Name: Ameya Vikram Singh Chilwal

Class: PG Diploma in Remote Sensing and

GIS
Roll No. 202005548
Subject: Remote Sensing & GIS
Application in Climate Studies
Topic: Land surface temperature
estimation
Submitted to: Dr Masood Ahsan Siddiqui
INTRODUCTION
India is facing crucial problem as the other world, by the
impact of Global warming which is resulting from climate
change. Global warming is an increase in Earth’s average
surface temperature, land surface temperature (LST) plays a
critical role in Global climate change and is used in a range
of hydrological, meteorological, and climatological
applications. As needed for most modelling and climate
analysis applications. Remote sensing (RS) and geographic
information system (GIS) have found wide application areas
in climate change analyses also this can be used for LST
calculation. There are various sensor whose data is useful in
generating LST such as: advanced very high resolution
radiometer (AVHRR), moderate resolution imaging
spectroradiometer (MODIS), Landsat-8, and many more.
LST can be estimated by using many algorithms i.e. split-
window (SW), dual-angle (DA), single-channel (SC). In this
paper we have used SW algorithm to estimate LST for
Bhopal region using LANDSAT-8 Thermal Infrared bands.
SW algorithm uses spectral radiance and emissivity of TIR
bands as input for deriving LST. The spectral radiance was
estimated using TIR bands and emissivity was calculated
using NDVI threshold technique. Finally Land surface
temperature for Bhopal region have been estimated and
statistics are presented

DEFINITION
Land Surface Temperature (LST) is a fundamental aspect of
climate and biology, affecting organisms and ecosystems from
local to global scales. Identified as one of the most important
Earth System Data Records by NASA and other international
organizations (King, 1999), LST measures the emission of
thermal radiance from the land surface where the incoming
solar energy interacts with and heats the ground, or the
surface of the canopy in vegetated areas. This quality makes
LST a good indicator of energy partitioning at the land
surface-atmosphere boundary and sensitive to changing
surface conditions (Nemani et al., 1996; Wan et al.,
2004; Lambin and Ehrlich, 1995; Mildrexler et al., 2009). At
spatial scales ranging from the leaf-level to the landscape, the
knowledge LST provides on the redistribution of energy into
latent and sensible heat fluxes makes it one of the most
important parameters in the physical processes of surface
energy and water balances (Li et al., 2013; Teskey et al.,
2014). Its retrieval from remotely sensed thermal-infrared
(TIR) data provides spatially continuous LST measurements
with global coverage to examine the thermal heterogeneity of
the Earth's surface, and the impact on surface temperatures
resulting from natural and human-induced changes (Jin and
Dickinson, 2010; Li et al., 2015).
Daytime LST is more tightly coupled with the radiative and
thermodynamic characteristics of the Earth's surface than
standard air temperature measurements. LST is also more
sensitive to changes in vegetation density and captures
additional information on the biophysical controls on surface
temperature, such as surface roughness and transpirational
cooling (Mildrexler et al., 2011a; Oyler et al., 2016). A
growing body of work has demonstrated the utility of LST
datasets for ecological and biogeographical studies.
Temperatures derived from TIR data have been combined
with vegetation indices to separate land cover classes (Lambin
and Ehrlich, 1995; Nemani and Running, 1997), monitor land
cover dynamics (Julien and Sobrino, 2009) and ecosystem
disturbances (Mildrexler et al., 2007, 2009; Coops et al.,
2009). Nemani et al. (1993) used LST as an indicator of
surface-moisture status, and thermal datasets have been used
for monitoring drought and plant stress in agricultural and
natural ecosystems (Anderson et al., 2007; Scherrer et al.,
2011; Wan et al., 2004; Mildrexler et al., 2016). LST has been
used to examine the consequences of land cover changes on
climate (Li et al., 2015), and to investigate the association
between maximum thermal anomalies, heat waves, melting
ice sheets, and droughts in tropical forests (Mildrexler et al.,
2018). Thermal data has been used to understand the effects
of heat waves on avian community structure (Albright et al.,
2011) and habitat usage by koalas (Briscoe et al., 2014).

HOW LAND SURFACE

TEMPERATURE IS MEASURED??
Land surface temperature (LST), Ts in Eq. (1), can be
estimated mainly from TIR remote sensing, but also from
passive microwave remote sensing. LST detected by IR
thermal sensors provides finer spatial resolution only under
clear-sky conditions. Because clouds and aerosols are
essentially transparent to microwave radiation at frequencies
below about 12 GHz, microwave remote sensing has the
potential to eliminate the atmospheric contamination.
However, passive microwave sensors have coarser spatial
resolution and lower accuracy.

