## 2 Materials and Methods
### Study Area  
A pilot study area of 225 km\({}^{2}\) within the Al-Ahsa Oasis, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, was selected to carry out the work. The oasis is the biggest agronomic oasis in the kingdom, and possibly the biggest watered oasis in the world [30]. It is situated 45 km inland of the  
Figure 1: Description of the workflow of the methodology used in this research.  
western Arabian Gulf coast and 320 km east of Riyadh, the Kingdom's capital city. It is located between latitudes 25\({}^{\circ}\)20\({}^{\prime}\)-25\({}^{\circ}\)32\({}^{\prime}\) N, longitudes 49\({}^{\circ}\)30\({}^{\prime}\)-49\({}^{\circ}\)45\({}^{\prime}\) E (Figure 2), and its altitude varies from 160-130 m above MSL from the west to the east. Records from research recently published by [PERSON] et al. [31] revealed that in 1992, the population of the study area was 445,000. It had increased to 768,000 by 2016. In 2017, there were 149,905 houses in the area, representing 24.2% of all houses in the eastern province. Between 1994 and 2014, approximately 66% of the original muddy-structure houses were turned into concrete, 25% into bricks, and 5% into stone [32]. The research region has a very mild topographic surface with minimal relief and few adjoining hills [33]. Energetic and portable sandy hills outline the surface area. Over many centuries, the mobile nature of the sands has caused their encroachment into green cover areas, threatening farmers in the oasis [33]. This growth is handled with actions like dune containment and shrub plantations.  
Agricultural activity is a principal livelihood for the citizens of Al-Ahsa, and mostly relies on a water supply from a number of springs in addition to underground sources. [PERSON] and [PERSON] [34] documented that the Al-Ahsa Oasis is a crucial agricultural area for the eastern region of the Kingdom. The overall cultivated area is around 8000 ha,  
Figure 2: The geographical location of the study area.  
of which 92% is designated for date-palm plantations [35]. The soil of the oasis is rich and productive. The water and soil situation in this area motivated authorities to launch a project for irrigation and drainage in 1971, aiming to maintain agricultural activities. This specific cultivated area comprises about 25,000 small farms.  
Many studies carried out in the Al-Ahsa Oasis have confirmed the rapid progression of urbanization and its influence on the centralization of UHIs over certain spots, mainly those occupied by built-up surface cover. Investigational research conducted by [PERSON] [36], aiming to measure the AL-Ahsa oasis' vulnerability to urban heat islands, showed that a substantial surge in urban development in Al-Ahsa Governorate took place followed by a temperature increase, confirming that the Al-Ahsa Governorate is susceptible to the occurrence of UHIs. [PERSON] [28] carried out a comparative UHI study over the oasis, making use of LST derived from thermal bands of satellite imagery and field observations of fixed and mobile temperature, as well as relative humidity logging stations, in the summer and winter seasons. The study outcomes revealed a substantial association between the spatial distribution of UHIs and land cover, where the peak intensity of UHIs centered over the two main oasis cities (Al Hufuf and Al Mubarraz). However, neither study considered the nature of the spatial association between LST and built-up area distributions, or the temporal effect that signifies the dynamic nature of UHIs in cities and rural areas.