Algorithm for Automated Mapping of Land Surface Temperature Using LANDSAT 8 Satellite Data

Abstract

Land surface temperature is an important factor in many areas, such as global climate change, hydrological, geo-/biophysical, and urban land use/land cover. As the latest launched satellite from the LANDSAT family, LANDSAT 8 has opened new possibilities for understanding the events on the Earth with remote sensing. This study presents an algorithm for the automatic mapping of land surface temperature from LANDSAT 8 data. The tool was developed using the LANDSAT 8 thermal infrared sensor Band 10 data. Different methods and formulas were used in the algorithm that successfully retrieves the land surface temperature to help us study the thermal environment of the ground surface. To verify the algorithm, the land surface temperature and the near-air temperature were compared. The results showed that, for the first case, the standard deviation was 2.4 degrees C, and for the second case, it was 2.7 degrees C. For future studies, the tool should be refined with in situ measurements of land surface temperature.