Groundwater level monitoring is crucial for assessing hydrological responses to climate change and human activities, which pose significant threats to the sustainability of semi-arid aquifers and the cultural heritage they sustain. This study presents an integrated remote sensing and transformer-based deep learning framework that combines diverse geospatial datasets to predict spatiotemporal variations across the plain near the Persepolis and Naqsh-e Rustam archaeological complexes—UNESCO World Heritage Sites situated at the plain’s edge. We assemble 432 synthetic aperture radar (SAR) scenes (2015–2022) and derive vertical ground motion rates greater than −180 mm yr⁻¹, which are co-localized with multisource geoinformation, including hydrometeorological indices, biophysical parameters, and terrain attributes, to train transformer models with traditional deep learning methods. A sparse probabilistic transformer (ConvTransformer) trained on 95 gridded variables achieves an out-of-sample R² = 0.83 and RMSE = 6.15 m, outperforming bidirectional deep learning models by >40%. Scenario analysis indicates that, in the absence of intervention, subsidence may exceed 200 mm per year within a decade, threatening irreplaceable Achaemenid stone reliefs. Our results indicate that attention-based networks, when coupled to synergistic geodetic constraints, enable early-warning quantification of groundwater stress over heritage sites and provide a scalable template for sustainable aquifer governance worldwide.

Accurate prediction of land surface temperature (LST) is critical for remote sensing applications, yet remains hindered by in situ data scarcity, limited input variables, and regional variability. To address these limitations, we introduce a three-stage strategic fine-tuning-based transfer learning (SFTL) framework that integrates a large simulated dataset (430 K samples), in situ measurements from the Heihe and Huailai regions in China, and high-resolution imagery from the GF5-02 Visible and Infrared Multispectral Imager (VIMI). The key novelty of this study is the combination of large-scale simulation, an engineered humidity-sensitive feature, and multiple parameter-efficient tuning strategies—full, head, gradual, adapter, and low-rank adaptation (LoRA)—within a unified transfer-learning framework for cross-site LST estimation. In Stage 1, pre-training with 5-fold cross-validation on the simulated dataset produced strong baseline models, including Random Forest (RF), Light Gradient Boosting Machine (LGBM), Deep Neural Network (DNN), Transformer (TrF), and Convolutional Neural Network (CNN). In Stage 2, strategic fine-tuning was conducted under two cross-regional scenarios—Heihe-to-Huailai and Huailai-to-Heihe—and model transfer for tree-based learners. Fine-tuning achieved competitive in-domain performance while materially improving cross-site transfer. When trained on Huailai and tested on Heihe, DNN-gradual attained RMSE 2.89 K (R² ≈ 0.96); when trained on Heihe and tested on Huailai, TrF-head achieved RMSE 3.34 K (R² ≈ 0.94). In Stage 3, sensitivity analyses confirmed stability across IQR multipliers of 1.0–1.5, with <1% RMSE variation across models and sites, indicating robustness against outliers. Additionally, application to real GF5-02 VIMI imagery demonstrated that the best SFTL configurations aligned with spatiotemporal in situ observations at both sites, capturing the expected spatial gradients. Overall, the proposed SFTL framework—anchored in cross-validation, strategic fine-tuning, and large-scale simulation—outperforms the widely used Split-Window (SW) algorithm (Huailai: RMSE = 3.64 K; Heihe: RMSE = 4.22 K) as well as direct-training Machine Learning (ML) models, underscoring their limitations in modeling complex regional variability.

Human-induced land use and land cover changes significantly influence the Earth's surface temperature, especially in rapidly developing regions. This study investigates the impact of urban development associated with the Anzali Free Zone Organization, located along the southern coast of the Caspian Sea, on land surface temperature (LST) changes over a 24-year period (2000–2024). Multitemporal Landsat ETM+ and OLI satellite imagery were employed to analyze spatial and temporal variations in surface temperature. Following radiometric, atmospheric, and reflectance corrections, the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) was calculated to derive vegetation fraction (PV), which in turn was used to estimate surface emissivity. Brightness temperature was then computed using thermal bands, and LST was derived via the single-channel algorithm. The results indicate a significant alteration in LST, ranging from 16.5°C to 41.7°C in 2000 and from 20.1°C to 37.3°C in 2024. These temperature variations correlate strongly with reduced vegetation cover and the expansion of impervious surfaces driven by increased housing demand, trade, and tourism in the Free Zone. The findings demonstrate a clear manifestation of the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect, underscoring the ecological consequences of unchecked urbanization. This study highlights the need for sustainable land use planning and vegetation conservation strategies to mitigate thermal stress and preserve environmental integrity in coastal urban areas.