Rooftop surface temperature analysis in an urban residential environment

Zhao, Q. , Myint, S. W., Wentz, E. A. and Fan, C. (2015) Rooftop surface temperature analysis in an urban residential environment. Remote Sensing, 7(9), pp. 12135-12159. (doi: 10.3390/rs70912135)

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Abstract

The urban heat island (UHI) phenomenon is a significant worldwide problem caused by rapid population growth and associated urbanization. The UHI effect exacerbates heat waves during the summer, increases energy and water consumption, and causes the high risk of heat-related morbidity and mortality. UHI mitigation efforts have increasingly relied on wisely designing the urban residential environment such as using high albedo rooftops, green rooftops, and planting trees and shrubs to provide canopy coverage and shading. Thus, strategically designed residential rooftops and their surrounding landscaping have the potential to translate into significant energy, long-term cost savings, and health benefits. Rooftop albedo, material, color, area, slope, height, aspect and nearby landscaping are factors that potentially contribute. To extract, derive, and analyze these rooftop parameters and outdoor landscaping information, high resolution optical satellite imagery, LIDAR (light detection and ranging) point clouds and thermal imagery are necessary. Using data from the City of Tempe AZ (a 2010 population of 160,000 people), we extracted residential rooftop footprints and rooftop configuration parameters from airborne LIDAR point clouds and QuickBird satellite imagery (2.4 m spatial resolution imagery). Those parameters were analyzed against surface temperature data from the MODIS/ASTER airborne simulator (MASTER). MASTER images provided fine resolution (7 m) surface temperature data for residential areas during daytime and night time. Utilizing these data, ordinary least squares (OLS) regression was used to evaluate the relationships between residential building rooftops and their surface temperature in urban environment. The results showed that daytime rooftop temperature was closely related to rooftop spectral attributes, aspect, slope, and surrounding trees. Night time temperature was only influenced by rooftop spectral attributes and slope.

Item Type:Articles
Additional Information:This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant SES-0951366, Decision Center for a Desert City II: Urban Climate Adaptation. The acquisition and processing of these MASTER data was supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant GEO-0816168: Urban Vulnerability to Climate Change and BCS-1026865: Central Arizona-Phoenix Long-Term Ecological Research. QZ is partly supported by the Graduate Grant of the Central Arizona-Phoenix Long-Term Ecological Research.
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Zhao, Dr Qunshan
Authors: Zhao, Q., Myint, S. W., Wentz, E. A., and Fan, C.
College/School:College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Urban Studies
Journal Name:Remote Sensing
Publisher:MDPI
ISSN:2072-4292
ISSN (Online):2072-4292
Published Online:18 September 2015
Copyright Holders:Copyright © 2015 The Authors
First Published:First published in Remote Sensing 7(9): 12135-12159
Publisher Policy:Reproduced under a Creative Commons License

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