Estimation of Urban Heat Island Using Landsat

332
International Journal of Earth Sciences and Engineering

ISSN 0974-5904, Vol. 03, No. 03, June 2010, pp. 332-340
Estimation of Urban Heat Island Using Landsat

ETM+ Imagery at Chennai City - A Case Study
AYAD ALI FARIS1 and Y. SUDHAKAR REDDY2
1
Department of Geography, Education College, al_Mustansiriya University Baghdad-Iraq

2
Department of Geology, University College of Science, Osmania University,
Hyderabad-500007, Andhra Pradesh, India
Email: ayadfaris@hotmail.com
Abstract: Chennai city is the fourth largest metropolitan area in India, located on the
south-eastern coast of India. It is growing fast economically and demographically, with a
population growth of 2.3 percent yearly. The average gross density of the city, measured by
the number of people in urbanized hectare of land is about 152, showing that, the city is
supporting a larger number of residents in hectare of land. The city has a diversified
economic base with well-developed industrial and tertiary sectors. The associated impact of
the anthropogenic activities, affects on the microclimate and Urban Heat Island (UHI) of
Chennai city. Urban Heat Island plays an important role in urban environmental problem.
The objective of the present study is to find out the Urban Heat Island in Chennai city, by
finding out the spatial variation of Land Surface Temperature (LST) using Landsat-7 ETM+
imagery. For the analysis of Urban Heat Island (UHI), using ERDAS software spatial
modelling, prepared i.e. Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Leaf Area Index
(LAI), Surface Albedo, Surface Emissivity and Land Surface Temperature. Land use/land
cover map of Chennai city and surrounding area. The results show that, the maximum land
surface temperature difference between the urban and the surrounding area is 12oc. The
Central Business District (CBD) and some impervious surfaces and industrial locations in the
downtown area, show 32oc of maximum land surface temperature. While the areas of high
vegetation cover and water bodies show 20oc of minimum land surface temperature values.
It is clear from the results that, the land surface temperature values held a positive
correlation with dense built up and negative correlation with the vegetation cover.
Introduction:
The thermal difference between the urban
area and surroundings is defined as the
Urban Heat Island (UHI). It represents the
thermal characteristics of the atmosphere
and lithosphere in urban areas compared to
non-urbanized surrounding areas. Under
best conditions the Urban Heat Island may
be up to 10-15oc (Adinna et al., 2009).
Urban Heat Island is resulted from (a)
urbanization
and
(b)
anthropogenic
activities. The first is altering the land cover
since urbanization erases the natural
ground, by replacing the natural surface
material by non-porous built up surfaces.
The second is because of transport and
industrial activities which resulted in
variation of surface atmospheric energy
balance by trap, incoming solar radiation
during the day and the reradiate it at night
(GarciaCueto et al., 2007; Adinna et al.,
2009). Urban Heat Island can be marked by

in situ measurement of the air temperature
in the city or by using remote sensing
techniques, which needed information about
the overlying atmosphere and the surface
heat radiation flux properties.
Several
relevant researches i.e. Sarkar ,2004; Fan
et al., 2007; Stathopoulou and Cartalis,
2007; Jenerette et al., 2007; Kun Li and
Zhuang Yu, 2008; Hais and Kucera, 2008;
Cheval and Dumitrescu, 2009, estimated
Urban Heat Island using remote sensing
techniques. The objective of the present
study
is,
to
analyse
the
specific
characteristics of Urban Heat Island in
Chennai city, by finding out the spatial
variation of Land Surface Temperature
(LST), using Landsat-7 ETM+ imagery and
digital image processing techniques. Spatial
analysis was carried out by building several
models
i.e.
Normalized
Difference
Vegetation Index (NDVI), Leaf Area Index
#02030503 Copyright 2010 CAFET-INNOVA TECHNICAL SOCIETY. All rights reserved.
AYAD ALI FARIS and Y. SUDHAKAR REDDY
(LAI), Surface Albedo, Surface Emissivity

