Exploring the Influence of Terrain Blockage on Spatiotemporal Variations in Land Surface Temperature from the Perspective of Heat Energy Redistribution

Abstract

Land surface temperature (LST) is a critical indicator of the earth’s surface environment, which has significant implications for research on the ecological environment and climate change. The influence of terrain on LST is complex due to its rugged and varied surface topography. The relationship between traditional terrain features and LST has been comprehensively discussed in the literature; however, terrain blockage has received less attention and could influence LST by hindering the redistribution of heat energy in mountain regions. Here, we investigate the influence of terrain blockage on the spatiotemporal variation in LST in mountain regions. We first propose a terrain feature framework to characterize the effect of terrain blockage from the perspective of heat energy redistribution and then adopt a random forest model to analyze the relationship between terrain blockage features and LST over a whole year. The results show that terrain blockage significantly influences the spatial heterogeneity of LST, which can be effectively simulated based on terrain blockage features, with a mean deviation of less than 0.15 K. Terrain blockage has a more pronounced influence on LST during the four months from June to September. This influence is also more evident during nighttime than daytime. Regarding LST in mountain regions, local terrain blockage features have a greater influence than global terrain blockage features. In spatial terms, the influence of terrain blockage on LST is uniform. Moreover, the diurnal variation in LST can also be effectively simulated based on terrain blockage. The contribution of this study lies in the finding that terrain blockage can influence the spatiotemporal variation in LST through the process of heat energy redistribution. The terrain blockage features proposed in this study may be useful for other studies of the ecological environment in mountain regions.