Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Satellite-Based Investigation and Evaluation of the Observational Environment of Meteorological Stations in Anhui Province, China

  • Published:
Pure and Applied Geophysics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In this paper, by using multi-temporal and high resolution Landsat data and geographic information system techniques, the land use/land cover (LULC) in the 2-km buffer zone of 52 meteorological stations in the Anhui province of China is retrieved and categorized into three types: vegetation (including farmland, forest and grass land), water (including lakes, rivers and pools), and construction (including buildings and roads). Besides, the land surface temperature (LST) in the buffer zone of these stations is also obtained from thermal infrared data. The normalized LST index (NLI) and the heat effect contribution index (HECI) of different LULC types are calculated. Via case studies and statistical analysis, the LULC and thermal environment’s temporal-spatial variance in the 2-km buffer zone of these stations are surveyed, and their impacts on the observational environment are investigated. The study shows that the observational environments of the meteorological stations in Anhui province have been greatly influenced by rapid urbanization. The study proposes two new methods to classify the stations’ observational environment into three types (urban, sub-urban, and rural). One uses the NLI and the other uses the HECI. The NLI method needs only LST information. The HECI method combines both LULC and LST information and, hence, is considered more reliable. The evaluation methods and criteria can be used conveniently, effectively, and quantitatively, and are especially useful when analyzing observational data from meteorological stations in weather and climate research and when choosing a location for a new meteorological station.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Artis, D. A., and Carnahan, W. H. (1982). Survey of emissivity variability in thermography of urban areas. Remote Sensing of Environment, 12, 313–329.

  • Connolly, R. and Connolly M. (2014). Urbanization bias I. Is it a negligible problem for global temperature estimates?, Open Peer Rev. J., 28, ver. 0.1 (non peer reviewed draft). http://oprj.net/articles/climate-science/28.

  • Gallo, K. P., Easterling, D. R., and Peterson, T.C. (1996a). The influence of land use/land cover on climatological values of the diurnal temperature range. Journal of Climate, 9(11), pp. 2941–2944.

  • Gallo, K. P., Tarpley, J. D. (1996b). The comparison of vegetation index and surface temperature composites for urban heat island analysis. International Journal of Remote Sensing, 17, pp. 3071–3076.

  • Gallo, K. P., and Owen, T. W. (1999a). Satellite-based adjustments for urban heat island temperature bias. J. Appl. Meteorol., 38, 806–813.

  • Gallo, K. P., Owen, T. W., Easterling, D. R. and Jamason, P. F. (1999b). Temperature trends of the US historical climatology network based on satellite-designated land use/land cover. Journal of Climate, 12, pp. 1344–1348.

  • Hua L. J., Ma, Z. G., and Guo W. D. (2008). The impact of urbanization on air temperature across China. Theoretical and Applied Climatology, 93:179–194.

  • Jin, M.S. (2012). Developing an Index to Measure Urban Heat Island Effect Using Satellite Land Skin Temperature and Land Cover Observations. J. Climate, 25: 6193–6201.

  • Jones, P. D., Groisman, P. Y., Coughlan, M., Plulmmer, N., Wang, W. C., and Karl, T. R. (1990). Assessment of urbanization effects in time series of surface air temperature over land. Nature, 347: 169–172.

  • Jones, P. D., Lister, D. H., and Li, Q. (2008). Urbanization effects in large-scale temperature records, with an emphasis on China. Journal of Geophysical Research, 113, D16122. doi:10.1029/2008/JD009916

  • Kalnay, E. and Cai, M. (2003). Impact of urbanization and land-use change on climate. Nature, 423, 528–531.

  • Kalnay, E., Cai, M., Li, H., and Tobin J. (2006). Estimation of the impact of land-surface forcings on temperature trends in eastern United States. Journal of Geophysical Research, 111, 1–13.

  • Karl T. R., Diaz H. F., and Kukla G. (1988). Urbanization: its detection and effect in the United States climate record. Journal of Climate, 1: 1099–1123.

  • Li, D., Bou-Zeid, E. (2013). Synergistic Interactions between Urban Heat Islands and Heat Waves: The Impact in Cities Is Larger than the Sum of Its Parts. J. Appl. Meteor. Climatol., 52, 2051–2064.

  • Li, D., Bou-Zeid, E. (2014). Quality and sensitivity of high-resolution numerical simulation of urban heat islands. Environ. Res. Lett., 9, 055001.