and Land Surface Temperature.
Study Area:
Chennai is the fourth largest metropolitan
area in India, with a 2001 population of
seven million, growing at the rate of 2.3%
yearly. Chennai is the capital of the State of
Tamil Nadu, located on the South-eastern
coast of India on the Bay of Bengal in the
State of Tamil Nadu (Fig. 1). Chennai is the
major city of southern India. The city has a
diversified economics base with welldeveloped industrial and tertiary sectors
growing
fast
economically
and
demographically. Chennai is the main
automobile production and assembly centre
333
in India, and it is gaining impetus as a backoffice and IT centre. Chennai, like other
large Indian cities, has seen its economy
grow dramatically between 199091 and
200203. The average gross density of the
city i.e. number of people for each urbanized
hectare of land, increased from 136 in 1971
to 152 in 2001, showing the city is
supporting a larger number of residents for
each hectare of land. It also experienced
rapid increase in density in the central city,
and now the central city has densities as
high as large cities like Mumbai. Further,
Chennai has undergone a suburbanization
process, with industrial activity locating
further from the central city area (Dowall
and Monkkonen, 2007).
Figure 1: Location Map of Chennai City

334
Estimation of Urban Heat Island Using Landsat ETM+ Imagery at

Chennai City - A Case Study
Methodology:
To estimate the Urban Heat Island (UHI) in
Chennai city, which depends mainly on the
spatial
variation
of
Land
Surface
Temperature (LST), several radiation heat
flux parameters i.e. Surface Albedo, NDVI,
LAI and Surface Emissivity computed first,
as input parameters for the model of Land

Surface Temperature (LST) (Fig. 2). All
related surface parameters are computed
using ERDAS spatial modeler and the data
from the Landsat-7 ETM+ imagery, dated
28th Oct 2000 and elevation data of Shuttle
Radar Topographic Mission (SRTM).
Figure 2: Flow Chart of Estimation of Land Surface Temperature (LST) from ETM+ Imagery
Surface Albedo:
Estimation of surface albedo and weighted
albedo, depends on the values of ETM+
image reflectance values. The reflectance
values of ETM+ image data were computed
from the digital number (DN) values of
ETM+ image using ERDAS Software based
on the parameters mentioned on image
header file and Landsat-7 users handbook
(NASA,2008). The weighted albedo for the
visible, near infrared (NIR), middle infrared
(MIR) bands were computed using the
equation: (Allen et al, 2002)
radiation flux for all bands, that are reflected

back to the sensor before reaching the
surface (Allen
et al., 2002; Oberg and
Assefa, 2006; Duah
et al., 2008). The
surface albedo ( ) is calculated by the
following equation:
TOA
Where
path radiance )
2
sw
...(2)
is surface albedo,
pathradiance
is
the incoming short wave radiation flux

reflected back to sensor (ranged from 0,025
to 0.04) for SEBAL it is recommend to use
thevalue
of 0.03
TOA = 0.293 r1 + 0.274 r2 + 0.231 r3 + 0.156 r4 + 0.034
r + 0.012
r (Bastiaanssen, 2000; Allen
et al, 52002). 7
...(1)
sw = 0.75 + 2 10 5 z .(3)
Where TOA is the weighted albedo at the
Where sw is the atmospheric transmissivity
top of atmosphere and r1, 2 ,...n are the
and z is the elevation in meters of weather
reflectance values for each bands. The station above sea level.
weighted albedo at the top of atmosphere,
were calibrated with respect to atmospheric
transmittance and the incoming shortwave
Normalized Difference Vegetation Index

(NDVI) and Leaf Area Index (LAI):
The Normalized Difference Vegetation Index
(NDVI), and Leaf Area Index (LAI), were
calculated from visible and near infrared
bands of ETM+ imagery as follows:(Lillesand
and Kiefer, 2003; Allen et al., 2002)
NDVI=
(band4-band3)/(band4+band3)
....(1)
To get the image of Leaf Area Index (LAI)
first computed, the soil adjusted vegetation
index (SAVI). Soil adjusted vegetation index
is suitable for regions with low vegetation
cover and a consequently higher percentage
of soil reflectance (Jenerette et al., 2007),
need to be calculated first.
(1 + L) (band 4 band 3)
...(2)
SAVI =
( L + band 4 + band 3)
Where L is a constant. Its value depends on

the area properties ( L 0.5 ) . The Leaf Area
Index (LAI) is calculated from the empirical
equation
0.69 SAVI )
ln
0.59
.....(3)
LAI =
0.91
Emissivity
and
Temperature (LST):
Land
Surface
K2
..(1)
K1
ln( + 1)
L
Where Tb is black body temperature at

