**2. Study area**

The island of Cyprus is located in the eastern part of the Mediterranean Basin. The island is situated between latitudes circles 34° and 36° N, and meridians 32° and 35°E. Cyprus has a typical eastern Mediterranean climate: the combined temperature–rainfall regime is charac‐ terized by cool-to-mild wet winters and warm-to-hot dry summers (Michaelides et al., 2009). The climatological annual precipitation of Cyprus is around 500mm. The highest precipita‐ tion is recorded in the mountainous areas with 1100mm, while in the coastal areas precipita‐ tion is limited to 300-350mm.

From a morphological point of view, the island can be divided into five main morphological regions: (a) The mountainous complex of Troodos located at the center of Cyprus; (b) the mountain range of the Pentadaktylos at the northern part; (c) the central plain of Mesaoria located between of these two mountainous ranges; (d) the hilly areas around the mountain‐ ous complex of Troodos; and (e) the coastal plains (see Fig. 1). The coastline of Cyprus is characterized by numerous capes and bays. The narrow coastal plains in the north are cov‐ ered with olive trees and carob trees, while a short distance from the coast, the northern mountain range (Pentadaktylos) is found, which is a limestone formation and peaks to a height of 1024 meters. At the south and the east of the island there are two salt – lakes.

The Troodos mountain range with a peak at 1951 m covers most of the south-western part and the center of the island. This area is covered almost by forests, mainly pine and other forest trees such as cypresses, oaks and cedars. It is estimated that forests cover about 19% of the total area of the island.

Cyprus is divided into six districts: Kyrenia, Famagusta, Larnaca, Limassol, Paphos and Nicosia (Fig. 2). During the last decade (2000-2010), there has been recorded a dramatic ur‐ ban expansion (see Fig. 3). As it was found from previous studies (Hadjimitsis et al., 2011), there has been an increase of urban areas of more than 100% compared to late 1980's and a decrease of 20% of rural areas. These results were derived from an analysis of multi-tempo‐ ral satellite image classification.

**Figure 1.** Main morphological regions of Cyprus

ground measurements or on the inter-comparison of LST products from different sensors (Mostovoy et al., 2005; Nichol et al., 2009; Retalis et al., 2010). The availability of a multitude of data archives (e.g., from MODIS, ASTER and Landsat TM/ETM+ sensors) with long timeseries has recently raised the scientific interest in the relevant field. As a result, several stud‐ ies have been published on the study of the UHI effect for various cities of the world (Hung

This Chapter discusses the urban heat island effect in Cyprus based on both multi-temporal satellite and meteorological data. The necessary information of the study area is provided in Section 2. The description and selection of the heat waves and the analysis of the synoptic conditions favouring the development of heat waves are discussed in Section 3. The devel‐ opment of a Neural Network for the correlation of satellite derived land surface temperature (LST) with ground based air surface temperature is examined in Section 4. The analysis of satellite derived LST for studying the temporal evolution of LST and the deviation of LST (anomaly) from the mean values during a heat wave event are presented in Section 5, while Section 6 refers to the calculation of the mean monthly magnitude of urban heat island

The island of Cyprus is located in the eastern part of the Mediterranean Basin. The island is situated between latitudes circles 34° and 36° N, and meridians 32° and 35°E. Cyprus has a typical eastern Mediterranean climate: the combined temperature–rainfall regime is charac‐ terized by cool-to-mild wet winters and warm-to-hot dry summers (Michaelides et al., 2009). The climatological annual precipitation of Cyprus is around 500mm. The highest precipita‐ tion is recorded in the mountainous areas with 1100mm, while in the coastal areas precipita‐

From a morphological point of view, the island can be divided into five main morphological regions: (a) The mountainous complex of Troodos located at the center of Cyprus; (b) the mountain range of the Pentadaktylos at the northern part; (c) the central plain of Mesaoria located between of these two mountainous ranges; (d) the hilly areas around the mountain‐ ous complex of Troodos; and (e) the coastal plains (see Fig. 1). The coastline of Cyprus is characterized by numerous capes and bays. The narrow coastal plains in the north are cov‐ ered with olive trees and carob trees, while a short distance from the coast, the northern mountain range (Pentadaktylos) is found, which is a limestone formation and peaks to a height of 1024 meters. At the south and the east of the island there are two salt – lakes.

