Modeling of the Urban Heat Island on local climatic zones of a city using Sentinel 3 images: Urban determining factors

Abstract

Understanding how the components of cities interfere in the Urban Heat Island (UHI) has become a main great challenge for societies seeking to improve the quality of life through the implementation of urban planning criteria. In this research, the city of Granada (Spain) was divided into four local climatic zones (LCZ) according to the Corine Land Cover inventory, to study the land surface temperature (LST) and daytime and nighttime UHI using Sentinel 3 imaging. For each LCZ, urban factors were quantified by means of the Data Panel statistical analysis method, and multivariate relationships that statistically influence the UHI were determined. The results indicate an urban cooling island during the morning with a medium temperature of −0.6 K, the effect being greater in the low-density LCZ than in the high-density LCZ. At night, an UHI with an average temperature of 0.7 K is produced, this effect being greater in compact LCZs than in open ones. Two common factors significantly influence the day and night UHI: Fraction vegetation cover and solar radiation. In addition, for the day UHI, altitude and population density stand out as significant. For the night UHI, wind, impervious surface fraction factor and sky view factor additionally stand out. © 2021 Elsevier B.V.