satellite in Kelvin, K1 and K2 are calibration
constants for Landsat-7 ETM+ thermal band.
Their values are K1 = 666.09 W .m 2 .ster 1 .m 1 ,
and
K 2 = 1282.71 in K ,
Radiance
in
L is
W .m .ster .m 1 ,
2
describes how efficiently an object radiates

energy compared to a black body (Lillesand
and Kiefer, 2003) and is estimated from
NDVI and LAI: (Bastiaanssen, 1998; Oberg
and Assefa, 2006; Duah et al., 2008)
= 1.009 + 0.047 ln( NDVI ) ....
(3)
Or = 0.97 + 0.003 LAI ; for LAI < 3.0
..(4)
For the area when NDVI < 0 and Surface
albedo ( ) < 0.047; = 0.99 (Allen
et
al., 2002), then the corrected land surface
temperature ( Ts ) were calculated: (Weng et
al., 2004, Weng and Yang, 2006)
Ts =
Tb
1 + ( Tb / ) ln
(5)
Where is the average of limiting
wavelengths of band 6 of ETM+ (
= 11.5 m)
= h c / a (0.01438m.K)
a = Boltsmann cons tan t (1.38 10 23 j.k )

h=Planks constant ( 6.626 10 34 J.s )
c = velocity of light (2.998 10 8 m / s ) .
Results and Discussion:
To calculate the surface temperature, first

calculated the black body temperature at
satellite: (Weng et al., 2004, Fan et al.,
2007; NASA, 2008)
Tb =
335
calculated by the equation: (Weng

2004)
spectral
and
is
et al.,
L = 0.0370588 DN + 3.2
....(2)
The land surface temperature computed
from the black body temperature corrected
with respect to the surface emissivity ( ) .
The surface emissivity is a factor that
Using Landsat-7 ETM+ imagery dated 28th

Oct 2000 (Fig 3a and 3b), various spatial
distribution parameters i.e., Surface Albedo,
NDVI, LAI, Surface Emissivity, Land Surface
Temperature and Lands use/land cover map
related to Urban Heat Island were computed
for Chennai city and surrounding areas (Fig.
3c to 3h). The spatial distribution of
normalized difference vegetation index
(NDVI) (Fig.3c) ranged from 0.0 at area of
no vegetation cover and water bodies to
0.54 at area covered by high density of
vegetation cover. The spatial variation of
Leaf Area Index (LAI) (Fig.3d) shows that,
the values are ranged from negative values
of -1.28 at the area of no vegetation cover
and water bodies to positive values of 9.58
at area characterized by dense vegetation
cover. The spatial distribution of surface
albedo (Fig 3e) shows that, the values are
ranged from 0.01
at wetlands, area of
dense vegetation cover and water bodies to
0.57 at paved open spaces, concrete

336

surface, bare soil and rock outcrops. While

the spatial distribution of emissivity is
directly related to LAI and NDVI values (Fig.
3f), shows that the values are ranging from
0.93 to 1.00. The spatial distribution of
surface temperature in the Chennai city and
surrounding areas, varied between 20oc at
water bodies and 32o c at paved open
spaces, concrete surfaces, bare soils and
rock outcrops (Fig. 3g). That means, the
maximum urban /suburban land surface
temperature difference is approximately
reaches 12 oc. Land use/land cover map
(Fig. 3h) of Chennai city, extracted from
landsat-7 ETM+ imagery, is the main
surface feature controlling the Urban Heat
Island (UHI) and the spatial variation of land
surface temperature. In Chennai city the
central
business
district
(CBD)
is
characterized by high population, high
density of built up structures with various
institutions,
commercial
and industrial
constructions and roads network, leading to
increase in the anthropogenic activities a
companied with alteration of natural surface
characteristics. At the periphery of the built
up structures several impervious open
spaces and rock outcrops are exposed on
the surface. In the surrounding areas
several natural forests are scattered and a
lot of agricultural fields are used for
production of several crops. The remaining
rural areas are covered by wet soils and
natural grasses in the depression areas with
many water bodies varied in their sizes. The
spatial
distribution
of
land
surface
temperature in Chennai city and surrounding
areas, when compared with the land

