11
SCALING ISSUES IN STUDYING THE
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN
LANDSCAPE PATTERN AND LAND
SURFACE TEMPERATURE
HUA LIU AND QIHAO WENG
11.1 INTRODUCTION
Landscape pattern is an important concept in landscape ecology (Forman and Godron,
1986). As an important determinant of ecosystem function, land use and land cover
(LULC) patterns can be considered as the representative of landscape patterns (Bain
and Brush, 2004). LULC patches in a landscape may have different characteristics
(e.g., sizes, shapes, and spatial arrangements). LULC categories are associated with
various surface temperatures in urban environment (Voogt and Oke, 1997). Land
surface temperatures (LST) reflect surface–atmosphere interactions and energy fluxes
between the ground and the atmosphere (Wan and Dozier, 1996). It has been used to
measure the urban heat island parameters (e.g., magnitudes, spatial extents, and
directions of heat movements) (Streutker, 2002, 2003). Characteristic natural and
human-involved patches have ecological implications at various spatial levels and
influence the distribution of habitats and material flows (Peterjohn and Correll, 1984;
Turner, 1990). Relationship between landscape pattern and LST is an important topic
in the study of urban heat islands (Weng et al., 2004). Research is needed to examine
the causes, processes, and ecological implications of LULC changes at various spatial
scales (Weng et al., 2004; Alberti, 2005), especially the relationship with LST.
It is needed to quantify the spatial pattern and temporal change in order to
understand patterns and processes in a landscape (Wu et al., 2000). A great number
of landscape metrics have been developed to characterize the spatial patterns of
217
Scale Issues in Remote Sensing, First Edition. Edited by Qihao Weng.
Ó 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Published 2014 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
SCALING ISSUES IN STUDYING THE
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN
LANDSCAPE PATTERN AND LAND
SURFACE TEMPERATURE
HUA LIU AND QIHAO WENG
11.1 INTRODUCTION
Landscape pattern is an important concept in landscape ecology (Forman and Godron,
1986). As an important determinant of ecosystem function, land use and land cover
(LULC) patterns can be considered as the representative of landscape patterns (Bain
and Brush, 2004). LULC patches in a landscape may have different characteristics
(e.g., sizes, shapes, and spatial arrangements). LULC categories are associated with
various surface temperatures in urban environment (Voogt and Oke, 1997). Land
surface temperatures (LST) reflect surface–atmosphere interactions and energy fluxes
between the ground and the atmosphere (Wan and Dozier, 1996). It has been used to
measure the urban heat island parameters (e.g., magnitudes, spatial extents, and
directions of heat movements) (Streutker, 2002, 2003). Characteristic natural and
human-involved patches have ecological implications at various spatial levels and
influence the distribution of habitats and material flows (Peterjohn and Correll, 1984;
Turner, 1990). Relationship between landscape pattern and LST is an important topic
in the study of urban heat islands (Weng et al., 2004). Research is needed to examine
the causes, processes, and ecological implications of LULC changes at various spatial
scales (Weng et al., 2004; Alberti, 2005), especially the relationship with LST.
It is needed to quantify the spatial pattern and temporal change in order to
understand patterns and processes in a landscape (Wu et al., 2000). A great number
of landscape metrics have been developed to characterize the spatial patterns of
217
Scale Issues in Remote Sensing, First Edition. Edited by Qihao Weng.
Ó 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Published 2014 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.