It is critically important to understand the spatiotemporal changes of urban thermal environments since urban heat island (UHI) effect is one of the most worrisome urban environment and impedes urban sustainable development. Taking Huai’an central urban area in China as a case, Landsat images from 2000 to 2020 were used. We first estimated land surface temperature (LST) and land covers based on google earth engineer (GEE) platform. Then explored the spatial pattern and laws of thermal landscape level transition and urban expansion pattern using geo-informatics Tupu method and urban landscape Analysis tools. Last, discussed the influence factors on urban thermal changes including urban expansion pattern, and changes of impervious surface and vegetation. The results showed that (1) SUHIs mainly located on Industrial land, high-density area of low building and National Economic Development Zone, and moved towards south and east in the study period consisting with the direction of urban expansion. (2) The Tupu units of thermal landscape transition presents a law of adjacent thermal landscape, and transferring difficultly between cross-level thermal. (3) The edge expansion was the main dominant to intensify urban heat effect, vegetation in new urban area make disturbance in short-term thermal environment change. This research can attribute a better understanding on the urban thermal environment and reasons along with urbanization.

Land surface temperature, surface urban heat island, urban expansion type, land cover indices, Huai’an central urban area