Land Surface Temperature Estimation using Landsat ETM+ Data

Land Surface Temperature (LST) can be estimated from remotely sensed satellite data. LST is a key parameter in the physics of land surface processes because it is involved in the energy balance as well as in the evapo-transpiration and desertification processes. The knowledge of surface temperature is important to a range of issues and themes in earth sciences central to urban climatology, global environmental change, and human-environment interactions. In this study an attempt has been made to estimate surface temperature over a part of Thar Desert area using Landsat-7 ETM+ satellite data. The variability of these retrieved LSTs has been investigated with respect to different land use/ land cover (LULC) types determined from the Landsat visible and NIR channels. The emissivity per pixel has been retrieved directly from satellite data and has been estimated as narrow band emissivity at the satellite sensor channel in order to have least error in the surface temperature estimation. The results suggest that the methodology is feasible to estimate NDVI and surface temperature with reasonable accuracy over desertic terrain.