- 1Global Change Unit, University of Valencia, Paterna, Spain (sobrino@uv.es)
- 2Thales Alenia Space, C/Einstein, 7 (PTM), 28760 Tres Cantos, Spain (a.daganzo@thalesaleniaspace.com)
Urban areas often experience higher temperatures than the surrounding rural regions, particularly at night, due to factors such as heat accumulation in buildings and pavements, reduced green spaces, and intensified human activities. This phenomenon, exacerbated by global warming, highlights the need for daily monitoring of urban temperatures, especially when the effects of Urban Heat Islands (UHIs) reach their peak intensity. The UHI effect currently impacts over 4.4 billion people and is projected to affect 9.5 billion (75% of the global population) by 2050.
To address this need, it is essential to design and launch high-resolution thermal infrared Earth Observation space missions that enable daily monitoring of urban temperatures.
This study analyzes the characteristics that a spaceborne sensor must satisfy in terms of spatial resolution, thermal band configuration, frequency, and overpass time to properly monitor the Surface Urban Heat Island (SUHI) effect at the district level in a city. Additionally, it includes suggestions on the products that these missions should provide to the scientific community and decision-makers.
In this context, we present the SIRIUS mission (Space-based InfraRed Imager for Urban Sustainability). The SIRIUS mission combines a fast development time, innovative instrument design, and a flight-proven platform, all developed with a new space approach, and provides two unique characteristics:
- Satellite pas over targets (cities) adapted to retrieve temperature when the UHI effect is most relevant during night.
- Daily revisit of targets at high spatial resolution in urban areas to maximize the opportunities to follow closely the temporal evolution of the heath waves.
As global urban populations continue to grow, it is essential to monitor these environments. Urban heat management, climate resilience, public health, and informed decision-making, particularly as extreme heat and UHI effects intensify, urgently require access to high-resolution thermal data from space.
How to cite: Sobrino, J. A., Daganzo, A. I., Vidal, M. A., Callejo, E., Navarro, R., Wei, L., and Skokovic, D.: Monitoring Urban Heat Islands: The Need for High-Resolution Thermal Satellite Missions, 12th International Conference on Urban Climate, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 7–11 Jul 2025, ICUC12-593, https://doi.org/10.5194/icuc12-593, 2025.
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