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A remote sensing study of

the urban heat island of
Houston, Texas
D. R. Streutker
Published online: 25 Nov 2010.

To cite this article: D. R. Streutker (2002) A remote sensing study of the urban
heat island of Houston, Texas, International Journal of Remote Sensing, 23:13,
2595-2608, DOI: 10.1080/01431160110115023

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 int. j. remote sensing, 2002, vol. 23, no. 13, 2595 –2608

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

D. R. STREUTKER
Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005,
USA; e-mail: streutke@rice.edu

(Received 22 September 2000; in Ž nal form 29 May 2001)

Abstract. Radiative surface temperature maps of Houston, Texas were derived

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from satellite sensor data acquired at approximately 0400 LST on 27 separate

occasions over a two-year period. Urban-rural temperature diVerences were
determined for 21 of these cases by modelling the urban heat island as a two-
dimensional 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 correl-
ated with rural temperature, while the spatial extent was found to be independent
of both heat island magnitude and rural temperature.

1. Introduction
It is well known and documented that urbanisation can have signiŽ cant eVects
on local weather and climate (Landsberg 1981). Of these eVects one of the most
familiar is the urban heat island, for which the temperatures of the central urban
locations are several degrees higher than those of nearby rural areas of similar
elevation. The urban heat island eVect has been the subject of numerous studies in
recent decades and is exhibited by many major cities around the world. These include
Athens (Katsoulis 1985), Paris (Detwiller 1970), Singapore and Kuala Lampur (Tso
1996), Tokyo (Fukui 1970) and Washington, DC (Kim 1992). Regional studies have
also been carried out in Australia and Argentina (Camilloni and Barros 1997), China
(Wang et al. 1990 ), South Korea (Lee 1993) and the USA (Johnson et al. 1994,
Camilloni and Barros 1997).
There are a variety of reasons for the urban/rural temperature variance. The
most signiŽ cant of these are diVerences in the thermal properties of the radiating
surfaces and a decreased rate of evapotranspiratio n in the urban environment. Oke
(1982) lists several other factors in addition to these two. Contributions due to urban
topography include the ‘canyon eVect’ which increases absorption of shortwave
radiation, a decreased sky view that reduces outgoing longwave radiation, and
increased surface roughness, which reduces boundary layer winds and hinders sens-
ible heat loss. High levels of pollution can increase the urban albedo and reradiate
longwave radiation. Urban areas also exhibit a greater amount of anthropogenic
heat generation.
Internationa l Journal of Remote Sensing
ISSN 0143-116 1 print/ISSN 1366-590 1 online © 2002 Taylor & Francis Ltd
http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
DOI: 10.1080/01431160110115023
 2596 D. R. Streutker

