Assessing heat vulnerability of New Orleans using multitemporal remote sensing and demographic data

Abstract

Coastal areas are more sensitive to climate change and are more vulnerable to increase in temperatures. For the last decades, residents of New Orleans have been experiencing hotter summer temperatures conditions and extreme weather conditions. Meanwhile, with economic development and the impact of human activities, the land cover of the region has experienced substantial changes. Since Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Parks and Parkway has undertaken a re-greening effort to replace the many thousands of trees lost. A specific benefit of tree cover is its ability to reduce the heat storage capacity of urban surfaces that creates urban heat islands. This study (1) creates an up-to-date, high spatial resolution land cover map and examine how the components of Land cover, particularly trees vary across post-Katrina New Orleans; (2) quantifies the magnitude and seasonality of LST change between 2006 to 2020 within the same areas of Land cover maps; and (3) contextualizes Land cover and LST patterns with census‐based demographic data and to draw inferences about the heat vulnerability implications.