Assessment of urban heat island using satellite remotely sensed imagery: a review

Urban heat island (UHI) is an important phenomenon given its direct and indirect impacts on human populations in urban environments. The UHI phenomenon has been studied extensively using both directly measured and remotely sensed temperature data sets. This review presents an overview of the UHI background concepts and provides details of satellite remote sensing data and processing techniques applied by various studies to retrieve land surface temperatures (LSTs) in order to establish the existence of this phenomenon. The review reveals that various factors influence the utility of remote sensing in UHI studies. However, remote sensing has the potential to provide fairly accurate LST measurements that could be used to characterize UHI over large areas. UHI studies have been conducted mostly in the Americas, Europe and Asia with very few studies in Africa. Recommendations on means to improve the use of remote sensing in UHI studies have been made. Accurate and up-to-date remotely sensed assessments of UHIs will inform city planners and managers and assist in addressing challenges related to the phenomenon.