Date of Award
Spring 5-3-2024
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Department
Geography
First Advisor
Peter Marcotullio
Second Advisor
Mehdi Heris
Academic Program Adviser
Sean Ahearn
Abstract
Intra-urban land surface temperature change is not well studied outside of a land use land cover change perspective. To address this research gap, this thesis studied the effect of biophysical change and recent development on land surface temperature (LST) change in New York City from 1985 to 2023. Mean summer values of land surface temperature, transformed difference vegetation index (TDVI), and albedo were computed for New York City census tracts during 1985 – 1994 and 2015 – 2023, along with measures of development activity since 2015. A spatial Durbin error model (R2: 0.939, RMSE: 0.538°C) significantly related TDVI change, albedo change, the number of buildings altered since 2015, and the spatially lagged indirect effects of TDVI change, albedo change, number of buildings altered since 2015, number of buildings constructed since 2015, and the amount of floor area altered since 2015 to land surface temperature change from 1985 – 1994 to 2015 – 2023. This analysis may serve as an initial step in research on LST change in the increasing number of highly developed urban environments around the world.
Recommended Citation
Kittredge, Andrew, "Land Surface Temperature Change in New York City, 1985-2023: A Historical Analysis" (2024). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/hc_sas_etds/1186