{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,2]],"date-time":"2026-03-02T04:23:57Z","timestamp":1772425437247,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":54,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"22","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,11,17]],"date-time":"2022-11-17T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1668643200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Remote Sensing"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Rapid and timely evaluation and monitoring of the urban environment has gained significant importance in understanding the state of urban sustainability in metropolises. Multi-source remote sensing (RS) data are a valuable source for a comprehensive understanding of urban environmental changes in developing countries. However, in the Middle East, a region with several developing countries, limited study has been conducted to understand urban environmental changes. In this study, to evaluate the changes in the urban environment, 32 metropolises in the Middle East were studied between 2000 and 2019. For this purpose, a comprehensive environmental index (CEI) integrated with Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform for processing and analysis is introduced. The results show degraded environmental conditions in 19 metropolises based on a significant increasing trend in the time series of the CEI index. The highest increasing trend in the value of the CEI was observed in the cities of Makkah, Jeddah, Basra, Riyadh, and Sana\u2019a. The results also show that the percentage of urban areas in all 32 cities that falls into the degraded class varies from 5% to 75% between 2005 and 2018. The results of CEI changes in megacities, such as Ajman, Tehran, Jeddah, Makkah, Riyadh, Karaj, and Sana\u2019a show that these cities have increasingly suffered from the degradation of environmental conditions since 2001. According to the results, it is recommended to pay more attention to environmental issues regarding the future of urban development in these cities. The proposed approach in this study can be implemented for environmental assessment in other regions.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/rs14225834","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,11,18]],"date-time":"2022-11-18T04:08:40Z","timestamp":1668744520000},"page":"5834","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":13,"title":["Environmental Conditions in Middle Eastern Megacities: A Comparative Spatiotemporal Analysis Using Remote Sensing Time Series"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Shahin","family":"Mohammadi","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Remote Sensing and GIS, Faculty of Earth Sciences, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Ahvaz 61357-43136, Iran"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9457-3552","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mohsen","family":"Saber","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Surveying and Geospatial Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran 14174-66191, Iran"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3774-5730","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Saeid","family":"Amini","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Surveying and Geomatics Engineering, University of Isfahan, Isfahan 81746-73441, Iran"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3688-6638","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mir Abolfazl","family":"Mostafavi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for Research in Geospatial Data and Intelligence, Universit\u00e9 Laval, Quebec City, QC G1V 0A6, Canada"},{"name":"Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Rehabilitation and Social Integration, Laval University, Quebec City, QC G1V 0A6, Canada"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0613-546X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Gavin","family":"McArdle","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Computer Science and CeADAR, University College Dublin (UCD), D04 V1W8 Dublin, Ireland"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2576-793X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Hamidreza","family":"Rabiei-Dastjerdi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Architecture, Planning, and Environmental Policy & CeADAR, University College Dublin (UCD), D04 V1W8 Dublin, Ireland"},{"name":"Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan 81746-73461, Iran"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,11,17]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","first-page":"61","article-title":"European strategies for smarter cities","volume":"6","author":"Barresi","year":"2013","journal-title":"TeMA-J. Land Use Mobil. Environ."},{"key":"ref_2","first-page":"81","article-title":"Smartness and urban resilience. A model of energy saving","volume":"8","author":"Gargiulo","year":"2015","journal-title":"TeMA-J. Land Use Mobil. Environ."},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"47","DOI":"10.1016\/j.habitatint.2014.06.019","article-title":"Quality of urban life & environmental sustainability studies: Future linkage opportunities","volume":"45","author":"Marans","year":"2015","journal-title":"Habitat Int."