Land Use and Cover Changes and Their Implications on Local Climate in Sabang City, Weh Island, Indonesia

This paper aims to investigate the implications of land use/cover (LUC) changes on local climates in Sabang City from the year 2000 to the year 2015. In the years 2000 and 2015, LUC maps were derived from remote-sensing satellite images using a supervised classification method (maximum likelihood). Both 2000 and 2015 LUC maps contained four categories: built-up area, forest, cropland, and wetland. The 2000 LUC map had a kappa coefficient (K) of 0.72, while the 2015 LUC map had a kappa coefficient of 0.76. Climate changes were determined in four variables: air temperature, rainfall, humidity, and wind velocity. The results demonstrated an immense LUC change within the span of 15 years. Forest areas dropped to nearly 45%. Built-up areas expanded by nearly 85%. For the most part, forest areas were converted into cropland. On the other hand, temperatures rose while humidity declined. Rainfall and wind velocity were in a relatively stagnant state within this 15-year period (2000-2015). (C) 2019 American Society of Civil Engineers.