Impacts of Land Use and Land Cover Changes on Land Surface Temperature over Cachar Region, Northeast India—A Case Study

Abstract

The promptness of industrialisation and expanding urbanisation to achieve targets of economics are resulting in the transfiguration of permeable surfaces into impervious ones through LULC adaptation, leaving a herculean footprint on the ecosystem. The LULC escalates land surface temperature (LST), which further stimulates urban heat islands (UHIs), ultimately remaining in tune with high levels of air pollution, energy use, and corresponding health hazards. The present evaluation first used Landsat TM/OLI satellite data to identify the labyrinth of the LULC rotation and, secondly, gauged its effects on the LST in the Cachar district of Assam, India, for the years 1990, 2000, 2010, and 2020. It embraces Cellular Automata (CA) and GIS methodologies to pull out the urbanization pattern and its ramifications in various LULC brackets of Cachar, India. It also embraces spatiotemporal LULC monitoring (1990–2020) and urban growth modelling (2030–2040). From the period 1990 to 2020, satellite-based LULC showed a net urban expansion of 269.43 km2 (7.13% increase). Some correlations were developed to show the relationship between spatial indices such as NDVI, NDBI, and NDWI with Land Surface Temperature (LST). Resultantly, a positive relation exists between LST and NDBI, but a negative correlation prevails between LST and NDVI, as well as NDWI. This evaluation will be of service to urban and environmental planners, providing them with detailed knowledge on how land cover is changing uniquely in northeast India.