Publications

Hung, T, Uchihama, D, Ochi, S, Yasuoka, Y (2006). Assessment with satellite data of the urban heat island effects in Asian mega cities. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF APPLIED EARTH OBSERVATION AND GEOINFORMATION, 8(1), 34-48.

Abstract
This study focuses on using remote sensing for comparative assessment of surface urban heat island (UHI) in 18 mega cities in both temperate and tropical climate regions. Least-clouded day- and night-scenes of TERRA/MODIS acquired between 2001 and 2003 were selected to generate land-surface temperature (LST) maps. Spatial patterns of UHIs for each city were examined over its diurnal cycle and seasonal variations. A Gaussian approximation was applied in order to quantify spatial extents and magnitude of individual UHIs for inter-city comparison. To reveal relationship of UHIs with surface properties, UH1 patterns were analyzed in association with urban vegetation covers and surface energy fluxes derived from high-resolution Landsat ETM+ data. This study provides a generalized picture on the UHI phenomena in the Asian region and the findings can be used to guide further study integrating satellite high-resolution thermal data with land-surface modeling and meso-scale climatic modeling in order to understand impacts of urbanization on local climate in Asia. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

DOI:
10.1016/j.jag.2005.05.003

ISSN:
0303-2434