Thermal Data
Land surface temperature, emissivity, urban heat islands, and thermal anomaly detection from spaceborne thermal infrared sensors.
Land Surface Temperature (LST)
LST is the radiative skin temperature of the land surface. Derived from thermal infrared bands (Landsat TIRS Band 10 at 10.9 µm, MODIS Bands 31/32 at 11/12 µm). Critical for energy balance, drought monitoring, and urban climate studies.
Emissivity
Surface emissivity represents how efficiently a surface emits thermal radiation relative to a black body. Different land covers (water ≈0.99, vegetation ≈0.98, bare soil ≈0.92, concrete ≈0.94) have characteristic emissivity values that must be accounted for in LST retrieval.
Urban Heat Island (UHI)
Urban areas exhibit significantly higher temperatures than surrounding rural zones due to impervious surfaces, reduced vegetation, anthropogenic heat, and altered wind patterns. Thermal remote sensing quantifies UHI intensity and spatial extent for urban planning.
Thermal Anomaly Detection
Active fire detection (MODIS/VIIRS), volcanic thermal monitoring, and industrial heat source identification rely on detecting statistically significant temperature anomalies against background thermal patterns.
Diurnal Temperature Cycling
The difference between daytime and nighttime LST provides information on thermal inertia — a proxy for soil moisture and material composition. High thermal inertia (water, wet soil) shows smaller diurnal range.