Evaluation of satellite-derived products for the characterization of the urban thermal environment

Knowledge of the air and land surface temperature and their temporal and spatial variations within a city environment is of prime importance to the study of urban climate and human-environment interactions and to monitoring environmental changes due to urbanization. We present a number of air and land surface temperature products that have been produced, archived, evaluated, and analyzed for 10 European cities within the framework of the European Space Agency-funded "Urban Heat Islands and Urban Thermography" project. We evaluate in what way these products are suited to explore the urban thermal dynamics and how products with different temporal and spatial resolution can provide a complementary view, both for thermal patterns as well as heat waves. Level of confidence was evaluated through quantitative, qualitative, and user-based analyses. (C) 2012 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). [DOI: 10.1117/1.JRS.6.061704]