Microclimate Dynamics Induced by Aircraft Landing and Takeoff Operations at Lubumbashi Luano International Airport (FZQA), Central Africa

Billy DIABASENGA KUSUAMINA; Albert KABASELE YENGA YENGA; Jean-Pierre FWAMBA MULUMBA; Stéphane MINGA MILOLO; André NZUZI NZUZI; Sion DIABASENGA LUYINDULA

Autori

Billy DIABASENGA KUSUAMINA ETS, Ecole de Télédetection Spaciale, Doctoral School of Telecommunications and Space Remote Sensing, Department of Geomatics and Geodesy, Université Pédagogique Nationale, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Albert KABASELE YENGA YENGA ETS, Ecole de Télédetection Spaciale, Doctoral School of Telecommunications and Space Remote Sensing, Department of Geomatics and Geodesy, Université Pédagogique Nationale, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Jean-Pierre FWAMBA MULUMBA ETS, Ecole de Télédetection Spaciale, Doctoral School of Telecommunications and Space Remote Sensing, Department of Geomatics and Geodesy, Université Pédagogique Nationale, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Stéphane MINGA MILOLO ETS, Ecole de Télédetection Spaciale, Doctoral School of Telecommunications and Space Remote Sensing, Department of Geomatics and Geodesy, Université Pédagogique Nationale, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo
André NZUZI NZUZI Department of Physics and Applied Sciences, Faculty of Science, Université Pédagogique Nationale, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Sion DIABASENGA LUYINDULA Civil Aviation Section, Institut Supérieur de Techniques Appliquées, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo

Cuvinte cheie:

airport microclimate, landing and takeoff cycle, NDVI, surface artificialization, aviation safety, Lubumbashi

Rezumat

Background: Airports are coupled land–atmosphere–operations systems in which impervious surfaces, residual vegetation, boundary-layer variability, and concentrated aircraft activity interact across spatial and temporal scales.
Objective: This expanded English-language secondary publication examines the microclimate of Lubumbashi/Luano International Airport (FZQA), a tropical high-elevation airport in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and distinguishes structural surface warming from short-lived operational amplification.
Methods: Hourly meteorological observations, Landsat and MODIS products, ERA5 reanalysis, CHIRPS precipitation, NASA POWER variables, terrain information, and air-traffic records are integrated through a surface-energy framework, an airport–reference land-surface-temperature contrast, a phase-weighted landing-and-takeoff exposure index, climatic stratification, difference-in-differences, and a confirmatory spatiotemporal model.
Results: Available products indicate a persistent airport-related thermal core, an approximately 2.8 °C diachronic increase in surface temperature reported in the primary study, low vegetation abundance over artificialized surfaces, and greater detectability of operational thermal increments during the dry season and under weak-to-moderate winds. Aircraft operations are therefore interpreted as localized and transient amplifiers of a structurally warm surface rather than as the sole cause of warming.
Conclusion: The framework supports airport environmental monitoring, density-altitude assessment, takeoff-performance analysis, low-level turbulence studies, and safety management, while defining the field measurements and uncertainty analysis required for doctoral-level causal validation.

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