed to examine seasonal variability in the daytime and night-time intensity of urban heat island (UHI), using Lagos metropolitan city of Nigeria as a case study. Contribution index (CI) and landscape index (LI) were used to estimate the LST contributions from non-urban and urban areas to UHI and assess the relationship between the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and LST. The LI showed that both non-urban and urban areas contribute greatly to strengthen the intensity of LST during the daytime (with LI < 1.0) and much more during the daytime in the dry seasons (LI = 0.13 in the year 2013). The correlation analysis showed seasonal variation in the relationship (R²) between NDVI and the LST for both day and night times. The highest R² values were recorded for daytime, especially during the wet season (R² > 0.90), while R² were very low in the night-time especially during dry season. The study indicates that reduction in vegetal cover in Lagos urban areas altered the terrestrial thermal and aerodynamic processes hence resulted in an intensification of UHI in the metropolitan city.