| Summary: | Surface thermal environment (STE) is closely related to the comfort and health of residents, affecting regional livability, and its spatial and temporal changes are deeply affected by the urbanization process. Considering there is a lack of effective comparative analysis on STE in different urbanized inhabited islands, the special geographical unit and vital human settlement environment, long-term spatiotemporal characteristics and impact factor quantitative analyses were performed in two inhabited islands via the RS and GIS methods. The results suggest that the surface heat amplitude of the highly urbanized Xiamen Island decreases, with the surface heat intensity continuing to increase from 2000 to 2020, while that of the lowly urbanized Kinmen Island is reversed. Although the land surface temperature (LST) of the two inhabited islands shows similar spatial distribution characteristics with evident cold/hot spots, the geographical distribution characteristics of high LST zones are significantly different, and the thermal landscape of Xiamen Island is more fragmented, discrete, and simple in shape, as revealed by the landscape metrics. We demonstrate that the area proportion between cooling land (water body and greenland) and warming land (bare land and impervious surface) is the most influential factor of LST in the two islands while the marine environment is a unique contributor to STE of inhabited islands compared with inland cities, where the seawater around the island can reduce LST over a range of distances, and the influence of elevation on LST is mostly indirect. These results provide a scientific basis and case support for understanding the STE situation of inhabited islands with different urbanization levels.
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