},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"260","DOI":"10.1016\/j.landurbplan.2014.02.009","article-title":"Sustainable urban landscapes: South African perspectives on transdisciplinary possibilities","volume":"125","author":"Cilliers","year":"2014","journal-title":"Landsc. Urban Plan."},{"key":"ref_5","first-page":"1","article-title":"Spatial Analysis of Smart Growth Indicators (The Case Study: Regions of Isfahan)","volume":"43","author":"Zarabi","year":"2011","journal-title":"Hum. Geogr. Res."},{"key":"ref_6","first-page":"17","article-title":"Measuring the Quality of Urban Environment in Small Cities in East Azerbaijan Province","volume":"6","author":"Meshkini","year":"2016","journal-title":"Urban Ecol. Res."},{"key":"ref_7","first-page":"175","article-title":"Delphi technique, IJME-Iran","volume":"8","author":"Ahmadi","year":"2008","journal-title":"Med. Educ."},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"398","DOI":"10.1016\/j.omega.2010.09.003","article-title":"Evaluation of performance of European cities with the aim to promote quality of life improvements","volume":"39","author":"Morais","year":"2011","journal-title":"Omega"},{"key":"ref_9","first-page":"149","article-title":"Valuating urban environmental quality using factor analysis method (case study: Kermanshah metropolis)","volume":"16","author":"Ahmadian","year":"2018","journal-title":"Environ. Sci."},{"key":"ref_10","first-page":"953","article-title":"Dynamic monitoring and analysis of ecological environment change in Cangzhou City based on RSEI model considering PM2.5 concentration","volume":"3","author":"Wan","year":"2021","journal-title":"Prog. Geophys."},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Rabiei-Dastjerdi, H., Mohammadi, S., Saber, M., Amini, S., and McArdle, G. (2022). Spatiotemporal Analysis of NO2 Production Using TROPOMI Time-Series Images and Google Earth Engine in a Middle Eastern Country. Remote Sens., 14.","DOI":"10.3390\/rs14071725"},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"191","DOI":"10.1111\/rsp3.12393","article-title":"Who gets what, where, and how much? Composite index of spatial inequality for small areas in Tehran","volume":"13","author":"Matthews","year":"2021","journal-title":"Reg. Sci. Policy Pract."},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1019","DOI":"10.1080\/17538947.2021.1919230","article-title":"Country-scale spatiotemporal monitoring of soil erosion in Iran using the G2 model","volume":"14","author":"Mohammadi","year":"2021","journal-title":"Int. J. Digit. Earth"},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"247","DOI":"10.1016\/j.rse.2012.09.009","article-title":"BCI: A biophysical composition index for remote sensing of urban environments","volume":"127","author":"Deng","year":"2012","journal-title":"Remote Sens. Environ."},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"51295","DOI":"10.1109\/ACCESS.2019.2911627","article-title":"Eco-environmental quality assessment in China\u2019s 35 major cities based on remote sensing ecological index","volume":"7","author":"Yue","year":"2019","journal-title":"IEEE Access"},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Shruti, S., Singh, K., and Ohri, A. (2020). Evaluating the environmental sustainability of smart cities in India: The design and application of the Indian smart city environmental sustainability index. Sustainability, 13.","DOI":"10.3390\/su13010327"},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"17","DOI":"10.1007\/s40980-016-0028-2","article-title":"Measuring spatial accessibility to urban facilities and services in Tehran","volume":"6","author":"Matthews","year":"2018","journal-title":"Spat. Demogr."},{"key":"ref_18","first-page":"95","article-title":"Urban environmental quality assessment using remote sensing and census data","volume":"71","author":"Musse","year":"2018","journal-title":"Int. Appl. Earth Obs. Geoinf."},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"65","DOI":"10.1016\/j.rse.2017.02.027","article-title":"Environmental degradation in the urban areas of China: Evidence from multi-source remote sensing data","volume":"193","author":"He","year":"2017","journal-title":"Remote Sens. Environ."},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"567","DOI":"10.1016\/j.scitotenv.2019.05.344","article-title":"Assessment of urban environmental change using multi-source remote sensing time series (2000\u20132016): A comparative analysis in selected megacities in Eurasia","volume":"684","author":"Lu","year":"2019","journal-title":"Sci. Total Environ."},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"57437","DOI":"10.1007\/s11356-022-19773-z","article-title":"Developing a method for assessing environmental sustainability based on the Google Earth Engine platform","volume":"29","author":"Xia","year":"2022","journal-title":"Environ. Sci. Pollut. Res."