Comparison of NDBI and NDVI as indicators of surface urban heat island effect in MODIS imagery

Abstract

This paper compares the normalized difference built-up index (NDBI) and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) as indicators of surface urban heat island (SUHI) effects in MODIS imagery by investigating the relationships between the land surface temperature (LST), NDBI and the NDVI. MODIS data were used to estimate the LST, NDBI and NDVI from four different seasons for Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan metropolitan area. Our analysis indicates than there is a strong linear relationship between LST and NDBI, whereas the relationship between LST and NDVI is much less strong and varies by season. This result suggests NDBI is an accurate indicator of SUHI effects and can be used as a complementary metric to the traditionally applied NDVI for analyzing LST quantitatively over the seasons for SUHI studies.