GEOSPATIAL ASSESSMENT OF LAND USE/ COVER CHANGE AND LAND SURFACE TEMPERATURE IN LEKKI AND ENVIRONS, LAGOS

Abstract

The natural land cover in Lagos coastal communities have changed over time and still experiencing change. Due to profound pressure on housing, infrastructure and continued growth in the population of Lagos, there have been challenges relating to unregulated land use.The social and environmental repercussions of a loosely planned urban city could be catastrophic. Lagos coastal communities especially Lekki and environs has experienced remarkable urban expansion in a short period of time.Therefore, there is the need to put forward appropriate policies and monitoring strategiesfor the sustenance of urban quality of life. This underscores the need to understand the spatio-temporal dynamics of urban expansion on the temperature of Lekki and environs. Thus, the study assessed the dynamics of land use/land cover of the study area from 1984 to 2015 using multi-date satellite imageries. The analysis of the Land Surface Temperature of the study area was also carried out over the same period so as to determine the relationship between the Land Surface Temperature, Vegetation and Land cover types of the study area.Thereafter, time series analysis was used to analyze the dynamics of Land Surface Temperature of the study area. The Near Infra-red and the Red Bands was used to derive the Land Surface temperature patterns of the classified Land Use/ Land Cover types.It was discovered that the commercial/high density residential areas exhibited the highest land surface temperature, followed by the medium density residential areas. The lower land surface temperature values are characteristic of minimum density residential and vegetation covered area. This signifies a linear relationship between Land Use/Cover change and Land Surface Temperature. This study identified the tree planting as a cost effective LST regulation tool in the study area. This research will provide guidance on how to manage thermal environment of big cities in accordance with Land use management.