ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the application of thermal infrared (TIR) satellite data for quantifying land-atmosphere transactions in urban settings, focusing on the surface energy balance (SEB) and its spatial temporal changeability. We start by discussing SEB theory, giving an overview of the roles played by net radiation, sensible and latent heat advections, heat storage, anthropogenic heat, and advection. While these SEB terms are traditionally observed using in-situ measurements, here we use satellite-based retrievals to demonstrate alternative methods of calculating the heat residual, as well as empirical and conduction methods. We use Landsat to demonstrate the potential of TIR remote sensing to quantify land surface temperature (LST) and the intensity of urban heat island (UHI) effects, with evidence provided by seasonal LST maps of severe UHI effects observed in New York City, Baltimore-Washington, and Houston during the summer season. These results also demonstrated that there is a long heat duration during winter seasons. Analyses of surface fluxes at urban and rural stations show that there is larger sensible heat flux in urban areas, with weaker latent heat flux and heat storage, whereas rural areas have larger evaporative cooling and a balanced partitioning of the two components of fluxes. The combination of satellite remote sensing with airborne or uncrewed aerial vehicle remote sensing and surface measurements provides important inputs for modeling urban climates, mitigating extreme heat, and building urban sustainability.
