Geography & Environment Publications
Complete Urban Surface Temperatures
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
9-1997
Volume
36
Issue
9
Journal
Journal of Applied Meteorology
First Page
1117
Last Page
1132
URL with Digital Object Identifier
http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/1520-0450(1997)036<1117:CUST>2.0.CO;2
Abstract
An observation program using ground and airborne thermal infrared radiometers is used to estimate the surface temperature of urban areas, taking into account the total active surface area. The authors call this the complete urban surface temperature. This temperature is not restricted by the viewing biases inherent in remote sensors used to estimate surface temperature over rough surfaces such as cities. Two methods to estimate the complete surface temperature are presented. Results for three different land-use areas in the city of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, show significant differences exist between the complete, nadir, and off-nadir airborne estimates of urban surface temperature during daytime. For the sites and times studied, the complete surface temperature is shown to agree with airborne off-nadir estimates of the apparent surface temperature of the most shaded walls. Some implications of using the complete surface temperature to estimate screen level air temperature and to calculate surface sensible heat flux are given.
Notes
Dr. James Voogt was not yet affiliated with The University of Western Ontario at the time of publication.