The progress in LST estimation from thermal remote

sensing has been discussed by Li and Duan (2017) in general
and by Yu et al. (2017) specifically for the NOAA JPSS and
GOES-R satellite missions.
The current satellite LST products have large uncertainties
(Hulley and Hook, 2009; Wang and Liang, 2009a). For
example, the MODIS global LST product is the most reliable
LST product, with the accuracy of 1 K verified only for
homogeneous surfaces, such as water bodies and sandy land
(Wan, 2008). Wang et al. (2008) also compared nighttime
LST data using eight ground TIR temperature observation
stations and verified that the error or deviation rate (bias) was
around − 3.23°C to 0.72°C. Validation results proved that the
anticipated accuracy of Advanced Spaceborne Thermal
Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) LST product
of + 1.5 K has been met (Sabol et al., 2009), under unusual
atmospheric conditions of anomalously high humidity or
spatial variability, atmospheric compensation can be
incomplete and errors in temperature and emissivity images
can be larger than anticipated. The standard deviation of LST
from the Infrared Atmospheric Sounder Interferometer (IASI)
over the tropics is about 1.3 K (Capelle et al., 2012). The
RMSE of the MSG–SEVIRI LST product compared with
ground measurements is up to 2°K (Freitas et al., 2010). The
retrieval accuracy for microwave sensors is far worse than
1°K.
The satellite-derived LST datasets are also used for a variety
of applications including large-scale ecosystem disturbance
detection (Mildrexler et al., 2009), drought monitoring (Rhee
et al., 2010), land cover monitoring (Julien and Sobrino, 2009;
Karnieli et al., 2010), biodiversity studies (Albright et al.,
2011), and urban heat island effects (Jin, 2012). LST products
have been widely assimilated into land surface models
(LSMs) to estimate turbulent fluxes (Bateni and Liang, 2012;
Crow et al., 2003; Qin et al., 2007; Xu et al., 2011a,b), soil
moisture, and other quantities.

Some numerical models have simulated unrealistic LST, for

example, Moncet et al. (2011) compared MODIS LST with
the ISCCP LST. For July 2003 monthly averages over all
clear-sky locations, the ISCCP-MODIS differences
were + 5.0 K and + 2.5 K for day and night, respectively, and
there were areas with differences as large as 25 K.
The MODIS LST product has been used to determine the LST
trends. Sobrino and Julien (2013) determined the global LST
trends from MODIS LST monthly data from 2000 to
2011. Zhou and Wang (2016) calculated the multiyear
averaged LST over global deserts is 23.5°C from MODIS and
varies from 20.8°C to 24.5°C in different reanalyses. The
MODIS LST over global deserts increased by 0.25°C/decade
from 2002 to 2015, whereas the reanalyses estimated a trend
varying from − 0.14°C/decade to 0.10°C/decade.
How to calculate Land Surface
Temperature with Landsat 8 satellite
images?

The Land Surface Temperature can be estimated or calculated

using the Landsat 8 thermal bands. It simply requires applying
a set of equations through a raster image calculator (Arc Map,
ArcGIS Pro, QGIS).
The first step is to download a Landsat 8 image from a
particular location, unzip it, and check certain information
needed (within the metadata) to execute this procedure.
This tutorial shows how to calculate Land Surface
Temperature (LST) using the Landsat 8 bands. In particular,
band 10 as the thermal band, and bands 4 and 5 to calculate
the Normal Difference Vegetation Index (NVDI).
To calculate the LST, use the USGS formulas (more
information in the article Algorithm for Automated Mapping
of Land Surface Temperature Using LANDSAT 8 Satellite
Data)

1. - Calculation of TOA (Top of Atmospheric) spectral

radiance.
TOA (L) = ML * Qcal + AL
Where:
ML = Band-specific multiplicative rescaling factor from the
metadata (RADIANCE MULTI_BAND x, where x is the
band number).

2. - TOA to Brightness Temperature conversion

BT = (K2 / (ln (K1 / L) + 1)) − 273.15
Where:
K1 = Band-specific thermal conversion constant from the
metadata (K1_CONSTANT_BAND_x, where x is the thermal
band number).
K2 = Band-specific thermal conversion constant from the
metadata (K2_CONSTANT_BAND_x, where x is the thermal
band number).

3. - Calculate the NDVI

NDVI = (Band 5 – Band 4) / (Band 5 + Band 4)
Note that the calculation of the NDVI is important because,
subsequently, the proportion of vegetation (Pv), which is
highly related to the NDVI, and emissivity (ε), which is
related to the Pv, must be calculated.
NDVI = Float (Band 5 – Band 4) / Float (Band 5 + Band 4)
4. - Calculate the proportion of vegetation Pv
Pv = Square ((NDVI – NDVImin) / (NDVImax – NDVImin))
Usually the minimum and maximum values of the NDVI
image can be displayed directly in the image (both in ArcGIS,
QGIS, ENVI, Erdas Imagine), otherwise you must open the
properties of the raster to get those values.
5.- Calculate Emissivity ε
ε = 0.004 * Pv + 0.986
6. - Calculate the Land Surface Temperature
LST = (BT / (1 + (0.00115 * BT / 1.4388) * Ln (ε)))
Finally apply the LST equation to obtain the surface
temperature map.
As a result of the process developed, there is a map of the
Land Surface Temperature, it should be noted that it is not
equal to the air temperature.