Application of remotely sensed thermal information to urban climatology of Central European cities

One of the most important goals of satellite-based urban heat island (UHI) investigations is the understanding of the physical content of different satellite-based parameters. Part of the NASA’s Earth Observing System satellite Terra was launched to a polar orbit in 1999, and regular measurements are available from July 2000. Measurements of the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), one of the satellite sensors of the five on-board instruments have been used to analyze surface temperature of urban areas in Central Europe (i.e., Belgrade, Bucharest, Budapest, Milan, Munich, Sofia, Vienna, Warsaw, Zagreb). MODIS is capable of viewing the entire globe daily with 1 km spatial resolution. Our results suggest that monthly mean UHI intensity is between 1 °C and 6 °C, and the most intense UHI occurs in day-time in the summer period.