Urban Heat Analysis in Los Angeles Using Google Earth Engine

Urban heat islands (UHIs) represent a significant environmental challenge in metropolitan regions, where urbanization leads to elevated temperatures compared to surrounding rural areas. Understanding the spatial distribution of surface temperatures and their relationship with land cover is crucial for developing mitigation strategies and informing urban planning.

This study employs Google Earth Engine (GEE) to conduct a comprehensive analysis of urban heat in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The primary objectives are:

- To explore the relationship between land cover types and urban heat.

- To compare thermal patterns across multiple distinct regions within Los Angeles.

- An innovative technique for downscaling temperature is implemented by leveraging the correlation between the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Landsat surface temperature data. By combining high-resolution Sentinel-2 imagery with thermal data from Landsat 8, the study enhances the spatial resolution of surface temperature maps, producing detailed representations of temperature variations at finer scales.

The analysis incorporates a comparison among several key regions in Los Angeles, including Downtown LA, Pasadena, San Gabriel Mountains, Alhambra, and Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). By examining these diverse areas, the study assesses how different land cover types and urbanization levels influence surface temperature distributions.

This methodology is scalable and adaptable to other regions or time periods, making it a versatile tool for global urban climate studies. By applying this approach across different cities or conducting temporal comparisons, researchers can enhance their understanding of urban heat island dynamics and the role of land cover in thermal patterns. Potential limitations of the study include the accuracy of the downscaling method, reliance on cloud-free data, and sensor resolution constraints. Despite these challenges, the approach demonstrates significant potential for applications in urban climate analysis, energy planning, sustainable development, and environmental policy. The findings contribute to the broader discourse on urban sustainability and climate adaptation strategies, providing empirical evidence to inform decision-making processes aimed at creating more livable and resilient urban environments.

This script can be implemented on Google Colab at https://colab.research.google.com/drive/1FK2dekIYY1Ll78c2yqD1vCK0VgYj0A4-