Urban Heat Islands and Remote Sensing: Characterizing Land Surface Temperature at the Neighborhood Scale

Land surface temperature data from Landsat 8 and from MODIS on the Aqua and Terra satellites were compared with ground-based surface temperature data from five urban sites within a New York City neighborhood. The ground data validated the spatial heterogeneity of surface temperatures from Landsat 8; however, all three satellite sensors significantly underestimated the measured surface temperatures. The sensors reasonably matched the temperature of shaded areas, but they undervalued the overall temperature. These results suggest that, while Landsat 8 and other satellites are helpful tools for mapping urban temperature variations, the absolute temperature readings need validation, for they may not capture the high temperatures of sun-exposed urban areas.