The Urban Heat Island in Kathmandu, Nepal: Evaluating the Spatial Distribution of Changes in Normalized Difference Vegetation Index and Land Surface Temperatures 2000 to 2016

1. The Urban Heat Island in Kathmandu, Nepal:
Evaluating the Spatial Distribution of Changes in
Normalized Difference Vegetation Index and Land
Surface Temperatures 2000 to 2016
B. Mishra, J. Sandifer, B. Gyawali, Y. Upadhyaya
Kentucky State University
Association of Nepalese Agricultural Professionals of America (NAPA)
First Biennial Conference
May 26-27, 2018
Oklahoma City, OK

2. Outline of Presentation
• Introduction
• Urban Heat Island
• Urbanization in Nepal and Kathmandu
• Research Problem
• Objectives and Hypothesis
• Data and Method
• Results
• Conclusions
• Application of Research and Research Extension
• Acknowledgements

3. Introduction: Nepal and Kathmandu
Source: Google/Google Image

4. Urban Heat Island
Focus is the SUHI 
http://www.actionbioscience.org/environment/voogt.html

5. Urbanization in Nepal
• Urbanization in Nepal has been observed since 1970 (Thapa et
al., 2008).
• Nepal is among the ten least urbanized countries, but has been
one of the top ten fastest urbanizing countries in last few
decades (Thapa et al., 2008).
• Currently, 18.20% of the population lives in urban areas (UN
DESA, 2015), while 22.70% of the population will live in urban
areas by 2025 (UN-Habitat, 2016).
• A total of 30% of the country will be urbanized by 2050, which
will remove the country from the list of ten least urbanized
countries (UN DESA, 2015).

6. http://www.onlinekhabar.com
Newly Added Municipalities in Nepal

7. Urbanization in Kathmandu
• The Central Development and Hilly
Regions where Kathmandu (KTM)
valley is situated are the most
urbanized areas.
• Kathmandu municipality holds
24.02% of total KTM valley urban
area and 9.72% of total urban
population, making it the only
urbanized area with more than a
million people (Bakarnia, 2015;
MoUD, 2015).
Pop. Den (Per Ha): WorldPop 2015

8. March, 1972 ~ 2016
~ 2016
Photo Sources: Gutschow & Kreutzmann, 2013 and OnlineKhabar Facebook Page

9. Research Problem:
• Several studies have demonstrated a correlation between
Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and urban heat
islands (UHIs) (Grover et al., 2015; Lui et al., 2015).
• However, UHI shows global heterogeneity due to various reasons
such as geography, demographics, socioeconomic conditions, and
gross domestic product (GDP) (Cui et al., 2016).
• Socioeconomic factors and population dynamics have important
roles in determining UHI in developing countries (Cui et al., 2016).

10. Objectives:
• To observe the temperature variation in major land covers of the
Kathmandu valley.
• To determine whether any significant change in monthly land surface
temperatures (LSTs) occurred from 2000 to 2016.
• To determine whether LST change is associated with change in NDVI.
Hypothesis:
• NDVI cannot explain the surface UHI of the Kathmandu valley.

11. Data and Methods:
• Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)
• MCD12Q1: Global Annual Land Cover (2012)
• MOD11A2: Land Surface Temperatures (LSTs)
• MOD13Q1: Normalize Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)
• Pixel/raster data were converted to polygon and points.
• Pixel-based comparisons/calculations were done
for each point (N = 6029).

12. Sampling Extent: N = 6029

13. MODIS MCD12Q1: Land Cover Distribution

14. Results – Change in LSTs
Results: Objective 1: Land
Cover LST Distribution
LST distribution
(daytime, 500m )

15. Result: Objective 2: Change in LST
LSTs are significantly warmer in
higher elevations in March

16. Result: Objective 3: Change in LST and NDVI
Areas with significant change in monthly LSTs (left) are not correlated spatially
with changes in NDVI (right)

17. Conclusions:
• Built land areas are warmer than crop or forest lands.
• LSTs peak in May in all major land cover types.
• The greatest interclass variation occurs during the summer
months.
• LSTs are changing significantly outside of KTM although they are
high inside the valley.
• LSTs changes are not spatially coincident with changes in
landscape as quantified by NDVI.
• NDVI change is widespread, but not coincident with LSTs.

