Geology

Rural area

Climate change

Pathology

Aerospace engineering

Meteorology

Daytime

Moderate-resolution imaging spectroradiometer

Biology

Atmospheric sciences

Physical geography

Oceanography

Engineering

Normalized Difference Vegetation Index

Satellite

Geography

Ecology

Vegetation (pathology)

Land cover

Greening

Vegetation Index

Land use

Environmental science

Urban heat island

Medicine

Enhanced vegetation index

Geophysical Research Letters

In this study, Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer land cover, land surface temperature (LST), and enhanced vegetation index (EVI) data were used to investigate the trends of surface urban heat island intensity (SUHII, urban LST minus rural LST) and their relations with vegetation in 397 global big cities during 2001–2017. Major findings include the following: (1) Annual daytime and nighttime SUHII increased significantly ( p &lt; 0.05, Mann‐Kendall trend test) in 42.1% and 30.5% cities, respectively. (2) The daytime SUHII in the growing season was significantly and positively correlated with rural EVI in 58.9% cities. This is because high rural EVI can increase the EVI difference between urban and rural areas. (3) Rural greening contributed 22.5% of the increased daytime SUHII in the growing season at the global scale. This study highlights that the effect of greening in rural areas was a significant and widespread driver for the increased daytime SUHII.

Greening in Rural Areas Increases the Surface Urban Heat Island Intensity