This study investigates the thermal variations of the different land use/cover types in
urban Lokoja town retrieved from Landsat TM imagery of 1987. Band 2, 3, 4 and 6 of
the imagery were used in the classification, estimation of NDVI, land surface emissivity
values, and satellite sensor temperature. The Qin et al’s mono window algorithm was
employed to obtain the land surface temperatures of the different land use/cover types
classified. The results indicate that there is a significant variation in temperatures among
the different land use/cover types in Lokoja. The built up area and the vacant area have
the highest land surface temperatures of 59.5oC and 58.5 oC respectively, while
vegetation, water bodies and cultivated land have the least with 26.5 oC, 28.5 oC and
34oC respectively with the urban/suburban temperature difference reaching 29.3 oC This
suggests that anthropogenic activity is the major factor responsible for variations in the
micro climate and vegetation a regulatory cooling feature of the ecosystem. This novel
approach will limit the problems associated with data generated through the in situ
measurement