18. Application of Research and Research Extension
• Nepal is not very well-studied in research in this area. This is
most likely the first study of UHI using MODIS data in Nepal.
• We found NDVI may not be a good indicator of UHI in developing
urban areas like Kathmandu in Nepal.
• This can be better explained by other socioeconomic factors,
demographics, and GDP (Cui et al., 2016).
• This research opened a new dimension of research in developing
countries.
• The model can be tested in other urban centers of Nepal.

19. Acknowledgement
• Grants: USDA/AFRI Farm Diversification for Strengthening
Small Farms in Kentucky Award No. 2014-68006-21865, and
USDA-Capacity Building Grant (USDA-CBG) Award No. 2013-
38821-21120)
• College of Agriculture, Food Science, & Sustainable Systems
and the Land Grant Program at Kentucky State University.
• Association of Nepalese Agricultural Professionals of
Americas (NAPA).

20. References:
• Bakrania, S. Urbanization and Urban Growth in Nepal (GRDC Helpdesk Research Report 1294) Birmingham, UK: GSDRC, University of
Birmingham , 2015.
• Cui, Y., Xu, X., Dong, J., & Qin, Y. Influence of Urbanization Factors on Surface Urban Heat Island Intensity: A Comparison of Countries at
Different Developmental Phases. Sustainability, 8(8), 706. doi:10.3390/su8080706, 2016.
• Grover A., and Singh, R. B.: Analysis of Urban Heat Island (UHI) in Relation to Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI): A Comparative
Study of Delhi and Mumbai, Environments, 2 (2), 125-138, doi:10.3390/environments2020125, 2015.
• Land Process Distributed Active Archive Center (LP DACC)a. Land Surface Temperature and Emissivity 8-Day L3 MOD11A2. Retrieved February
25, 2017, from https://lpdaac.usgs.gov/dataset_discovery/modis/modis_products_table/mod11a2, 2017.
• Land Process Distributed Active Archive Center (LP DACC)b. Vegetation Indices 16-Days L3 Global 250m MOD13Q1. Retrieved February 25,
2017, from https://lpdaac.usgs.gov/dataset_discovery/modis/modis_products_table/mod13q1, 2017.
• Liu, W., Ji, C. Jiang, X., and Zhong, J.: Relationship between NDVI and the Urban Heat Island Effect in Beijing area of China, SIPE Proceedings
Vol 5884, Remote Sensing and Modeling of Ecosystem for Sustainability II, Editors: Gao and Shaw, 2015.
• Ministry of Urban Development. National Urban Development Strategy. Ministry of Urban Development, Government of Nepal. Retrieved
February 21, 2017, from http://moud.gov.np/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/NUDS-2015-final-draft.pdf, 2015.
• Online Khabar.com: https://www.onlinekhabar.com/ Retrieved March 04, 2017.
• Thapa, R. B., and Murayama, Y. “Examining Spatiotemporal Urbanization Patterns in Kathmandu Valley, Nepal: Remote Sensing and Spatial
Metrics Approaches.” Remote Sens., 1, 534-556. doi:10.3390/rs1030534, 2009.
• United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA). World Urbanization Prospects: The 2014 Revisions,
(ST/ESA/SER.A/366). Retrieved February 20, 2017 from UN, SESA Website: https://esa.un.org/Unpd/Wup/Publications/Files/WUP2014-
Report.pdf, 2015.
• UN HABITAT. Urbanization and Development: Emerging Figures. World Cities Report, 2016 (Rep.). Retrieved February 26, 2017, from UN
Habitat website: http://wcr.unhabitat.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/16/2016/05/WCR-%20Full-Report-2016.pdf , 2016.

21. Thank you.
Questions?