  • Li, D., Bou-Zeid, E. and Oppenheimer M. (2014). The effectiveness of cool and green roofs as urban heat island mitigation strategies. Environ. Res. Lett., 9, 055002.

  • Li, Q., Zhang, H., Liu, X. and Huang, J. (2004). Urban heat island effect on annual mean temperature during the last 50 years in China. Theoretical and Applied Climatology, 79, 165–174.

  • Li, Z., and Yan Z. (2010). Application of Multiple Analysis of Series for Homogenization (MASH) to Beijing daily temperature series 1960–2006. Advances in Atmospheric Sciences. 27, 777–787.

  • Li, Z.H., Yang, J., Shi C.E.,and Pu M.J.(2012). Urbanization Effects on Fog in China: Field Research and Modeling. Pure and Applied Geophysics, 169, 927–939.

  • Lo, C. P., Quattrochi, D. A., and Luvall, J. C. (1997). Application of high-resolution thermalinfrared remote sensing and GIS to assess the urban heat island eVect. International Journal of Remote Sensing, 18, 287–304.

  • Nichol, J. E. (1994). A GIS-based approach to microclimate monitoring in Singapore’s high-rise housing estates. Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing, 60, 1225–1232.

  • Oke, T. R. (1973). City size and the urban heat island. Atmospheric Environment, 7, 769–779.

  • Oke, T. R. (1988). Street design and urban canopy layer climate. Energy and buildings, 11, 103–113.

  • Owen, T. W., Carlson, T. N., and Gillies, R. R. (1998). An assessment of satellite remotely-sensed land cover parameters in quantitatively describing the climatic effect of urbanization. International Journal of Remote Sensing, 19, 1663–1681.

  • Peterson, T. C. (2003). Assessment of Urban Versus Rural In Situ Surface Temperatures in the Contiguous United States: No Difference Found. Journal of Climate, 16(18), pp. 2941–2959.

  • Ren, G. Y., Zhou, Y. Q, Chu, Z. Y., Zhou, J. X., Zhang, A. Y., Guo, J. and Liu, X. F. (2008). Urbanization effects on observed surface air temperature trends in North China. Journal of Climate, 21, pp. 1333–1348.

  • Ren G. Y., Zhang, A. Y., Chu, Z. Y., Zhou, J. X., Ren Y.Y, and Zhou, Y.Q. (2010). Principles and procedure for selecting reference surface air temperature stations in China. Meteorological Science and Technology, 38:78–85.(in Chinese).

  • Ren Y.Y, Ren G. Y. (2011). A Remote-Sensing Method of Selecting Reference Stations for Evaluating Urbanization Effect on Surface Air Temperature Trends. Journal of Climate, 24, 3179–3189.

  • Roth, M., Oke, T. R., and Emery, W. J. (1989). Satellite-derived urban heat islands from three coastal cities and the utilization of such data in urban climatology. International Journal of Remote Sensing, 10: 1699–1720.

  • Shi C., Roth M., Zhang H., and Li Z.H. (2008). Impacts of urbanization on long-term variation of fog in Anhui Province, China, Atmospheric Environment, 42: 8484–8492.

  • Shao Q. Q., Sun C. Y., Liu J. Y., Ban Y. F., He J. F., and Kuang W. H. (2011). Impact of urban expansion on meteorological observation data and overestimation to regional air temperature in China. Journal of Geographical Sciences, 21: 994–1006.

  • Stewart, I. D. and T. R. Oke (2012). Local Climate Zones for Urban Temperature Studies. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 93(12):1879–1900.

  • Stewart, I. D., Oke, T. R. and Krayenhoff, E. S. (2014). Evaluation of the ‘local climate zone’ scheme using temperature observations and model simulations. Int. J. Climatol., 34: 1062–1080.

  • Tran, H., Uchihama D., Ochi S., and Yasuoka, Y. (2006). Assessment with satellite data of the urban heat island effects in Asian mega cities. Int J Applied Earth Observation and Geo information, 8:34–38.

  • Voogt, J. A., and Oke, T. R. (2003). Thermal remote sensing of urban climates. Remote sensing of environment, 86: 370–384.

  • Wang Y. Y., Li G. C., and Zhang Y. (2011). Regional Representativeness Analysis of National Reference Climatological Stations Based on MODIS/LST Product. Journal of Applied Meterological Science, 22:214–220. (in Chinese).

