DOI: 10.5066/p9h6e1fz
title: Land surface thermal feature change monitoring in urban and non-urban interface from 1985 to present (ver. 6.0, July 2025)

description: Surface Urban Heat Island (SUHI) extent, intensity, and hotspots data of land surface temperature (LST) are provided across 50 regions throughout the Continental U.S. The annual land surface temperature (LST) were derived from Landsat U.S. Analysis Ready Data (ARD). The time series land surface Temperature (LST) and land cover change products were used to produce SUHI intensity and hotspots products. The data ranges from 1985-present, and covers data within 5 km of each city. SUHI Intensity data is intended to quantify the difference between urban surface temperatures and the surrounding non-urban environment. The calculation takes the difference between a specific urban pixel’s land surface temperature (LST) and the mean of the cities non-urban LST. SUHI hotspot data are defined as areas of statistically high land surface temperature (LST). A pixel is determined as statistically high if it exceeds one standard deviation above the mean of all pixels with similar land cover type. Hotspot data is further separated into persistent urban and new urban outputs. Persistent Urban is defined as areas that are reported as urban in 1985 and remained urban in 2020. Areas that changed from non-urban in 1985 to urban in 2020 are defined as new urban. NOTE: While a previous version is available from the author, all datasets for pilot cities can be found in version 5.0.

Annual Landsat land surface temperature (LST) products are generated for 71 regions (urban centers) throughout the Continental U.S. (CONUS) and are used to produce  Surface Urban Heat Island (SUHI) intensity and hotspot data. The LST were derived from Landsat collections U.S. Analysis Ready Data (ARD) that intersect with the 71 urban centers. The time series LST and NLCD 2023 annual land cover change products were used to produce SUHI intensity and hotspots products. The data ranges from 1985-2023, and covers data within 5 km of each urban center in CONUS. SUHI Intensity data is intended to quantify the difference between urban surface temperatures and the surrounding non-urban environment. The calculation takes the difference between a specific urban pixel’s LST and the mean of the cities non-urban LST.  SUHI hotspot data are defined as areas of statistically high LST. A pixel is determined as statistically high if it exceeds one standard deviation above the mean of all pixels with similar land cover type. Hotspot data is further separated into persistent urban and new urban outputs. Persistent Urban is defined as areas that are reported as urban in 1985 and remained urban in 2023. Areas that changed from non-urban in 1985 to urban in 2023 are defined as n urban. NOTE: While a previous version is available from the author, all datasets for urban pilot centers can be found in version 6.0.

First posted - November 01, 2019 (available from author)
Revised - August 20, 2020 (version 2.0)
Revised - May 20, 2020 (version 3.0)
Revised - January 20, 2022 (version 4.0)
Revised - November 20, 2023 (version 5.0)
Revised - July 1, 2025 (version 6.0)