Abstract The characteristics of urban land surfaces contribute to the urban heat island, and, in turn, can exacerbate the severity of heat wave impacts. However, the mechanisms and complex interactions in urban areas underlying land surface temperature are still being understood. Understanding these mechanisms is necessary to design strategies that mitigate land temperatures in our cities. Using the recently available night-time moderate-resolution thermal satellite imagery and employing advanced nonlinear statistical models, we seek to answer the question “What is the influence and relative importance of urban characteristics on land surface temperature, during both the day and night?” To answer this question, we analyze urban land surface temperature in four cities across the United States. We devise techniques for training and validating nonlinear statistical models on geostatistical data and use these models to assess the interdependent effects of urban characteristics on urban surface temperature. Our results suggest that vegetation and impervious surfaces are the most important urban characteristics associated with land surface temperature. While this may be expected, this is the first study to quantify this relationship for Landsat-resolution nighttime temperature estimates. Our results also demonstrate the potential for using nonlinear statistical analysis to investigate land surface temperature and its relationships with urban characteristics. Improved understanding of these relationships influencing both night and day land surface temperature will assist planners undertaking climate change adaptation and heat wave mitigation.

中文翻译：

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昼夜：城市特征对遥感地表温度的影响和相对重要性

摘要 城市地表的特征促成了城市热岛，反过来又会加剧热浪影响的严重性。然而，城市地区地表温度背后的机制和复杂的相互作用仍有待了解。了解这些机制对于设计降低我们城市土地温度的策略是必要的。使用最近可用的夜间中等分辨率热卫星图像并采用先进的非线性统计模型，我们试图回答“城市特征对地表温度的影响和相对重要性，无论是白天还是黑夜？” 为了回答这个问题，我们分析了美国四个城市的城市地表温度。我们设计了训练和验证地质统计数据非线性统计模型的技术，并使用这些模型来评估城市特征对城市表面温度的相互依赖影响。我们的研究结果表明，植被和不透水表面是与地表温度相关的最重要的城市特征。虽然这在意料之中，但这是第一项量化 Landsat 分辨率夜间温度估计的这种关系的研究。我们的结果还证明了使用非线性统计分析来研究地表温度及其与城市特征的关系的潜力。更好地了解影响昼夜地表温度的这些关系将有助于规划者进行气候变化适应和热浪缓解。