  • Wang Y. S., and Gao, X. D. (2009). Use Google Earth Software to Survey the Environment of Meteorological Station. Meteorological and Environmental Sciences, 32:88–90 (in Chinese).

  • Weng, Q. (2001). A remote sensing-GIS evaluation of urban expansion and its impact on surface temperature in the Zhujiang Delta, China. International Journal of Remote Sensing, 22, 1999–2014.

  • Weng Q. (2003). Fractal analysis of satellite-detected urban heat island effect. Photograph metric engineering & remote sensing, 69:555–565.

  • Yan Z., Li Z., Li Q., Jones P. D., (2010). Effects of site-change and urbanisation in the Beijing temperature series 1977-2006. International Journal of Climatology. 30:1226–1234.

  • Yang, L. (2000). Integration of a numerical model and remotely sensed data to study urban/rural land surface climate processes. Computers and Geosciences, 26:451–468.

  • Yang, X., Hou, Y., and Chen B. (2011a). Observed surface warming induced by urbanization in east China. Journal of Geophysical Research, 116, D14113.

  • Yang Y.J., Shi T., Tang W.A., Wu B.W., Xun S.P., Zhang H.Q. (2011b). Study of Observational Environment of Meteorological Station Based on Remote Sensing: Cases in six stations of Anhui province. Remote Sensing Technology and Application, 26:791–797 (in Chinese).

  • Yang Y.J., Wu, B.W., Shi, C.E. Zhang, J.H., Li, Y.B., Tang, W.A., Wen, H.Y., Zhang, H. Q., Shi T. (2013). Impacts of Urbanization and Station-relocation on Surface Air Temperature Series in Anhui Province, China. Pure and Applied Geophysics., 170:1969–1983.

  • Zhang, A. Y., Ren, G. Y., Zhou, J. X. Chu, Z. Y., Ren, Y. Y., and Tang, G. L. (2010). On the urbanization effect on surface air temperature trends over China, Acta Meteorological Sinica, 68 (6): 957–966 (in Chinese).

  • Zhang, J. H., Hou, Y. Y., Li, G. C., Yan, H., Yang, L. M, and Yao, F. M. (2005). The diurnal and seasonal characteristics of urban heat island variation in Beijing City and surrounding areas and impact factors based on remote sensing satellite data, Sciences in China ser. D Earth Sciences, 48, pp. 220–229.

  • Zhou, L. M., Robert, E. D., Tian, Y. H., Fang, J. Y., Li, Q. X, Kaufmann, R. B, Tucker, C. J., and, (2004). Evidence for a significant urbanization effect on climate in China. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 101, 9540–954.

Download references

Acknowledgments

This study is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 41205126 and 41475085), the Special Funds for Public Welfare of China (Grant GYHY201106049, GYHY201206011-04, GYHY201406001 and GYHY201506090), City University of Hong Kong Project (No. 7004002), and the Hong Kong Research Grant Council’s Early Career Scheme (No. 104712). The Landsat data used in this study were initially processed by Yong Huang.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Collaborative Innovation Center on Forecast and Evaluation of Meteorological Disasters, School of Geography and Remote Sensing, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing, 210044, Jiangsu, China

    Yu-Bin Li

  2. School of Energy and Environment, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

    Yu-Bin Li

  3. Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Sciences and Satellite Remote Sensing of Anhui Province, Anhui Institute of Meteorological Sciences, 16# Shihe Road, Hefei, 230031, Anhui, China

    Tao Shi, Yuan-Jian Yang, Bi-Wen Wu, La-Bao Wang, Chun-E Shi & Hua-Yang Wen

  4. Meteorological Observation Center, China Meteorological Administration, Beijing, 100081, China

    Jian-Xia Guo & Cheng-Li Ji

Authors
  1. Yu-Bin Li
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Tao Shi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Yuan-Jian Yang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Bi-Wen Wu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. La-Bao Wang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Chun-E Shi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Jian-Xia Guo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Cheng-Li Ji
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Hua-Yang Wen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yuan-Jian Yang.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Li, YB., Shi, T., Yang, YJ. et al. Satellite-Based Investigation and Evaluation of the Observational Environment of Meteorological Stations in Anhui Province, China. Pure Appl. Geophys. 172, 1735–1749 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00024-014-1011-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00024-014-1011-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation