The Study of Urban Heat Island Effect in Cyprus Using Sentinel-3 Data

Heat island effect is usually present in urban areas that experience higher temperatures than rural areas. Materials used for buildings, roads and other infrastructure absorb and re-emit the sun's heat more than green areas and water bodies. This effect results in discomfort to the residents of the affected areas and negatively impacts ecological and energetic variables. The most common way of detecting and analyzing Heat Island Effect using remote sensing is based on the use of evening and night surface satellite images. In this study, the Land-surface temperature (LST) products of the Copernicus Sentinel-3 satellite were used to provide surface temperature from night images and produce heat maps of the urban area of Limassol, Cyprus. The affected areas were examined based on their dependence on green space, building density and population density. The study examined time-series data for the summer period, which is the hottest month of the year in Cyprus. Such information is vital to assist decision and policymakers to adopt effective mitigation strategies and improve urban planning.