Variations in land surface temperatures in small-scale urban areas in Vietnam during Covid-19 restrictions: Case studies from Da Nang, Hue and Vinh City

Land surface temperature (LST) is an important variable in urban microclimate research. At the end of 2019, the emergence of Covid-19 pandemic has changed the world in a manner that forced many countries to impose restrictions in human activities. As a measure to prevent the expansion of Covid-19 infections, most of the major cities have entered a prolonged lockdown period and reduction in human activities between the early 2020 and the late 2021. These restrictions were strict in most of the cities in Southeast Asia, particularly in Vietnam. The present study investigated the variations in LST and NDVI observed in three rapidly growing urban areas, namely Da Nang, Hue and Vinh, in Vietnam using Landsat-8 imagery acquired between 2017 and 2022. There has been a slight reduction in LST in the study sites, particularly in Da Nang City, during the lockdown period but not as high as observed in recently conducted studies from big metropolitan cities, including in Vietnam. It is also observed that LST estimated from built-up areas and other impervious surfaces remained relatively stable during the study period which is similar to the results from recent studies.