The Study of Urban Heat Island Effect in Limassol, Cyprus Using Sentinel-3 Data

The Heat Island Effect causes discomfort for residents in the affected areas and has a negative impact on the environment, increasing the effects of climate change and placing more people at risk. The most widely used approach for detecting and studying the Heat Island Effect through remote sensing is by utilizing thermal satellite imagery of the surface at night.In this study, the Copernicus Sentinel-3 satellite's Land-surface temperature (LST) products were used to extract surface temperature from night images and generate heat maps of Limassol, Cyprus. The study looked at time-series data for the hottest day in the month of July, during the period of 2017 to 2024. Such information is critical to understand the areas affected by the Heat Island Effect and to support decision-makers and policymakers in developing effective mitigation strategies to enhance urban planning.