environmental impact assessment; GIS; Khyber Pakhtunkhwa; land surface temperature (LST); remote sensing; surface urban heat island (SUHI); Global and Planetary Change; Ecology; Nature and Landscape Conservation
Abstract :
[en] The COVID-19 pandemic presented an unprecedented opportunity to assess the environmental effects of reduced anthropogenic activity on urban climates. This study investigates the impact of COVID-19-induced lockdowns on land surface temperature (LST) and the intensity of the surface urban heat island (SUHI) in Nowshera District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, Pakistan, which is experiencing rapid urbanization. Using Landsat 8/9 imagery, we assessed thermal changes across three periods: pre-lockdown (April 2019), during lockdown (April 2020), and post-lockdown (April 2021). Remote sensing indices, including NDVI and NDBI, were applied to evaluate the relationship between land cover and LST. Our results show a significant reduction in average LST during lockdown, from 31.38 °C in 2019 to 25.34 °C in 2020, a 6 °C decrease. Urban–rural LST differences narrowed from 9 °C to 6 °C. A one-way ANOVA confirmed significant differences in LST across the three periods (F (2, 3) = 3691.46, p < 0.001), with Tukey HSD tests indicating that the lockdown period differed significantly from both the pre- and post-lockdown periods (p < 0.001). SUHI intensity fell from 35.10 °C to 28.89 °C during lockdown, then rebounded to 35.37 °C post-lockdown. The indices analysis shows that built-up and rangeland areas consistently recorded the highest LST (e.g., 35.36 °C and 37.09 °C in 2021, respectively), while vegetation and water bodies maintained lower temperatures (34.68 °C and 32.69 °C in 2021). NDVI confirmed the cooling effect of green areas, while high NDBI values correlated with increased LST in urban areas. These findings underscore the impact of human activity on urban heat dynamics and highlight the role of sustainable urban planning and green infrastructure in enhancing climate resilience. By exploring the relationships among land cover, anthropogenic activity, and urban climate resilience, this research offers policymakers and urban planners’ valuable insights for developing adaptive, low-emission cities amid rapid urbanization and climate change.
Disciplines :
Environmental sciences & ecology
Author, co-author :
Akhtar, Waqar; School of Geographical Sciences & School of Carbon Neutrality Future Technology, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou, China ; Research Center of Sino-Europe Environmental Management and Landscape, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou, China
Sha, Jinming; School of Geographical Sciences & School of Carbon Neutrality Future Technology, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou, China ; Research Center of Sino-Europe Environmental Management and Landscape, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou, China
Li, Xiaomei ; College of Environmental and Resource Sciences & College of Carbon Neutral Modern Industry, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou, China
Nasir, Muhammad Jamal ; Department of Geography & Geomatics, University of Peshawar, Peshawar, Pakistan
Mahar, Waqas Ahmed ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Urban and Environmental Engineering ; Department of Architecture, School of Art, Design and Architecture (SADA), National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Islamabad, Pakistan
