Elevation-Wise and Direction-Wise Distribution of Land Surface Temperature in Jeju Island using Landsat 7 Data

Abstract

In the present research, the Land Surface Temperature (LST) has been calculated from Landsat 7 data of Jeju Island to understand the spatial distribution of temperature on the island which would be strongly related to the ecological characteristics of the island. The dates were selected based on seasons (winter and summer) March 12 and September 19, 2020, respectively. Results calculated from a thermal band of Landsat 7 revealed the temperature variations on the island. Winter temperature varies from -3.7 to 31 oC while the summer season temperature varies from 20.6 to 43.1 oC. The surface temperature was also calculated at elevations of 100m and 500m for both seasons. It was found that on 100 m elevation, in winter the North and South directions have the same temperature, comparatively, in summer the North direction has a 0.97 oC higher temperature than the South. The East direction showed a 0.55 oC higher temperature as compared to the West in winter but in the summer season the case was opposite and the West had a 1.46 oC higher surface temperature than the East. Interestingly at 100 m height in summer, the North, and West has also the same temperature (34.25 oC). In the second case, on 500 m height for all four directions, the LST was compared and results showed that the South has 0.58 and 1.52 oC higher temperatures in winter and summer seasons respectively from the North. On the contrary, the West has 3.33 and 0.5 oC higher temperatures than the East in winter and summer seasons respectively. It revealed that seasons and altitude have a great impact on the LST in different cardinal directions of the island. From the results, it can be assumed that the island's ecological diversity would be strongly related to the geographical distribution of temperature.