As derived from Landsat series datasets, the satellite-based land surface temperature data is prevalent among researchers studying surface urban heat islands. Surface urban heat island is the term given to the land surface temperature difference in urban areas concerning the land surface temperature of the surrounding surface.
The following are the reasons that are behind the popularity of Landsat for studies like urban heat islands:
– Availability of data since long back: Landsat series data have been available for about four decades. This is a compelling reason for most studies related to urban heat islands.
– Free-of-cost availability: The complete collection of Landsat data is freely available.
– Repeat coverage: Landsat constellation has a repetitivity of 16 days which is a sufficient temporal resolution for applications such as surface urban heat islands.
– Swath coverage: Landsat has a swath coverage of 185 km X 185 km, making it easy for the researchers to process the study area in one go.
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