Fu P. Weng Q. A Time Series Analysis of Urbanization Induced Land Use and Land Cover Change and Its Impact on Land Surface Temperature with Landsat Imagery Remote Sens. Environ. 2016 175 205 214 10.1016/j.rse.2015.12.040
Zhang S. Zhu H. Zeng K. Zhang Y. Jin Z. Wang Y. Zhang R. Jürgen B. Liu M. From City to Countryside: Unraveling the Long-Term Complex Effects of Urbanization on Vegetation Growth in China J. Environ. Manag. 2025 380 124975 10.1016/j.jenvman.2025.124975
Ibrahim M. Nasir M.J. Unraveling the Complexities of Land-Use–Land Cover Transformation and Its Impact on Land Surface Temperature and Urban Heat Island Effect: A Study of Nowshera District, Pakistan J. Urban Plan. Dev. 2024 150 4024031 10.1061/JUPDDM.UPENG-5058
Ibrahim M. Ahmad N. Quantitative Evaluation and Challenges Confronting Dedicated Green Spaces in Cities: A Case Study of Peshawar, Pakistan Geol. Ecol. Landsc. 2023 9 706 717 10.1080/24749508.2023.2265123
Zhong S. Qian Y. Zhao C. Leung R. Wang H. Yang B. Fan J. Yan H. Yang X.-Q. Liu D. Urbanization-Induced Urban Heat Island and Aerosol Effects on Climate Extremes in the Yangtze River Delta Region of China Atmos. Chem. Phys. 2017 17 5439 5457 10.5194/acp-17-5439-2017
Ho J.Y. Shi Y. Lau K.K.L. Ng E.Y.Y. Ren C. Goggins W.B. Urban Heat Island Effect-Related Mortality under Extreme Heat and Non-Extreme Heat Scenarios: A 2010–2019 Case Study in Hong Kong Sci. Total Environ. 2023 858 159791 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.159791
Shahjahan A.T.M. Urban Adaptation Measures for Climate Change: Study of Urban Wetlands in View of Potential Urban Cooling Master’s Thesis Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) Dhaka, Bangladesh 2018
Sodiq A. Baloch A.A.B. Khan S.A. Sezer N. Mahmoud S. Jama M. Abdelaal A. Towards Modern Sustainable Cities: Review of Sustainability Principles and Trends J. Clean. Prod. 2019 227 972 1001 10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.04.106
Naeem W. Kim J. Lee Y.G. Spatiotemporal Variations in the Air Pollutant NO2 in Some Regions of Pakistan, India, China, and Korea, before and after COVID-19, Based on Ozone Monitoring Instrument Data Atmosphere 2022 13 986 10.3390/atmos13060986
Kim K. Impacts of COVID-19 on Transportation: Summary and Synthesis of Interdisciplinary Research Transp. Res. Interdiscip. Perspect. 2021 9 100305 10.1016/j.trip.2021.100305
Kandukuri K. Impact of Environmental Variables on COVID-19—A Study from the Telangana State, India Biom. Biostat. Int. J. 2024 13 36 40 10.15406/bbij.2024.13.00412
Shamshudin F. Daud N.R. Monitoring Effects of Lockdown during COVID-19 Pandemic towards the Air Pollution in Southeast Asia/Nurul Fathimah Shamshudin and Nurul Rabitah Daud J. Sustain. Civ. Eng. Technol. 2022 1 29 42 10.24191/jscet.v1v2.29-42
Zajfert M. Urban Transport during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Case Study of Poland Public Transp. 2025 17 153 176 10.1007/s12469-024-00359-6
Bechtel B. Demuzere M. Mills G. Zhan W. Sismanidis P. Small C. Voogt J. SUHI Analysis Using Local Climate Zones—A Comparison of 50 Cities Urban Clim. 2019 28 100451 10.1016/j.uclim.2019.01.005
Kara Y. Yavuz V. Lupo A.R. Multi-Index Assessment of Surface Urban Heat Island (SUHI) Dynamics in Samsun Using Google Earth Engine Atmosphere 2025 16 712 10.3390/atmos16060712
