Abstract

• Biophysical attributes of earth surface in non-evaporating and impervious materials cause the solar energy to raise Land Surface Temperature (LST). At present, LST obtained by satellite technology can furnish effective assessment of surface temperatures variation than thermometer network based assessments. The main aim of this study is to evaluate the use of Thermal Infrared Remote Sensing for assessing temperature differences in Yangon City area. The estimation of surface temperature variation and areas of high temperature is the major objectives of this study. Local studies of LST need to use a sensor with high resolution, therefore, Thermal data of Landsat 5 TM, Landsat 7 ETM+ and Landsat 8 with resolution of 30 meter for 1994, 2003, and 2014 are used respectively in this study. The output LSTs are classified into only two classes between low and high temperature areas according to the temperature ranges. Again the total area of Yangon City is divided into five categories from high temperature to low temperature for clear distinguishing. The obtained output images of LST are exported to present as layout maps for better understanding of the temperature variation in the area. It was observed that areas having built up surfaces contain high temperatures compared to the areas having vegetation cover. The thermal energy responses of different structures of the City indicate the variations in surface temperature. Ground-based observations reflect only thermal condition around the station. However, by using remote sensing thermal bands in this study enable to get the thermal condition for each pixel and assess the spatial variation of temperatures on the whole area of city.