},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Zhang, T., Yang, R., Yang, Y., Li, L., and Chen, L. (2021). Assessing the Urban Eco-Environmental Quality by the Remote-Sensing Ecological Index: Application to Tianjin, North China. ISPRS Int. J. Geo-Inf., 10.","DOI":"10.3390\/ijgi10070475"},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Ostovari, Y., Moosavi, A.A., Mozaffari, H., Poppiel, R.R., Tayebi, M., and Dematt\u00ea, J.A. (2022). Soil erodibility and its influential factors in the Middle East. Computers in Earth and Environmental Sciences, Elsevier.","DOI":"10.1016\/B978-0-323-89861-4.00037-3"},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3762","DOI":"10.1021\/acs.est.5b05833","article-title":"Global estimates of fine particulate matter using a combined geophysical-statistical method with information from satellites, models, and monitors","volume":"50","author":"Martin","year":"2016","journal-title":"Environ. Sci. Technol."},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"7879","DOI":"10.1021\/acs.est.0c01764","article-title":"Global estimates and long-term trends of fine particulate matter concentrations (1998\u20132018)","volume":"54","author":"Hammer","year":"2020","journal-title":"Environ. Sci. Technol."},{"key":"ref_26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"127925","DOI":"10.1016\/j.chemosphere.2020.127925","article-title":"Premature mortality attributable to PM2. 5 pollutions in China during 2008\u20132016: Underlying causes and responses to emission reductions","volume":"263","author":"Li","year":"2021","journal-title":"Chemosphere"},{"key":"ref_27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"105776","DOI":"10.1016\/j.envint.2020.105776","article-title":"Changes in spatial patterns of PM2.5 pollutions in China 2000\u20132018: Impact of clean air policies","volume":"141","author":"Xiao","year":"2020","journal-title":"Environ. Int."},{"key":"ref_28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"699","DOI":"10.1016\/j.atmosenv.2019.06.030","article-title":"Meteorological drivers and mortality associated with O3 and PM2.5 air pollution episodes in the UK in 2006","volume":"213","author":"Fenech","year":"2019","journal-title":"Atmos. Environ."},{"key":"ref_29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"146","DOI":"10.1016\/j.envpol.2018.01.034","article-title":"The gains in life expectancy by ambient PM2.5 pollution reductions in localities in Nigeria","volume":"236","author":"Etchie","year":"2018","journal-title":"Environ. Pollut."},{"key":"ref_30","unstructured":"Zhengming, W., Simon, H., and Glynn, H. (2022, September 16). MOD11A1 MODIS\/Terra Land Surface Temperature\/Emissivity Daily L3 Global 1 km SIN Grid V006. NASA EOSDIS Land Processes DAAC, 2015, Available online: https:\/\/lpdaac.usgs.gov\/products\/mod11a1v006\/."},{"key":"ref_31","first-page":"1","article-title":"The energetic basis of the urban heat island","volume":"108","author":"Oke","year":"1982","journal-title":"Q. J. R. Meteorol. Soc."},{"key":"ref_32","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"582","DOI":"10.1016\/j.scitotenv.2015.01.060","article-title":"Analyzing the heat island magnitude and characteristics in one hundred Asian and Australian cities and regions","volume":"512","author":"Santamouris","year":"2015","journal-title":"Sci. Total Environ."},{"key":"ref_33","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"706","DOI":"10.1175\/1520-0442(1996)009<0706:ARLSPF>2.0.CO;2","article-title":"A revised land surface parameterization (SiB2) for atmospheric GCMs. Part II: The generation of global fields of terrestrial biophysical parameters from satellite data","volume":"9","author":"Sellers","year":"1996","journal-title":"J. Clim."},{"key":"ref_34","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"7597","DOI":"10.3390\/rs70607597","article-title":"Evaluation of three MODIS-derived vegetation index time series for dryland vegetation dynamics monitoring","volume":"7","author":"Lu","year":"2015","journal-title":"Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_35","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"125","DOI":"10.2471\/BLT.19.245704","article-title":"Air quality standards for the concentration of particulate matter 2.5, global descriptive analysis","volume":"99","author":"Nazarenko","year":"2021","journal-title":"Bull. World Health Organ."},{"key":"ref_36","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"471","DOI":"10.1016\/j.envpol.2018.03.050","article-title":"Spatiotemporal evolution of the remotely sensed global continental PM2.5 concentrations from 2000\u20132014 based on Bayesian statistics","volume":"238","author":"Li","year":"2018","journal-title":"Environ. Pollut."},{"key":"ref_37","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1007\/s12517-021-06855-4","article-title":"Modeling trend changes of mean annual exposure to PM2.5 particles in the Middle East countries via growth mixture models","volume":"14","author":"Mardani","year":"2021","journal-title":"Arab. J. Geosci."},{"key":"ref_38","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"111123","DOI":"10.1016\/j.envres.2021.111123","article-title":"Global PM2.5-attributable health burden from 1990 to 2017: Estimates from the Global Burden of disease study 2017","volume":"197","author":"Bu","year":"2021","journal-title":"Environ. Res."},{"key":"ref_39","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"789","DOI":"10.1016\/j.scitotenv.2018.06.094","article-title":"Urbanization strategy and environmental changes: An insight with relationship between population change and fine particulate pollution","volume":"642","author":"Han","year":"2018","journal-title":"Sci. Total Environ."