Firozjaei M.K. Fathololomi S. Kiavarz M. Arsanjani J.J. Homaee M. Alavipanah S.K. Modeling the Impact of the COVID-19 Lockdowns on Urban Surface Ecological Status: A Case Study of Milan and Wuhan Cities J. Environ. Manag. 2021 286 112236 10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.112236
Azmeer A. Tahir F. Al-Ghamdi S.G. Progress on Green Infrastructure for Urban Cooling: Evaluating Techniques, Design Strategies, and Benefits Urban Clim. 2024 56 102077 10.1016/j.uclim.2024.102077
Huang X. Wang Y. Investigating the Effects of 3D Urban Morphology on the Surface Urban Heat Island Effect in Urban Functional Zones by Using High-Resolution Remote Sensing Data: A Case Study of Wuhan, Central China ISPRS J. Photogramm. Remote Sens. 2019 152 119 131 10.1016/j.isprsjprs.2019.04.010
Trlica A. Hutyra L.R. Schaaf C.L. Erb A. Wang J.A. Albedo, Land Cover, and Daytime Surface Temperature Variation across an Urbanized Landscape Earth’s Future 2017 5 1084 1101 10.1002/2017EF000569
Smith I.A. Fabian M.P. Hutyra L.R. Urban Green Space and Albedo Impacts on Surface Temperature across Seven United States Cities Sci. Total Environ. 2023 857 159663 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.159663
Rotem-Mindali O. Michael Y. Helman D. Lensky I.M. The Role of Local Land-Use on the Urban Heat Island Effect of Tel Aviv as Assessed from Satellite Remote Sensing Appl. Geogr. 2015 56 145 153 10.1016/j.apgeog.2014.11.023
Ibrahim M. Ahmad N. Mahar W.A. Nasir M.J. Assessment of the Spatial Inequality and Configuration of Recreational Green Spaces in the Urban Centre of Nowshera, Pakistan Discov. Cities 2025 2 113 10.1007/s44327-025-00140-9
USGS USGS: Landsat Collection 2 Level-1 Data Products Available online: https://earthexplorer.usgs.gov (accessed on 22 November 2025)
Gao M. Qin Z. Qiu J. Liu S. Xu B. Li W. Yang X. Retrieving Spatial-Temporal Variation of Land Surface Temperature in Tibetan Plateau for the Years 2005-2006 from MODIS Satellite Data Proceedings of the SPIE Remote Sensing Cardiff, UK 14–18 September 2008 Volume 7110 348 357
Li Z.L. Wu H. Wang N. Qiu S. Sobrino J.A. Wan Z. Tang B.H. Yan G. Land surface emissivity retrieval from satellite data Int. J. Remote Sens. 2013 34 3084 3127 10.1080/01431161.2012.716540
Ashwini K. Sil B.S. Kafy A.A. Altuwaijri H.A. Nath H. Rahaman Z.A. Harnessing Machine Learning Algorithms to Model the Association between Land Use/Land Cover Change and Heatwave Dynamics for Enhanced Environmental Management Land 2024 13 1273 10.3390/land13081273
Gandhi G.M. Parthiban S. Thummalu N. Christy A. Ndvi: Vegetation Change Detection Using Remote Sensing and Gis—A Case Study of Vellore District Procedia Comput. Sci. 2015 57 1199 1210 10.1016/j.procs.2015.07.415
Johansen B. Tømmervik H. The Relationship between Phytomass, NDVI and Vegetation Communities on Svalbard Int. J. Appl. Earth Obs. Geoinf. 2014 27 20 30 10.1016/j.jag.2013.07.001
Guha S. Govil H. Diwan P. Analytical Study of Seasonal Variability in Land Surface Temperature with Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Water Index, Normalized Difference Built-up Index, and Normalized Multiband Drought Index J. Appl. Remote Sens. 2019 13 24518
Chen X. Cao X. Liao A. Chen L. Peng S. Lu M. Chen J. Zhang W. Zhang H. Han G. Global Mapping of Artificial Surfaces at 30-m Resolution Sci. China Earth Sci. 2016 59 2295 2306 10.1007/s11430-016-5291-y