Until recently studies of urban eVects on meteorology and climate have been
conducted for isolated locations and with in situ measurements. With the advent of
high-resolution Earth-monitoring satellites, it has become possible to study these
eVects both remotely and on continental or global scales. Gallo et al. (1993) used
data from the NOAA Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) to
determine urban/rural diVerences in surface temperature and vegetation index for
37 US cities. They found that the diVerence in vegetation index showed a positive
correlation with the diVerences in both surface and air temperature. AVHRR data
has also been used to study the urbanisation impact on vegetation cover and surface
moisture availability for an area near State College, Pennsylvania, over a 10-year
period (Owen et al. 1998 ).
The Ž rst objective of this study was to quantify the entire urban heat island as
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a continuously varying surface. By using a surface to represent the urban heat island,
it was expected that the dependence of measured heat island magnitude on spatial
variations could be overcome. This method also allowed for a measurement of the
overall spatial breadth of the heat island.
As this method required large numbers of data points, it was ideally suited to
the use of remotely sensed data. The use of satellite sensor data allowed a larger and
more uniform sampling than in situ data and a more regular sampling than with
airborne sensors. Methods developed here can also be used in global studies, without
the diYculties faced when trying to gather planetary in situ data. As the satellite
sensor measures radiance, this study focused on the surface temperature heat island,
not the air temperature heat island.
The second objective of this study was to determine whether or not a correlation
existed between the urban/rural temperature diVerence and the rural temperature.
In a study of several cities in Argentina, Australia and the US, Camilloni and Barros
(1997) determined that the yearly mean urban/rural temperature diVerence was
negatively correlated to the mean rural temperatures. This result suggests that the
urban heat island magnitude depends, at least in part, on the temperature itself.
The proposed explanation is that instabilities in the boundary layer increase with
temperature, allowing easier vertical dissipation of heat.
Such dependence is an important consideration when correcting for urban bias
in climate records. In correcting temperature records for urbanisation, Karl et al.
(1988) estimated the urban bias primarily as a function of population growth. During
warming periods, such a correction may overestimate the urban bias and thus
underestimate the warming trend. This is of particular concern in global warming
studies, in which the amount of warming may be underestimated due to this second
form of urban bias.
Though there are many advantages to using remote sensing techniques, several
considerations must be made when applying such methods to the study of the urban
heat island eVect. When making temperature determinations from remotely sensed
data, one must be cognisant of the fact that the derived temperatures are surface
temperatures of the emitting materials, and not air temperatures, as in situ measure-
ments often are. This trait, combined with the abundance of surface types in the
urban environment, can cause surface temperatures to exhibit a much greater spatial
variation than the concurrent air temperatures.
A further consideration is the urban topography . Due to the high amount of
relief and the fact that horizontal and vertical surfaces often have widely varying
radiative and thermal properties (i.e. dark rooftops and road surfaces), radiance
 Study of the urban heat island of Houston, T exas 2597

measurements will be highly sensitive to changes in satellite azimuth angle. Temper-

ature derivations thus depend on the location of the satellite when the radiances
are measured.

2. Area descriptions and methodology

2.1. Area and data description
The subject of this study was the city of Houston, Texas. Houston lends itself
well to an analysis of this type due to its large geographi c area. The lack of signiŽ cant
topography in the area surrounding Houston is also advantageous . There are,
however, two nearby bodies of water which must be taken into account: Galveston
Bay lies to the east of the city, and the Gulf of Mexico is approximately 80 km to
the south-east.
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The city of Houston is the fourth most populous city in the USA, with approxi-
mately 1.6 million residents in an area of 1400 km2. The Houston-Galveston-Brazori a
metropolitan area consists of 3.7 million inhabitants in a region of 18 400 km2 (US
Bureau of Census 1996).
Forty-eight temperature maps for the city of Houston were obtained for the
period of April 1998 through January 2000 from AVHRR Level 1b High Resolution
Picture Transmission (HRPT) data. The analysis area encompassed a 2×2° box
centred about the city. Each dataset consisted of a nadir view of the city, taken at
approximately 0400 LST (1000 GMT) by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration NOAA-14 satellite. Due to the orbital properties of the NOAA polar
orbiting satellites, such images are produced approximatel y once every two weeks.
Of these datasets, 21 were rejected due to signiŽ cant cloud contamination, leaving
27 useful radiance datasets.
Fortunately, each image was obtained at a time when the local temperature was
likely near the daily minimum. The urban heat island is strongest during the night
(Oke 1982) and typically reaches its maximum value when the temperature is at a
daily minimum (Karl et al. 1988). Night-time images are also advantageou s in that
there is no direct solar interaction and thus no dependence on the solar zenith angle.

