Seasonal and Wavelength Dependence of Urban/Rural Radiance in Iowa

Abstract

LANDSAT measurements show that the radiance of urban areas is higher in the summer than that of rural areas and lower in the winter, aiding the heat budget of cities and tending to save energy. The radiance of both urban and rural areas increases with snow cover in winter, but cities have less radiance than the country. In the early summer the country has low radiance in the near infrared, and in the late summer it has low radiance in the visible region of the spectrum; the radiance of urban areas follows these trends in a very limited way.