Land surface temperature retrieval from Landsat 8 data and validation with geosensor network

Abstract

A method for the retrieval of land surface temperature (LST) from the two thermal bands of Landsat 8 data is proposed in this paper. The emissivities of vegetation, bare land, buildings, and water are estimated using different features of the wavelength ranges and spectral response functions. Based on the Planck function of the Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) band 10 and band 11, the radiative transfer equation is rebuilt and the LST is obtained using the modified emissivity parameters. A sensitivity analysis for the LST retrieval is also conducted. The LST was retrieved from Landsat 8 data for the city of Zoucheng, Shandong Province, China, using the proposed algorithm, and the LST reference data were obtained at the same time from a geosensor network (GSN). A comparative analysis was conducted between the retrieved LST and the reference data from the GSN. The results showed that water had a higher LST error than the other land-cover types, of less than 1.2°C, and the LST errors for buildings and vegetation were less than 0.75°C. The difference between the retrieved LST and reference data was about 1°C on a clear day. These results confirm that the proposed algorithm is effective for the retrieval of LST from the Landsat 8 thermal bands, and a GSN is an effective way to validate and improve the performance of LST retrieval.