2.2. Radiometric correction

Temperature maps for the area of study were derived using calibrated thermal-
IR data (Kidwell 1998) from the ‘split window’ channels 4 (10.3–11.3 mm) and 5
(11.5–12.5 mm) of the AVHRR instrument.
Surface radiance values for each scene pixel were calculated from the AVHRR
thermal data with the use of calibration coeYcients contained within the ephemeris
data. These radiance values were then corrected for the non-linearity of AVHRR
channels 4 and 5 with the use of radiance correction coeYcients (Kidwell 1998). The
corrected radiance values (R ) were then converted to brightness temperatures using
i
the inverse of Planck’s equation of radiation,

C n
T (R)= 2 i (1)

A B
i C n3
ln 1+ 1 i
R
i
The constants in equation (1) are C =1.1910659 ×10Õ 5 mW­ mÕ 2­ srÕ 1­ cm4 and
1
C =1.438833×10Õ 5 cm­ K, with n the central wave number of each channel. The
2 i
 2598 D. R. Streutker

surface temperature was calculated from the brightness temperatures using the
relation
T =T +3.3 (T ­ T ) (2)
sfc 4 4 5
as determined by Price (1984). This technique assumes a surface emissivity of 1.0.
Figure 1 shows the resulting temperature map for the 9 September 1999 dataset.

2.3. Cloud and water rejection

The Ž tting surface was chosen to be a two-dimensional Gaussian superimposed
on a planar rural background. The form of this surface is

C D
(x­x )2 (y­ y )2
T (x, y)=T +a x+a y+a exp ­ o ­ o (3)
o 1 2 o 2a2 2a2
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x y
In order to isolate the heat island in each image, it was necessary to mask the
water and cloud components. The Ž rst to be eliminated were the bodies of water in
the analysis area. (E.g. the yellow area in the eastern portion of Ž gure 1 is Galveston
Bay). This was done through the use of a landcover characterisation made available
from the US Geological Survey (USGS) Earth Resources Observation System
(EROS) Data Centre (Sellers et al. 1996). It was necessary to transform the landcover

Figure 1. A Temperature map of the Houston, Texas area for 9 September 1999. The city of
Houston is the green area near the centre of the image. The yellow and orange areas
to the east and south-east are Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. The dark blue
and purple stripes in the southern portion of the image are clouds. Each pixel of the
image has surface dimensions of 0.97 km east-west and 1.12 km north-south.
 Study of the urban heat island of Houston, T exas 2599

characterisation map to unprojected geographical co-ordinates in order to combine

it with each surface temperature map.
The presence of clouds in each image would also have contaminated the heat
island. (An example of this is the dark blue/purple stripe in Ž gure 1). Cloud pixels
were removed by virtue of their low relative temperature. After the water pixels were
removed, a temperature histogram of the remaining pixels was created. Figure 2 is
an example of this, from the 9 September 1999 image. The dominant feature of the
temperature histogram is a peak composed primarily of the land pixels. This peak
was then Ž tted to a Gaussian curve. Any pixels with a temperature less than 2s
below the peak were assumed to be located in the cores of clouds. These cloud cores
were then removed, as well as the pixels neighbouring them.
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2.4. Rural subtraction

The removal of the water and cloud pixels left an image containing only land
pixels. In order to quantify the constant and linear components of equation (3), the
pixels in the general urban area were masked. A least-squares planar Ž t to the
remaining rural data was performed to determine the constant and linear components
of temperature. The results of this step are contained in table 1. These components
were then subtracted from the temperature image. In most cases, the urban heat
island signature was clearly visible upon completion of this step. An example of the
resulting data is shown in Ž gure 3, again for the case of 9 September 1999.

Figure 2. Histogram of number of image pixels versus surface temperature for the
9 September 1999 image. The dashed line is a Gaussian Ž t to the image data.
 2600 D. R. Streutker

Table 1. Rural temperature components.

Constant Longitudinal Latitudinal

Date (°C) (°C/km) (°C/km)

9 April 1998 9.47 0.0267 ­ 0.0078

27 April 1998 18.36 ­ 0.0004 0.0130
2 June 1998 22.23 0.0149 ­ 0.0017
20 June 1998 25.19 0.0135 ­ 0.0046
8 July 1998 27.27 0.0032 ­ 0.0201
17 July 1998 27.77 0.0036 ­ 0.0008
26 July 1998 24.73 0.0186 0.0001
13 August 1998 27.82 0.0060 0.0048
27 September 1998 25.60 ­ 0.0089 ­ 0.0091
29 November 1998 16.39 0.0015 ­ 0.0069
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16 March 1999 3.47 0.0102 ­ 0.0034

