Global mapping of urban thermal anisotropy reveals substantial potential biases for remotely sensed urban climates

Du, Huilin; Zhan, Wenfeng; Liu, Zihan; Scott Krayenhoff, E.; Chakraborty, TC; Zhao, Lei; Jiang, Lu; Dong, Pan; Li, Long; Huang, Fan; Wang, Shasha; Xu, Yuyue

doi:10.1016/j.scib.2023.06.032

Global mapping of urban thermal anisotropy reveals substantial potential biases for remotely sensed urban climates

Journal Article · Fri Jun 30 04:00:00 EDT 2023 · Science Bulletin

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scib.2023.06.032· OSTI ID:2000679

Du, Huilin ^[1]; Zhan, Wenfeng ^[2]; Liu, Zihan ^[1]; Scott Krayenhoff, E. ^[3]; Chakraborty, TC ^[4]; Zhao, Lei ^[5]; Jiang, Lu ^[1]; Dong, Pan ^[1]; Li, Long ^[1]; Huang, Fan ^[1]; Wang, Shasha ^[1]; Xu, Yuyue ^[1]

Nanjing Univ. (China)
Nanjing Univ. (China); Jiangsu Center for Collaborative Innovation in Geographical Information Resource Development and Application, Nanjing (China)
Univ. of Guelph, ON (Canada)
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL (United States)

Urban thermal anisotropy (UTA) drastically biases satellite-derived urban surface temperatures and fluxes, and consequently inhibits a more comprehensive understanding of global urban climates. However, UTA patterns and associated biases in observed urban climate variables have not been investigated across an adequate number of global cities with diverse contexts; nor is it known whether there are globally measurable factors that are closely related to the UTA intensity (UTAI, quantified as the maximum difference between the nadir and off-nadir urban thermal radiation). Here we investigate the UTAI over more than 5500 cities worldwide using the moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) multi-angle land surface temperature (LST) observations from 2003 to 2021. The results show that the global mean UTAI can reach 5.1, 2.7, 2.4, and 1.7 K during summer daytime, winter daytime, summer nighttime, and winter nighttime, respectively. Using nadir LST observations as a reference, our analysis reveals that UTA can lead to an underestimation of satellite-based urban surface sensible heat fluxes (H) by 45.4% and surface urban heat island intensity (I_s) by 43.0% when using LST observations obtained from sensor viewing zenith angles (VZAs) of ±60°. However, practitioners can limit the biases of H and I_s within ±10% by using LSTs from sensor VZAs within ±30°. We find that UTAI is closely related to urban impervious surface percentage and surface air temperature across global cities. In conclusion, these findings have implications for angular normalization of satellite-retrieved instantaneous LST observations across cities worldwide.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC05-76RL01830

OSTI ID:: 2000679

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 2000592

Report Number(s):: PNNL-SA--187205

Journal Information:: Science Bulletin, Journal Name: Science Bulletin Journal Issue: 16 Vol. 68; ISSN 2095-9273

Publisher:: Elsevier; Science China PressCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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