evaluating the effects of vegetation types on surfacetemperature and surface moisture using satellite-based indices

As evaluating the influence of vegetation types on soil surface moisture (ssm) and soil surface temperature (lst) is crucially important, especially in semi-arid regions, this study set out to do so using remote sensing data. to this end, the vegetation types together with their extent of coverage in the study area were determined via the physiognomic-floristic method. in this regard, taking the results of field observations into account, eight types of vegetation were recognized and the zonation was performed.moreover, lst and ssm were calculated using the data collected from landsat 8 on may 24 and july 27, 2017, followed by the evaluation of sst and ssm measurements by comparing them to the measurements made based on field studies (r2>0.6). then, at each vegetation zone, the influence of vegetation types on the ssm and the sst was statistically analyzed.duncan’s statistical test showed significant differences between the mean temperature (α=0.05) in all vegetation types, except for the artemisia aucheri-pistacia atlantica and artemisia sieberi–ebenus stellata-cousinia desertii in the first period of the study and the cynodon dactylon and amygdalus scoparia-pistacia atlantica in the second period of the investigation.however, ssm differences were found to be insignificant between artemisia sieberi–amygdalus scoparia and amygdalus scoparia vegetation types in the first period of the study, and between amygdalus scoparia and cynodon dactylon vegetation types in the second period of the study. on the other hand, most vegetation types exerted a considerably varying influence on sst and ssm. nonetheless, in both study periods, the temperature and moisture variations did not follow the same patterns in different vegetation types.