8 May 1999 12.79 0.0097 ­ 0.0235
17 May 1999 24.06 0.0088 ­ 0.0051
22 August 1999 21.18 0.0319 ­ 0.0509
31 August 1999 23.91 0.0128 ­ 0.0008
9 September 1999 24.57 0.0096 ­ 0.0374
5 October 1999 17.82 0.0210 ­ 0.0177
14 October 1999 17.73 0.0220 ­ 0.0421
18 November 1999 8.09 ­ 0.0153 ­ 0.0256
27 November 1999 2.18 0.0101 ­ 0.0022
23 December 1999 2.22 0.0084 ­ 0.0631

2.5. UHI characterization

Once the constant and linear temperature components were subtracted, it was
possible to Ž t the heat island to the Gaussian surface. This was accomplished by
performing a least-squares Ž t to the natural logarithm of the temperature.
T(x, y)=a exp{­ a (x­ x )2­ a ( y­ y )2} (4)
o x o y o
ln{T(x, y)] =ln(a )­ a (x­ x )2­ a ( y­ y )2 (5)
o x o y o
This provided the magnitude and both spatial extent parameters of the surface.
Table 2 contains the Ž t parameters. Figures 4 and 5 show the longitudinal and
latitudinal cross-sections of the temperature data and the resulting Gaussian surface
for the 9 September 1999 image. The cross-sections are along the major and minor
axes of the surface and correspond to the lines drawn in Ž gure 3. A satisfactory heat
island measurement was found for 21 of the 27 uncontaminated images.
A correlation coeYcient was calculated using the measured surface temperature
and Gaussian surface. Only the land surface pixels within 2s of the centre of the
heat island were used. These coeYcients are recorded in table 2.

3. Results and discussion

When using the technique above, an overall rms. error of 2–3°C in the determina-
tion of surface temperature was found by Cooper and Asrar (1989), in agreement
with the estimation of Price (1984). This is due to a combination of errors in
radiometric calibration of the instrument and variations in surface emissivity. Roth
et al. (1989 ) estimate that spatial diVerences in surface emissivity could produce or
mask urban-rural temperature diVerences of up to 1.5°C.
 Study of the urban heat island of Houston, T exas 2601
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Figure 3. Image of the isolated urban heat island for the 9 September 1999 image. The warm
waters of Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico have been masked, as have the
clouds. The diamond shapes are areas where small clouds and bodies of water have
been masked. The horizontal and vertical lines correspond to the cross-sectional
temperature proŽ les in Ž gures 4 and 5.

The results of the rural subtraction are shown in table 1. Nearly all of the datasets
show an overall temperature gradient to the east and south. This is not surprising
as that is the direction toward the Gulf of Mexico; nighttime surface temperatures
increase with proximity to the warmer waters oVshore. (Daytime temperatures would
show the opposite eVect.)
The magnitudes and spatial extents of the heat islands are shown in table 2. The
heat island magnitudes vary up to a maximum value of slightly over 4°C. The spatial
extents are somewhat varied, with longitudinal extents between 20 and 70 km and
latitudinal extents between 15 and 30 km. Figure 6 shows the location and spatial
extents of the 21 satisfactory heat island signatures.
The Gaussian method of heat island measurement described above was compared
with two alternate methods of heat island measurement. The Ž rst alternate method
was simply measuring the single pixel maximum temperature recorded in the urban
area. The second alternate method consisted of taking a three pixel by three pixel
composite of the urban area and measuring the highest resulting temperature
recorded. Due to the spatial variability of the surface temperature, each of these
alternate methods produced a higher magnitude than the Gaussian Ž t, with the
single pixel method the highest of the three. These measurements are shown in table 3.
 2602 D. R. Streutker

Table 2. Urban heat island size parameters and correlation coeYcients.

