Remote sensing involves the art, science, and technology of obtaining reliable information about objects on the earth through recording, measuring, and interpreting images gathered from non-contact sensors. Remote sensing can be used for many applications from healthy vegetation to wildfire forest restoration and change detections. Remote sensing is also used to research urbanization and heat islands. Heat islands are areas mostly in urban areas where they have higher than average temperatures than the surrounding rural areas generated from their buildings and pavements.

The study area is Atlanta, Georgia a city founded in 1837 at the end of the Western Atlantic Railroad construction. The state capital Atlanta is located in the northwestern part of Georgia.  Atlanta served as a large transportation hub for people in 1837. In 2021, Atlanta is still a popular transportation hub with a growing population and multiple modes of transportation such as major highways, train systems, and roadways. With an increasing population comes the need for expansion of the city increasing its potential for more heat islands. Atlanta is a very urban city with concrete sidewalks, asphalt roadways, and very large skyscrapers.

The issue is important because heat islands are more likely to keep and absorb heat generating warmer than normal temperatures that may affect people with asthma and other respiratory issues. The heat generated by these heat islands may also cause heat exhaustion and sometimes death. The increase in temperatures can also create problems for the wildlife in the areas by killing plant species that may serve as food sources and homes for animals. Heat islands can be reduced in urban areas through various techniques involving vegetation and airflow direction to help cool down the city and regulate temperatures.

Remote sensing can provide insight by calculating the surface temperature of the city. It can also allow its users to look at areas of healthy vegetation where there may be fewer heat islands and lower temperatures. Sensing the environment will also show the impervious surfaces of Atlanta. What areas are pavement? What areas are buildings? How might these areas affect the city of Atlanta? All of these are questions that can be answered through the process of remote sensing. Land cover classification allows remote sensing to view different areas and their vegetation types allowing the city to know which plant species help with excessive heat.

Overall this data can be used to assess the surface temperature of Atlanta and where might the heat islands occur. Data will also supply insight into what vegetation is near these heat islands and how they influence each other. Looking at vegetation is one of the ways in which heat islands can decrease with an increase in coverage from the sun. Land cover data will be used to assess the various types of vegetation in the areas such as forested and bare land areas. Land cover data is important because if land exposed to the sun is heated may typically be warmer than land covered by vegetation. Maybe forest areas are typically cooler than grassy areas. Impervious surfaces data will display the different surfaces in the city and how that particular surface may contain elements that retain or reflect heat from the sun and the environment.