Modelling the ground heat flux of an urban area using remote sensing data

• Published in: Theoretical and applied climatology Vol. 90; no. 3-4; pp. 185 - 199
• Main Authors: RIGO, G, PARLOW, E
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Wien Springer 01.11.2007; New York, NY Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Convection, turbulence, diffusion. Boundary layer structure and dynamics; Earth, ocean, space; Environmental science; Exact sciences and technology; External geophysics; Heat detection; Meteorology; Remote sensing; Satellite systems; Urban areas; Central Europe; Switzerland; Europe; Space remote sensing; digital elevation models; Satellite observation; digital simulation; urban areas; Measurement in situ; Street canyon; Atmospheric boundary layer; imagery; Observation data; heat transfer; Microclimatology; digital surface models
• ISSN: 0177-798X; 1434-4483
• DOI: 10.1007/s00704-006-0279-8

During the Basel Urban Boundary Layer Experiment (BUBBLE) conducted in 2002, micrometeorological in-situ data were collected for different sites using a variety of instruments. This provides a unique data set for urban climate studies. Nevertheless, the spatial distribution of energy and heat fluxes can only be taken into account with remote sensing methods or numerical models. Therefore, multiple satellite images from different platforms (NOAA-AVHRR, MODIS and LANDSAT ETM+) were acquired, processed and analysed. In addition, a high resolution digital elevation model (DEM) and a 1m resolution digital surface model (DSM) of a large part of the city of Basel was utilized. This paper focuses on the calculation and modelling of the ground (or storage) heat flux density using remotely sensed data combined with in-situ measurements using three different approaches. First, an empirical regression function was generated to estimate the storage heat flux from NDVI values second approach used the Objective Hysteresis Model (OHM) which is often used for in-situ measurements. The last method used information of the geometric parameters of urban street canyons, computed from the high resolution digital urban surface model. Modelled and measured data are found to be in agreement within +/- 30Wm-2 and result in a coefficient of determination (R2) of 0.95. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]