Determination of semi-aerobic landfill suitability in tropical developing countries using land surface temperature : A case study of an unmanaged open dump in transition in Yangon City region, Myanmar

Abstract: Population growth rate increases rapidly, which reflects on Municipal Solid Waste(MSW) generation rates and the accumulation in unmanaged open dumps and landfills in developing countries. Consequences of improper MSW management and treatment are not only local or regional but global since Methane (CH4) emissions are responsible for a notable part of the total anthropogenic CH4 emissions. Despite that, data and basic information about open dumps are often not available. Remote sensing, more specifically, Land Surface Temperature (LST) acquired from satellite images represent potential to be further explored in order to get insight into open dumps and landfills where the lack of information may hinder our understanding of the actual in situ state. The interest of this thesis was to explore the role of LST in possible management of uncontrolled open dumps in developing countries with the focus on the largest disposal site (Htein Bin) in the Yangon City region, Myanmar, where in-situ measurements data is lacking. Two research questions were asked in order to get insight into the state of selected sample areas in Htein Bin. Two algorithms were compared and used to retrieve LST from Landsat-8 scenes. These algorithms were tested and validated using the SURFRAD station located in the USA. The temperature control mechanism inside landfills was briefly described and served to propose the hypothesis. The significance of mean LST differences between selected sample areas was statistically tested. LST variability together with mean LST of sample areas as the key variables in this study were retrieved using zonal statistics in QGIS. Results led to a number of implications rather than conclusions mainly due to insufficient number of observation dates caused by non-normal distribution of retrieved data. This together with other limitations was discussed. Nevertheless, results implied that the semi-aerobic landfill can be seen as a thermal compromise between open dump and waste unaffected areas when it comes to LST observations in colder months, which was seen as an indication of an improvement.