Investigating the relationship between Local Climate Zone and land surface temperature

Abstract

© 2017 IEEE. The concept of Local Climate Zone (LCZ) has been developed to quantify the correlation between urban morphology and urban heat island (UHI). Each LCZ is supposed to have homogenous air temperature. However, traditional air temperature observation methods have limited spatial coverage and poor spatial resolution. Land surface temperature (LST) acquired from satellite images can be used to study the temperature characteristics of LCZ classes by providing continuous data on surface temperature. This study aims to study the relationship between LST and LCZ classes with Shanghai selected as a case study because of its high urbanization rate and serious UHI effect. This study has three major steps: Firstly, Shanghai local climate zone map was generated using the World Urban Database and Portal Tool (WUDAPT) method. Secondly, a remote sensing approach was taken to acquire Shanghai's LST from night-time Aster thermal data in different seasons. Thirdly, the LST was associated with the Shanghai LCZ map and the correlation between LCZ and LST in Shanghai was discussed. The results show that there are large variations in LST across LCZ classes in different months in Shanghai. These results will be able to offer integrated information under urban climate principles for urban planners and urban climate researchers.