A remote sensing study of the urban heat island of Houston, Texas

Radiative surface temperature maps of Houston, Texas were derived from satellite sensor data acquired at approximately 0400 LST on 27 separate occasions over a two-year period. Urban-rural temperature differences were determined for 21 of these cases by modelling the urban heat island as a twodimensional Gaussian surface superimposed on a planar rural background. The purpose of this study was to characterise the complete urban heat island in magnitude and spatial extent without the use of in situ measurements and to determine whether a correlation exists between heat island magnitude and rural temperature. The urban heat island magnitude was found to be inversely correlated with rural temperature, while the spatial extent was found to be independent of both heat island magnitude and rural temperature.