Monitoring Intraurban temperature patterns and associated land cover in phoenix, Arizona using Landsat thermal data

Abstract This study investigates urban climatologic modification associated with development and changing land use in the relatively arid urban environment of Phoenix, Arizona. An analysis of surface temperatures, as portrayed on Landsat thermal remotely sensed data, were compared to current land use patterns in regions of the rapidly expanding urban landscape. A second focus of this study involved investigation of the surface temperatures of this environment, as extracted from the radiometric data of the Landsat thermal band, to provide insights into the complexities of the relationship to the near‐surface atmospheric temperature, a parameter used extensively in climate change analyses and in models for energy and water demand in this desert region. The near surface air temperature is usually measured approximately two meters above the ground surface. In general, spatial temperature patterns of the metropolitan region were strongly correlated with the presence of open water or biomass which provide an ev...