Abstract:

For over a century, the history of Hanoi has been connected to its urbanization process. This urban expansion is leading to the replacement of natural surfaces by various artificial materials. This situation has a critical impact on the environment due to the alteration of heat energy balance. This research reports an investigation into the application of remote sensing, geographic information systems (GIS) to provide information on the impact of urbanization on land surface temperature. The results show that low land surface temperature correlates positively with the coverage percentage of water and vegetation. This association is negative for built-up and dry barren of land use types. Hence, also from the results, it can be said that with an increase of built-up area, land surface temperature also increases. Especially as, where the surface is the plant or water becomes impervious, the temperature rises dramatically, from 3 to 7 degree. This information can be used by the municipal authorities and decision makers as input during urban and environmental planning.