The Troodos mountain range with a peak at 1951 m covers most of the south-western part and the center of the island. This area is covered almost by forests, mainly pine and other forest trees such as cypresses, oaks and cedars. It is estimated that forests cover about 19% of

Cyprus is divided into six districts: Kyrenia, Famagusta, Larnaca, Limassol, Paphos and Nicosia (Fig. 2). During the last decade (2000-2010), there has been recorded a dramatic ur‐

et al. 2006; Imhoff et al., 2010; Peng et al., 2012).

2 Remote Sensing of Environment: Integrated Approaches

**2. Study area**

tion is limited to 300-350mm.

the total area of the island.

(UHI) for the period 2002-2008 and for selected heat wave events.

**Figure 2.** Districts of Cyprus

generalization is modified by the influence of maritime factors, yielding cooler summers and warmer winters in most of the coastal and low-lying areas. Visibility is generally very good. However, during spring and early summer, the atmosphere is quite hazy, with dust trans‐ ferred by the prevailing south-easterly to southwesterly winds from the Saharan and Arabi‐ an deserts, usually associated with the development of desert depressions (Michaelides et al., 1999). The influence of synoptic types on the urban heat island has been investigated by

Satellite and Ground Measurements for Studying the Urban Heat Island Effect in Cyprus

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/39313

5

The definition for a heat wave recommended by the World Meteorological Organization is "when the daily maximum temperature of more than five consecutive days exceeds the maximum temperature normal by 5°C". Nevertheless, in most countries, the definition of ex‐ treme heat events is based on the potential for hot weather conditions to result in an unac‐ ceptable level of adverse health effects, including increased mortality. Also, a threshold in

These periods of abnormally and uncomfortably hot and (usually) humid weather are very common in the eastern Mediterranean during summer and early autumn. Expert examina‐ tion of the synoptic patterns on upper air charts may reveal the potential for a heat wave event. In this respect, the research presented here attempts to identify height patterns favor‐ able for heat events by using a neural network classification method, namely, Kohonen's

As an indication of a possible heat event, the maximum temperature of Nicosia station in Cyprus was chosen. This station is located within the urban area of the city of Nicosia (35°17'N, 33°35'E, 170m, see Fig. 4) and equipped with traditional instrumentation was op‐ erational from 1957 until 2001, when it was upgraded to an automatic station. The database used in this study comprises the maximum and minimum temperature records from this station. The maximum monthly temperature measurements are presented in Fig. 5. Also, for the classification of synoptic patterns, the ERA40 reanalysis for the period of 1958 to 2000

The temperatures database was checked for consistency and homogeneity against measure‐ ments from nearby stations while the maximum temperatures were also checked for normal

The maximum daily temperature at Nicosia station was checked against the climatological monthly average value of the period 1961-1990. If the difference was 5°C or more, then the period was characterized as "possible heat event". If the subsequent days were also positive against this temperature test for more than three days, then the period was considered as heat event. The heat events were checked against the weather classification patterns in order to identify a connection among particular patterns and heat events. The same procedure was adopted for a difference of 3°C, since events with a 5°C difference are rare even during

Mihalakakou et al. (2002) who have also adopted a neural network approach.

maximum temperature is in practical use in many countries.

(covering roughly the ERA40 time window) were utilized.

Self Organizing Maps (see Kohonen, 1990).

**3.1. Data**

distribution fitting.

**3.2. Methodology**

**Figure 3.** Urban areas of Cyprus shown in red
