Spatial patterns and driving factors of surface urban heat island intensity: A comparative study for two agriculture-dominated regions in China and the USA

Urban heat island (UHI) effect causes tremendous ecological and environmental consequences. A better understanding of its spatial pattern and driving factors is highly required for designing effective mitigation strategies and adaptation measures. This study compared spatial patterns of surface UHI intensity (SUHII) and their driving factors between two agriculture-dominated regions (i.e., Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei (BTH), China and Illinois–Indiana–Ohio (IIO), the USA) based on the MODIS land surface temperature dataset. The results showed that: (1) IIO had significantly stronger daytime SUHII than BTH, while the nighttime SUHII showed an opposite phenomenon. (2) SUHIIs of different time were positively correlated in IIO, but the winter daytime SUHII was negatively correlated with the nighttime SUHII in BTH. (3) Spatial variations of summer SUHII were better predicted in IIO than that in BTH, but the opposite result was found for winter SUHII. (4) Some regression coefficients of the multiple linear regression models when modeling winter daytime SUHII were opposite between IIO and BTH. Findings of this study indicated different dominant surface energy processes in controlling the spatial pattern of SUHII in these two regions of different countries and recommended varied adaptation measures and mitigation strategies.