CHARACTERIZATION OF THE URBAN HEAT ISLAND IN THE UAM CAMPUS USING REMOTE SENSING

Abstract

Remote sensing is a technique which can be used for the thermal study of the surface covers of the territory and the characterization of spaces based on their ability to withstand overheating. The objective of this work is to describe the urban heat island (UHI) of the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM) campus and to determine its degree of influence by Madrid’s UHI. The work has been based on images from Sentinel-2 and Landsat 8 satellites, and images from the DESIREX campaign, an initiative of ESA (European Space Agency). Normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and land surface temperature (LST) of the surface covers are calculated and the evolution of temperatures throughout the day, the thermal amplitude and hot spots are analyzed. The results show that the thermal behavior of the campus is similar to that of rural and non-urban areas, and that it is not specially influenced by the capital’s UHI.