Comparison and analysis of Urban Heat Island Effects for middle-sized cities in Chengdu plain based on NOAA/AVHRR

This Paper compared and analysed Urban Heat Island Effects in Chengdu plain´s Mianyang, Deyang, and Meishan, making full use of channel 4 (10.3 ~ 11.3 um) data of NOAA/AVHRR. Research results showed that Urban Heat Island Effects of middle-sized cities in the inner land are very evident; the daily mean of the maximum strength of Urban Heat Island Effects in the three cities stands at 5.19degC with 5.90degC at daytime and 4.47degC at night; the maximum strength of Urban Heat Island Effects on average reaches 5.45degC, 5.92degC, and 4.19degC respectively; the discovery that Mianyang claims the strongest Urban Heat Island Effects whilst Meishan the weakest one is attributed to the fact that Mianyang is the largest city, Deyang the heavy industry city, and Meishan the historical and cultural city with least industrialization among the three. Size and maximum strength of Urban Heat Island Effects completely coincide with size and nature of the cities.