LST was computed from the Landsat 5 and 8 sensors with a 30-m spatial resolution, and temporal resolution of 1985-2015.

Landsat Level-2 Provisional Surface Temperature products, which are part of the U.S. Landsat Analysis Ready Data (ARD) product bundle (Dwyer et al. 2018), were used for calculating LST. The Provisional Surface temperature values are computed from Landsat Collection 1 Level-1 thermal infrared bands and Top of Atmosphere (TOA) Reflectance. The calculations are corrected for atmospheric variations between dates, sensors and locations (i.e., water vapor, ozone, aerosol optical thickness, clouds and digital elevation) using ancillary datasets such as Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) Global Emissivity Database (GED) data, ASTER Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data, as well as atmospheric profiles, specific humidity, and air temperature from reanalysis data.

The intent is that the surface temperature can be used in time-series analysis, however, current products are only provisional and all users of the surface temperature product should include this disclaimer: USGS Landsat Surface Temperature Science Product may report unvalidated results for certain observational conditions. Additionally, the raw values in these files should not be compared over time because they are from different days/months. Please see the Landsat Surface Temperature Product Guide (USGS 2018) and product overview (https://www.usgs.gov/centers/eros/science/usgs-eros-archive-landsat-archives-landsat-level-2-provisional-surface?qt-science_center_objects=0#qt-science_center_objects) for more information.

The Provisional Surface Temperature was accessed using Earth Explorer (https://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/) on October 2019. The values in Kelvin were converted to Celsius. Cloudless, summertime (July and August) images were used for the calculation.

References

Dwyer, J.L., Roy, D.P., Sauer, B., Jenkerson, C.B., Zhang, H., and Lymburner, L., 2018, Analysis ready data—Enabling analysis of the Landsat archive: Remote Sensing, v. 10, no. 9, art. no. 1363. doi.org/10.3390/rs10091363

U.S. Geological Survey, Department of the Interior. (2018). Landsat Provisional Surface Temperature Product Guide LSDS-1330, Version 2.0. EROS: Sioux Falls, South Dakota. https://www.usgs.gov/media/files/landsat-provisional-surface-temperature-product-guide