Characterizing fractional vegetation cover and land surface temperature based on sub-pixel fractional impervious surfaces from Landsat TM/ETM+

Estimating the distribution of impervious surfaces and vegetation is important for analysing urban landscapes and their thermal environment. The application of a crisp classification of land-cover types to analyse urban landscape patterns and land surface temperature (LST) in detail presents a challenge, mainly due to the complex characteristics of urban landscapes. In this article, sub-pixel percentage impervious surface areas (ISAs) and fractional vegetation cover (FVC) were extracted from bitemporal Thematic Mapper/Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (TM/ETM+) data by linear spectral mixture analysis (LSMA). Their accuracy was assessed with proportional area estimates of the impervious surface and vegetation extracted from high-resolution data. A range approach was used to classify percentage ISA into different categories by setting thresholds of fractional values and these were compared for their LST patterns. For each ISA category, FVC, LST, and percentage ISA were used to quantify the urban thermal characteristics of different developed areas in the city of Fuzhou, China. Urban LST scenarios in different seasons and ISA categories were simulated to analyse the seasonal variations and the impact of urban landscape pattern changes on the thermal environment. The results show that FVC and LST based on percentage ISA can be used to quantitatively analyse the process of urban expansion and its impacts on the spatial–temporal distribution patterns of the urban thermal environment. This analysis can support urban planning by providing knowledge on the climate adaptation potential of specific urban spatial patterns.