Zhao H.R. Shi H. Yang H. Li X.W. Wang J.D. Zhang X. Separating the Radiance Contribution of Land Surface and Atmosphere Proceedings of the IGARSS 2003. 2003 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium Toulouse, France 21–25 July 2003 Proceedings (IEEE Cat. No. 03CH37477) IEEE Piscataway, NJ, USA 2003 Volume 6 3878 3880
Sresto M.A. Siddika S. Fattah M.A. Morshed S.R. Morshed M.M. A GIS and Remote Sensing Approach for Measuring Summer-Winter Variation of Land Use and Land Cover Indices and Surface Temperature in Dhaka District, Bangladesh Heliyon 2022 8 e10309 10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e10309
Zhao H. Chen X. Use of Normalized Difference Bareness Index in Quickly Mapping Bare Areas from TM/ETM+ Proceedings of the International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium Seoul, Republic of Korea 24–29 July 2005 Volume 3 1666
Imran H.M. Hossain A. Islam A.K.M.S. Rahman A. Bhuiyan M.A.E. Paul S. Alam A. Impact of Land Cover Changes on Land Surface Temperature and Human Thermal Comfort in Dhaka City of Bangladesh Earth Syst. Environ. 2021 5 667 693 10.1007/s41748-021-00243-4
Chakraborty T.C. Sarangi C. Lee X. Reduction in Human Activity Can Enhance the Urban Heat Island: Insights from the COVID-19 Lockdown Environ. Res. Lett. 2021 16 54060 10.1088/1748-9326/abef8e
Feng Z. Wang X. Yuan J. Zhang Y. Yu M. Changes in Air Pollution, Land Surface Temperature, and Urban Heat Islands during the COVID-19 Lockdown in Three Chinese Urban Agglomerations Sci. Total Environ. 2023 892 164496 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.164496
Li L. Zha Y. Zhang J. Spatially Non-Stationary Effect of Underlying Driving Factors on Surface Urban Heat Islands in Global Major Cities Int. J. Appl. Earth Obs. Geoinf. 2020 90 102131 10.1016/j.jag.2020.102131
Li L. Zha Y. Satellite-Based Spatiotemporal Trends of Canopy Urban Heat Islands and Associated Drivers in China’s 32 Major Cities Remote Sens. 2019 11 102 10.3390/rs11010102
Doulay Seydou K. Morenikeji W. Diouf A. Dicko K. Erdanaev E. Loewner R. Okhimamhe A.A. Dynamics of Zinder’s Urban Landscape: Implications for Sustainable Land Use Management and Environmental Conservation Sustainability 2024 16 10263 10.3390/su162310263
Moazzam M.F.U. Lee B.G. Urbanization Influenced SUHI Of 41 Megacities of the World Using Big Geospatial Data Assisted with Google Earth Engine Sustain. Cities Soc. 2024 101 105095 10.1016/j.scs.2023.105095
Wang R. Wang M. Zhang Z. Hu T. Xing J. He Z. Liu X. Geographical Detection of Urban Thermal Environment Based on the Local Climate Zones: A Case Study in Wuhan, China Remote Sens. 2022 14 1067 10.3390/rs14051067
Dutta D. Rahman A. Paul S.K. Kundu A. Changing Pattern of Urban Landscape and Its Effect on Land Surface Temperature in and around Delhi Environ. Monit. Assess. 2019 191 551 10.1007/s10661-019-7645-3
Puche M. Vavassori A. Brovelli M.A. Insights into the Effect of Urban Morphology and Land Cover on Land Surface and Air Temperatures in the Metropolitan City of Milan (Italy) Using Satellite Imagery and in Situ Measurements Remote Sens. 2023 15 733 10.3390/rs15030733
Arsalan M. Surface Urban Heat Island (SUHI) Pattern and Trends in Main Cities of Pakistan: Lahore and Faisalabad Environ. Sci. Ecol. Curr. Res. 2025 6 10112 10.54026/ESECR/10112
Rizvi S.H. Fatima H. Iqbal M.J. Alam K. The Effect of Urbanization on the Intensification of SUHIs: Analysis by LULC on Karachi J. Atmos. Sol. Terr. Phys. 2020 207 105374 10.1016/j.jastp.2020.105374
UN-Habitat World Cities Report 2022: Envisaging the Future of Cities UN-Habitat Nairobi, Kenya 2022
