Thermal data analysis for urban climate research: A case study of Olomouc, Czechia

Abstract

Due to the recent advancements in thermal camera technology, it is easier than ever to acquire information about surface temperature in very-high or extreme spatial resolution from manned or unmanned airborne vehicles. The main objective of the paper is to investigate the possibilities of extreme resolution thermal data for urban climate research. The main dataset used for the work is thermal mosaic acquired by an aeroplane above the city of Olomouc in the morning and afternoon on 10th July 2016. The spatial resolution of the dataset fluctuates between 90 and 100 cm per pixel edge. Auxiliary data used for the analysis included open data from European programmes Urban Atlas and CORINE Land Cover. For further analysis, building height information, material type and Local Climate Zones classification were used. The results show a possible comparison in various neighbourhoods and material types while maintaining reference units – Urban Atlas/CORINE Land Cover classes or Local Climate Zones. Verticality analysis shows a significant difference between ground and rooftop levels that need to be taken into account when investigating heat for quality of life. All the analyses confirmed knowledge about the difference between natural and artificial surfaces that most artificial surfaces tend to heat up much more during daytime and fail to cool down completely during the night-time. Moreover, this research lays the foundation to future urban climate research based on extreme resolution thermal images over multiple areas or during long-lasting campaigns.