Average Surface Temperature 2020

Ground surface temperature prepared for TRCA by Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) Geographic Analysis student group during Fall 2022. Two July 2, 2020 Landsat 8 images covering TRCA's jurisdiction were used to create this raster.

Methodology to Generate Temperature Raster To generate average surface temperature layer for TRCA's jurisdiction, the ATCOR surface temperature workflow within Catalyst Professional was used. The ATCOR surface temperature workflow takes an input thermal band in scaled radiance (raw digital number values), a DEM (digital elevation model) and terrain derivatives (PCI Geomatics Enterprise, 2022). The process converts the raw digital number (DN) from the images to radiance values, then to brightness values and finally into degrees Celsius. 
The Landsat 8 images used with the ATCOR workflow were acquired from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) website. It consisted of 2 images taken on July 2, 2020. The two specific images were chosen because it is the closest date compared to the previous TRCA thermal temperature layer (June 18, 2014) while having minimum cloud cover within TRCA's jurisdiction. Minimizing cloud cover within the analysis area is  important because clouds lower temperature during the day by reflecting solar radiation back to the atmosphere before it reaches the surface and traps heat at night. This means that areas under clouds will have inaccurate surface temperature generated once the ATCOR workflow is utilized.
Most of the variables needed in order to conduct the ATCOR workflow are metadata that comes with the Landsat images acquired from USGS. The digital elevation model was acquired from Data Ontario, and the emissivity settings for water, vegetation and built-up (0.995, 0.98, and 0.97 respectively) were determined based on a literature review completed by the student group. 
Once the ATCOR process was ran on both images, it was then imported into ArcGIS PRO for further processing. The two images were exported; areas with a 0 value were excluded because 0 represents areas with no data present. The two images were then combined into one image through the use of the mosaic tool. 

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Last Updated May 19, 2026, 16:31 (UTC)
Created May 19, 2026, 16:31 (UTC)
Domain / Topic
Domain or topic of the dataset being cataloged.
Title
Title for the Dataset.
Average Surface Temperature 2020
Description
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Ground surface temperature prepared for TRCA by Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) Geographic Analysis student group during Fall 2022. Two July 2, 2020 Landsat 8 images covering TRCA's jurisdiction were used to create this raster.

Methodology to Generate Temperature Raster To generate average surface temperature layer for TRCA's jurisdiction, the ATCOR surface temperature workflow within Catalyst Professional was used. The ATCOR surface temperature workflow takes an input thermal band in scaled radiance (raw digital number values), a DEM (digital elevation model) and terrain derivatives (PCI Geomatics Enterprise, 2022). The process converts the raw digital number (DN) from the images to radiance values, then to brightness values and finally into degrees Celsius. 
The Landsat 8 images used with the ATCOR workflow were acquired from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) website. It consisted of 2 images taken on July 2, 2020. The two specific images were chosen because it is the closest date compared to the previous TRCA thermal temperature layer (June 18, 2014) while having minimum cloud cover within TRCA's jurisdiction. Minimizing cloud cover within the analysis area is  important because clouds lower temperature during the day by reflecting solar radiation back to the atmosphere before it reaches the surface and traps heat at night. This means that areas under clouds will have inaccurate surface temperature generated once the ATCOR workflow is utilized.
Most of the variables needed in order to conduct the ATCOR workflow are metadata that comes with the Landsat images acquired from USGS. The digital elevation model was acquired from Data Ontario, and the emissivity settings for water, vegetation and built-up (0.995, 0.98, and 0.97 respectively) were determined based on a literature review completed by the student group. 
Once the ATCOR process was ran on both images, it was then imported into ArcGIS PRO for further processing. The two images were exported; areas with a 0 value were excluded because 0 represents areas with no data present. The two images were then combined into one image through the use of the mosaic tool. 
Tags / Keywords
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294575.42
Metadata Identifier
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Published Date
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2023-09-22
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public
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License not specified
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Location
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https://trca-camaps.opendata.arcgis.com/datasets/camaps::average-surface-temperature-2020
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Owner
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trca_d.macleod
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Conservation Ontario
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[email protected]
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Conservation Ontario
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Author
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trca_d.macleod
Author Email
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Accessed At
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2023-09-25
Field Value
Identifier
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f8e9f4ef6a2d4f03884f6a7c66642d0b
Language
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English
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https://trca-camaps.opendata.arcgis.com/datasets/camaps::average-surface-temperature-2020
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Contains Indigenous Data
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None
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None
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Conservation Ontario
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