Determining heat island response to varying land cover changes between 2004 and 2017 within the city of Reno, Nevada

The objective of this research was to investigate the role of land cover changes through time in influencing spatial variability of the surface urban heat island of the metropolitan area of Reno-Sparks, Nevada. Thermal imagery from Landsat 7 ETM+ sensor was gathered for a period between 2004 and 2017. Using parcel data, the time series of Landsat data was sampled for areas that had undergone development during that time. A set of generalized linear models was conducted to determine expected temperature change with land cover class. It was found that recently developed regions within Reno-Sparks are 0.6oC warmer on average than the undeveloped desert grasses and sage. When wetlands/irrigated greenery were converted, it resulted in an increase of over 2oC. This research has shown that the Reno-Sparks surface urban heat island has undergone local, but measurable, growth in the past fourteen years.