Magnitude Longitudinal Latitudinal Correlation

Date (°C) extent ( km) extent ( km) coeYcient

9 April 1998 4.04 26.8 16.6 0.49

27 April 1998 1.69 30.4 17.7 0.33
2 June 1998 2.30 72.4 16.8 0.46
20 June 1998 1.86 35.9 25.0 0.31
8 July 1998 2.41 76.2 32.6 0.49
17 July 1998 1.70 49.9 30.9 0.27
26 July 1998 2.82 26.3 16.8 0.44
13 August 1998 2.41 40.7 33.1 0.48
27 September 1998 1.06 50.2 26.9 0.38
29 November 1998 1.86 15.0 27.2 0.46
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16 March 1999 2.50 34.2 13.3 0.42

8 May 1999 4.15 53.1 20.9 0.61
17 May 1999 1.85 31.1 25.1 0.32
22 August 1999 4.25 57.2 17.6 0.51
31 August 1999 3.96 22.4 20.0 0.42
9 September 1999 3.09 60.5 16.5 0.29
5 October 1999 2.32 37.1 31.0 0.48
14 October 1999 3.29 70.4 15.5 0.50
18 November 1999 4.24 39.0 17.8 0.62
27 November 1999 3.22 36.9 16.4 0.45
23 December 1999 2.80 34.9 20.2 0.26

Figure 4. Longitudinal cross-section of the 9 September 1999 heat island. The horizontal
axis is the longitudinal co-ordinate, and the vertical axis is the temperature anomaly.
The cross-section corresponds to the line drawn in Ž gure 3.
 Study of the urban heat island of Houston, T exas 2603
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Figure 5. Latitudinal cross-section of the 9 September 1999 heat island. The horizontal axis
is the latitudinal co-ordinate, and the vertical axis is the temperature anomaly. The
cross-section corresponds to the line drawn in Ž gure 3.

Figure 6. Locations and spatial extents of 21 urban heat islands.

 2604 D. R. Streutker

Table 3. Urban heat island magnitudes for each of the three measuring techniques.

Maximum temperature (°C)

Date Gaussian Ž t 3×3 composite Overall maximum

9 April 1998 4.04 6.29 8.15

27 April 1998 1.69 2.79 2.79
2 June 1998 2.30 3.70 5.20
20 June 1998 1.86 4.10 4.39
8 July 1998 2.41 3.50 3.54
17 July 1998 1.70 3.01 3.21
26 July 1998 2.82 3.39 4.88
13 August 1998 2.41 4.80 4.82
27 September 1998 1.06 2.69 3.03
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29 November 1998 1.86 4.28 4.57

16 March 1999 2.50 5.68 7.63
8 May 1999 4.15 9.03 9.03
17 May 1999 1.85 2.66 2.84
22 August 1999 4.25 6.60 8.31
31 August 1999 3.96 5.73 7.12
9 September 1999 3.09 6.17 6.49
5 October 1999 2.32 4.12 5.53
14 October 1999 3.29 4.76 6.45
18 November 1999 4.24 9.07 9.58
27 November 1999 3.22 9.40 9.40
23 December 1999 2.80 7.84 7.84

As can be seen from the comparison of the three methods of magnitude calcu-
lation, the Gaussian method tends to provide a substantially lower heat island
magnitude than the two alternate methods. In most cases, the single pixel magnitude
was two to three times greater than the Gaussian magnitude. Thus while the urban
area often contains localised regions of increased temperature, the urban area as a
whole may be better characterized by a signiŽ cantly lower heat island magnitude.
It was also investigated whether or not the spatial extent of the heat island was
related to the heat island magnitude or the surrounding rural temperature. This was
found not to be the case, as none of these temperature measurements show signiŽ cant
correlation to the spatial extent. In fact the spatial extents appeared to be fairly
constant over the period of the study, with longitudinal and latitudinal averages of
42.9 km and 21.8 km, and standard deviations of 17.0 km and 6.3 km respectively.
Figure 7 shows the urban heat island magnitudes versus rural temperature for
the surface Ž t method. It was found that heat island magnitude is indeed negatively
correlated with rural temperature. The Spearman’s rank test correlation coeYcient
is ­ 0.48, signiŽ cant at the 97% level for this sample. The functional relationship is
represented by the solid line in the Ž gure and is given by the equation

