Abstract
In this paper, the effect of urban heat island is analyzed using the Landsat TM data and ASTER data in 2005 as a case study in Hong Kong. Two algorithms were applied to retrieve the land surface temperature (LST) distribution from the Landsat TM and ASTER data. The spatial pattern of LST in the study area is retrieved to characterize their local effects on urban heat island. In addition, the correlation between LST and the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), the normalized difference build-up index (NDBI) is analyzed to explore the impacts of the green land and the build-up land on the urban heat island by calculating the ecological evaluation index of sub-urban areas. The results indicate that the effect of urban heat island in Hong Kong is mainly located in three sub-urban areas, namely, Kowloon Island, the northern Hong Kong Island and Hong Kong International Airport. The correlation between LST and NDVI, NDBI also indicates that the negative correlation of LST and NDVI suggests that the green land can weaken the effect on urban heat island, while the positive correlation between LST and NDBI means that the built-up land can strengthen the effect of urban heat island in our case study. Although satellite data (e.g., Landsat TM and ASTER thermal bands data) can be applied to examine the distribution of urban heat islands in places such as Hong Kong, the method still needs to be refined with in situ measurements of LST in future studies.
Highlights
It is well known and documented that urbanization can have significant effects on local weather and climate [1]
An urban heat island is a metropolitan area which is significantly warmer than its surrounding rural areas; the higher urbanization leads to more distinct urban heat island with huge temperature differences between urban and rural areas
The spatial consistency of the Landsat TM retrieving result [3] with an error of (0.7 K) and the ASTER retrieving result [27] with an error of (0.8 K) indicated that the two algorithms are comparable to the land surface temperature (LST) retrievals in the case study of Hong Kong
Summary
It is well known and documented that urbanization can have significant effects on local weather and climate [1]. Since the 1960s, with the advent of high-resolution earth-monitoring satellites, remote sensing technology has been widely utilized to measure LST and provide basic data for the urban heat island analysis. The mono-window algorithm provided a simple and highly effective method for retrieving land surface temperatures for the analysis of urban heat island effect [3]. In this study, we applied the mono-window algorithm to the Landsat TM and the split-window algorithm to ASTER data for the analysis of its effect of urban heat island in the case study of Hong Kong. Satellite data (e.g., Landsat TM and ASTER thermal bands data) can be applied to examine the distribution of urban heat islands in places such as Hong Kong, the method still needs to be refined with in situ measurements of LST in future studies
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