},{"key":"ref_40","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Amini, S., Saber, M., Rabiei-Dastjerdi, H., and Homayouni, S. (2022). Urban Land Use and Land Cover Change Analysis Using Random Forest Classification of Landsat Time Series. Remote Sens., 14.","DOI":"10.3390\/rs14112654"},{"key":"ref_41","first-page":"119","article-title":"Trend analysis development of urban heat island using thermal remote sensing","volume":"4","author":"Bozorgi","year":"2020","journal-title":"Earth Obs. Geomat. Eng."},{"key":"ref_42","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"El Kenawy, A.M., Hereher, M., Robaa, S.M., McCabe, M.F., Lopez-Moreno, J.I., Dom\u00ednguez-Castro, F., Gaber, I.M., Al-Awadhi, T., Al-Buloshi, A., and Al Nasiri, N. (2020). Nocturnal surface urban heat island over Greater Cairo: Spatial morphology, temporal trends and links to land-atmosphere influences. Remote Sens., 12.","DOI":"10.3390\/rs12233889"},{"key":"ref_43","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1750","DOI":"10.3390\/ijgi4031750","article-title":"Land cover mapping analysis and urban growth modelling using remote sensing techniques in Greater Cairo Region\u2014Egypt","volume":"4","author":"Megahed","year":"2015","journal-title":"ISPRS Int. J. Geo-Inf."},{"key":"ref_44","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"267","DOI":"10.1007\/s10661-009-1000-z","article-title":"Suen, I.-S. Impacts of urban growth on forest cover in Istanbul (1987\u20132007)","volume":"166","author":"Karaburun","year":"2010","journal-title":"Environ. Monit. Assess."},{"key":"ref_45","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"147","DOI":"10.1016\/j.landurbplan.2010.05.006","article-title":"Urban greening to cool towns and cities: A systematic review of the empirical evidence","volume":"97","author":"Bowler","year":"2010","journal-title":"Landsc. Urban Plan."},{"key":"ref_46","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"704","DOI":"10.1038\/nclimate1685","article-title":"Adapting to climate change through urban green infrastructure","volume":"2","author":"Gaffin","year":"2012","journal-title":"Nat. Clim. Change"},{"key":"ref_47","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"33","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ecoser.2015.11.007","article-title":"Perceptions of cultural ecosystem services from urban green","volume":"17","author":"Riechers","year":"2016","journal-title":"Ecosyst. Serv."},{"key":"ref_48","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"686","DOI":"10.1016\/j.scs.2018.12.005","article-title":"Evaluating the spatial distribution and the intensity of urban heat island using remote sensing, case study of Isfahan City in Iran","volume":"45","author":"Nasrabadi","year":"2019","journal-title":"Sustain. Cities Soc."},{"key":"ref_49","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"El Kenawy, A.M., Hereher, M.E., and Robaa, S.M. (2019). An assessment of the accuracy of MODIS land surface temperature over Egypt using ground-based measurements. Remote Sens., 11.","DOI":"10.3390\/rs11202369"},{"key":"ref_50","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1007\/s12665-016-6024-4","article-title":"Time series trends of land surface temperatures in Egypt: A signal for global warming","volume":"75","author":"Hereher","year":"2016","journal-title":"Environ. Earth Sci."},{"key":"ref_51","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"147168","DOI":"10.1016\/j.scitotenv.2021.147168","article-title":"Temperature patterns along an arid coastline experiencing extreme and rapid urbanization, case study: Dubai","volume":"784","author":"Elhacham","year":"2021","journal-title":"Sci. Total Environ."},{"key":"ref_52","first-page":"71","article-title":"Multi temporal satellite images for growth detection and urban sprawl analysis; Dubai City, UAE","volume":"11157","author":"Aldogom","year":"2019","journal-title":"Remote Sens. Technol. Appl. Urban Environ. IV"},{"key":"ref_53","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"106","DOI":"10.4236\/ars.2014.33009","article-title":"Land use and land cover change detection in the Saudi Arabian desert cities of Makkah and Al-Taif using satellite data","volume":"3","author":"Alqurashi","year":"2014","journal-title":"Adv. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_54","first-page":"68","article-title":"Variation in land use\/land cover and aircraft sound levels around Abu Dhabi International Airport","volume":"10","author":"Yagoub","year":"2019","journal-title":"Eur. J. Geogr."}],"container-title":["Remote Sensing"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2072-4292\/14\/22\/5834\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T01:20:41Z","timestamp":1760145641000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2072-4292\/14\/22\/5834"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2022,11,17]]},"references-count":54,"journal-issue":{"issue":"22","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,11]]}},"alternative-id":["rs14225834"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/rs14225834","relation":{},"ISSN":["2072-4292"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2072-4292","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2022,11,17]]}}}