use/land cover, shows gradual thermal
change as progressed from the central
business district (CBD) out into the
countryside and the most extensive area of
urban heat island (UHI) were distributed in
the CBD area (Fig. 3g). High residential and
buildup
structure
including
industrial,
commercial constructions, paved and areas
covered by concrete materials, with the
scarcity of vegetation cover lead to increase
in the radiation heat flux and land surface
temperature in the CBD area of Chennai
city. While the water bodies and area of high
vegetation cover play an important agent in
reducing the radiation heat flux of the earth
surface by consuming most of the radiation
energy
during
the
evapotranspiration
process, which resulted in reducing the land
surface temperature when progressing from
center of Chennai city to the peripheral
surrounding areas. The univariate statistics
including the minimum, maximum, mean
and standard deviation of radiation heat flux
parameters for different land use/land cover
at Chennai city and surrounding area were
computed (Table 1). All the land use/ land
cover classes shows a variation in the
univariate statistical values of radiation heat
flux parameters for each class, that is
because the radiation heat flux parameters
are a continuous spatial parameters,
characterized by gradational change in the
values of each parameter, which resulting in
a mixed boundary pixels for different classes
during extraction processes.

337
Figure 3: FCC, TIR of Landsat ETM+ Imagery, Radiation Heat Flux Parameters and Land
Use Land Cover of Chennai City and Surrounding Area

338

Table 1: Univariate Statistics of Radiation Heat Flux Parameters of Land Use/Land Cover
Classes at CHENNAI CITY and Surrounding Area.
Reflectance
Surface
Albedo
Normalized
Difference
Vegetation
Index
(NDVI)
Leaf Area
Index (LAI)
Soil
Adjusted
Vegetation
Index
(SAVI)
Land use/land cover
Minimum
Maximum
Mean
Water bodies
Open space and rock
outcrops
Forests
Residential area
Agricultural fields
Wet soils with vegetation
cover
Polluted water bodies
Water bodies
Open space and rock
outcrops
Forests
Residential area
Agricultural fields
cover
Water bodies
Open space and rock
outcrops
Forests
Residential area
Agricultural fields
cover
Water bodies
Open space and rock
outcrops
Forests
Residential area
Agricultural fields
cover
Water bodies
Open space and rock
outcrops
Forests
Residential area
0.097
0.367
0.123
Standard
deviation
0.007
0.092
0.372
0.139
0.017
0.092
0.097
0.094
0.245
0.301
0.258
0.117
0.136
0.124
0.007
0.010
0.007
0.076
0.245
0.120
0.007
0.113
0.025
0.178
0.427
0.152
0.064
0.010
0.008
0.043
0.577
0.162
0.030
0.067
0.044
0.082
0.344
0.523
0.318
0.131
0.142
0.155
0.012
0.018
0.013
0.011
0.339
0.125
0.019
0.136
-0.750
0.252
-0.012
0.181
-0.452
0.014
0.033
-0.714
0.384
-0.129
0.116
-0.470
-0.600
-0.527
0.522
0.393
0.540
0.184
-0.182
0.096
0.116
0.100
0.122
-0.818
0.518
0.032
0.141
-0.676
-1.228
0.219
-0.200
-0.492
-0.919
0.103
0.040
-1.196
1.782
-0.421
0.220
-0.944
-1.083
-1.009
9.588
1.925
7.063
0.491
-0.523
0.161
0.506
0.187
0.444
-1.287
4.937
-0.035
0.370
-1.164
-1.113
0.536
-0.018
-0.961
-0.673
0.149
0.049
-1.062
0.573
-0.193
0.174
-0.703
-0.890
0.780
0.588
0.275
-0.272
0.173
0.149
Agricultural fields
-0.788
0.808
0.144
0.183

cover
-1.213
0.775
0.047
0.210
-1.012
0.328
-0.736
0.155

Surface
Emissivity
Land
Surface
Temperature
(oc)
Water bodies
Open space and rock
outcrops
Forests
Residential area
Agricultural fields
cover
Water bodies
Open space and rock
outcrops
Forests
Residential area
Agricultural fields
cover
Conclusions:
The estimation of urban heat island (UHI) in
Chennai city and surrounding areas, using
the land surface temperature as a main
indicator, shows, the temperature difference
of 12oc between the city area and the
surrounding areas. The physical properties
of urbanization structures play a main factor
for transferring the land surface thermal
properties to the air through the vertical
exchange of surface radiation heat flux,
when compared to the suburban
surrounding areas for the difference in
temperature, where the vegetation cover
and water bodies play a major role in
reducing surface temperature.
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International Journal of Earth Sciences and Engineering