UHI=3.56°C­ 0.044T (6)

rural
The negative correlation holds true when the single pixel maximum and three pixel
composite heat island magnitudes are used; each exhibits a correlation signiŽ cant at
the 99% level. These are shown in Ž gures 8 and 9.
 Study of the urban heat island of Houston, T exas 2605
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Figure 7. Urban heat island magnitude versus rural temperature. The heat island magnitude
was determined using the Gaussian Ž t method. The straight line is a least-squares Ž t
to the data.

Figure 8. Urban heat island magnitude versus rural temperature. The heat island magnitude
was determined using the maximum temperature of the 3×3 composite of the data.
The straight line is a least-squares Ž t to the data.
 2606 D. R. Streutker
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Figure 9. Urban heat island magnitude versus rural temperature. The heat island magnitude
was determined using the maximum measured temperature. The straight line is a
least-squares Ž t to the data.

These correlations lead to speculation concerning the behaviour of the urban

heat island at very high temperatures. It may be expected that as the rural temper-
ature increases, the heat island magnitude will continue to decrease and become
more diYcult to detect. According to equation (6), however, a rural temperature of
at least 80.9°C (177.6°F) would be necessary for the heat island magnitude to decrease
to zero. This is, of course, much higher than any air temperature ever recorded. At
the highest recorded temperature, 58°C (136°F), the heat island magnitude would
still be greater than one degree Celsius.

4. Concluding remarks
It has been shown that satellite radiance data can indeed be used to characterize
both the magnitude and spatial extent of an urban heat island. Future studies may
focus on monitoring the heat island of a single city for extended periods in order to
study the growth and management of the heat excess. Remotely sensed temperature
data may also be helpful in studying the heat islands of several urban areas in a
given region and performing comparative analyses. The satellite sensor data is also
relatively easy to obtain for most areas of the Earth and is thus useful for global
studies.
It is questionable as to whether this method would be improved by using data
with higher spatial resolution. Such data would obviously allow for the identiŽ cation
of smaller features, but this would likely not make the Gaussian surface Ž t any
better. Higher-resolution data could, however, contain higher single-pixel temper-
atures in the case of small, hot features that were obscured in the current data by
surrounding cold regions.
 Study of the urban heat island of Houston, T exas 2607

It has been noted that the local climatic eVects due to increasing urbanisation
are currently similar to, if not greater than, the global climate change predicted to
occur over the next century (Changnon 1992). Urban increases in temperature and
changes in cloud and precipitation patterns are local examples of what many expect
to occur on a global scale in future decades. Methods and techniques currently being
developed to study local phenomena will provide an increase in the skills and
knowledge necessary to deal with possible future global climate change.
In the future, urban climate change will be of importance to a larger and larger
number of the world’s residents. It is estimated that at the beginning of the new
century, 60% of the world’s population will live in cities with at least 5000 residents
(Oke 1987). With such a large fraction of the world’s population concentrated in
urban areas, local climatic eVects will be felt by a great number of people. Population
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trends indicate that the growths of the world’s largest cities show few signs of slowing,
and many cities are expected to reach and exceed the level of 20 million early in the
21st century. Larger cities will likely accentuate the climatic eVects, especially if the
urban growth is unsupervised and occurs without careful planning. Many of these
cities are growing to sizes never before encountered, thus making it prudent to
closely watch what eVects such size may produce.

Acknowledgments
This work was supported by NASA’s oYce of Earth Science under Comparative
Agreement NCC-5-311 and by the Charles R. Conly Research Fund of Rice
University. The author wishes to thank Drs Patricia ReiV and Arthur Few for their
thoughtful reviews of this manuscript.

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