Urban Growth and Its Environmental Footprint: Analyzing Land Surface Temperature, Vegetation, and Impervious Surface Changes in the Northern Rio Grande Corridor (NRGC), 2000-2020

Keywords: LST, NRGC, Impervious surface
Abstract Type: Poster Abstract

Abstract

Urbanization has significant implications on both human and environmental beings, threatening community well-being, resource availability, and overall sustainability of the area. Particularly in arid regions like the U.S. Southwest, this is valid, where population growth and climate change intensify demands on already scarce yet essential resources such as water. While cities like Phoenix have been extensively studied, comparatively little research has focused on other regions of the southwest, including New Mexico. Moreover, studies examining urban growth with concomitant environmental changes, such as land surface temperature (LST) variations, are often outdated or limited in scope. As a result, the differential urbanization trajectories of many cities in the Southwest remain poorly understood. Addressing this gap, this study quantifies the changes in the urban area, LST, vegetation, and impervious surfaces over 5-year intervals between 2000 and 2020 in seven cities within the Northern Rio Grande Corridor (NRGC): Taos, Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Socorro, Truth or Consequences, Las Cruces, and El Paso. Through spatial analysis, statistical assessments, and visual data, we document the trends in urban expansion and the resulting environmental changes. The findings of this study reveal that most of the cities in the NRGC have expanded significantly within the timeframe of our study, with an intensification of land transitions towards urban and built-up land generally increasing over time. However, changes in LST were less straightforward, varying spatially along the corridor. In this presentation, we will explore in more detail the spatio-temporal dynamics of these landscape changes and discuss their potential environmental implications.