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Abstract

Urban heat island (UHI) not only reflects the environmental thermal comfort and energy consumption, but also affects the urban meso‑scale climate. There are many researches related with UHI mainly focusing on urban and rural area, while neglecting dynamic rural–urban transition especially in a rapid urbanization in China. Beijing and Zhengzhou are studied by using city clustering algorithm (CCA) and boundary generation algorithm (BGA) to delineate the urban, peri‑urban and rural boundaries from 2000 to 2023 within three stages. Fourier transform model was used to identify the UHI patterns. Results show: 1) Two cities have undergone obvious expansions in 20 years, with a consistent mean LST decrease from urban to peri‑urban and rural areas in three stages. 2) The distribution of UHII was more consistent in Beijing, while it varied more in Zhengzhou across seasons. 3) The UHI patterns notably differ, with Zhengzhou experiencing variable patterns and Beijing consistently showing oblate patterns. 4) The profiles of UHII and NDVI in two cities varied seasonally and reflected urban expansions in terms of longitude and latitude. Understanding the long-term changes and patterns of urban heat islands in different cities will provide information for formulating adaptive policies for urban sustainability.