Comparison of Land Surface Temperature During and Before the Emergence of Covid-19 using Modis Imagery in Wuhan City, China

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) was firstly identified in Wuhan, China. By 23rd January 2020, China’s Government made a decision to execute lockdown policy in Wuhan due to the rapid transmission of COVID-19. It is essential to investigate the land surface temperature (LST) dynamics due to changes in level of anthropogenic activities. Therefore, this study aims (1) to investigate mean LST differences between during, i.e., December 2019 to early March 2020, and before the emergence of COVID-19 in Wuhan; (2) to conduct spatio-temporal analysis of mean LST with regards to lockdown policy; and (3) to examine mean LST differences for each land cover type. MODIS data consist of MOD11A2 and MCD12Q1 were employed. The results showed that during the emergence of COVID-19 with lockdown policy applied, the mean LST was lower than the mean LST of the past three years on the same dates. Whereas, during the emergence of COVID-19 without lockdown policy applied, the mean LST was relatively higher than the mean LST of the past three years. In addition, the mean LST of built-up areas experienced the most significant differences between during the emergence of COVID-19 with lockdown policy applied in comparison to the average of the past three years.