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High Spatial Resolution Airborne Multispectral Thermal Infrared Remote Sensing Data for Analysis of Urban Landscape CharacteristicsWe have used airborne multispectral thermal infrared (TIR) remote sensing data collected at a high spatial resolution (i.e., 10m) over several cities in the United States to study thermal energy characteristics of the urban landscape. These TIR data provide a unique opportunity to quantify thermal responses from discrete surfaces typical of the urban landscape and to identify both the spatial arrangement and patterns of thermal processes across the city. The information obtained from these data is critical to understanding how urban surfaces drive or force development of the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect, which exists as a dome of elevated air temperatures that presides over cities in contrast to surrounding non-urbanized areas. The UHI is most pronounced in the summertime where urban surfaces, such as rooftops and pavement, store solar radiation throughout the day, and release this stored energy slowly after sunset creating air temperatures over the city that are in excess of 2-4'C warmer in contrast with non-urban or rural air temperatures. The UHI can also exist as a daytime phenomenon with surface temperatures in downtown areas of cities exceeding 38'C. The implications of the UHI are significant, particularly as an additive source of thermal energy input that exacerbates the overall production of ground level ozone over cities. We have used the Airborne Thermal and Land Applications Sensor (ATLAS), flown onboard a Lear 23 jet aircraft from the NASA Stennis Space Center, to acquire high spatial resolution multispectral TIR data (i.e., 6 bandwidths between 8.2-12.2 (um) over Huntsville, Alabama, Atlanta, Georgia, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Salt Lake City, Utah, and Sacramento, California. These TIR data have been used to produce maps and other products, showing the spatial distribution of heating and cooling patterns over these cities to better understand how the morphology of the urban landscape affects development of the UHI. In turn, these data have been used by government officials, urban planners, and other decision-makers, to make more informed decisions on how to mitigate the UHI and its subsequent impacts.
Document ID
20000109856
Acquisition Source
Marshall Space Flight Center
Document Type
Preprint (Draft being sent to journal)
Authors
Quattrochi, Dale A.
(NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville, AL United States)
Luvall, Jeffrey C.
(NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville, AL United States)
Estes, Maurice G., Jr.
(Universities Space Research Association Huntsville, AL United States)
Arnold, James E.
Date Acquired
August 19, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 2000
Subject Category
Earth Resources And Remote Sensing
Meeting Information
Meeting: Multi/Hyperspectral Sensors, Measurements, Modeling and Simulation
Location: Redstone Arsenal, AL
Country: United States
Start Date: November 7, 2000
End Date: November 9, 2000
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.

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