Spatio-Temporal Change in Land Use, Land Cover and Land Surface Emissivity in Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria

Land use-land cover changes are adjudged as major drivers of climate change. They determine the level of Land Surface Emissivity and the consequent thermal conditions. This study examined the impacts of land use land cover change on land surface emissivity of Benin City between 1991 and 2021. It employed a geospatial technique for the data acquisition and spatial analysis. The result showed a spatio-temporal change in urban land uses which led to a remarkable loss in vegetal cover. The trend of depletion in vegetation and changes in land uses was followed by a rise in urban land surface emissivity. Thus, there was a corollary between change in land use land cover and land surface emissivity. Within the period, water body increased by 0.0088 Km2, the built-up area increased by 34.4587 Km2 while cultivated area and vegetation reduced by 2.0413 Km2 and 29.0069 km2 respectively. Findings also revealed a steady rise in LSE within the period from a range of 0.975-0.987µm in 1991 to 0.986-0.987µm in 2006 and 0.986-0.988µm in 2021. By implication, there was a progressive increase in the land surface emissivity due to changes in land use land cover within the study period. Hence, urban land use land cover dynamics lends credence to urban land surface emissivity which is a precursor to several ecological problems. It becomes necessary to adopt relevant mitigations like afforestation, use of low thermal emissive materials and effective urban planning to curb the emissions.