Johnson, Daniel P. (Daniel Patrick), 1971-Beerval Ravichandra, Kavya UrsWilson, Jeffrey S. (Jeffrey Scott), 1967-Bein, Frederick L. (Frederick Louis), 1943-2014-03-122014-03-122014-03-12https://hdl.handle.net/1805/4083http://dx.doi.org/10.7912/C2/778Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)Over the past two decades, northern parts of the United States have experienced extreme heat conditions. Some of the notable heat wave impacts have occurred in Chicago in 1995 with over 600 reported deaths and in Philadelphia in 1993 with over 180 reported deaths. The distribution of extreme heat events in Indianapolis has varied since the year 2000. The Urban Heat Island effect has caused the temperatures to rise unusually high during the summer months. Although the number of reported deaths in Indianapolis is smaller when compared to Chicago and Philadelphia, the heat wave in the year 2010 affected primarily the vulnerable population comprised of the elderly and the lower socio-economic groups. Studying the spatial distribution of high temperatures in the vulnerable areas helps determine not only the extent of the heat affected areas, but also to devise strategies and methods to plan, mitigate, and tackle extreme heat. In addition, examining spatial patterns of vulnerability can aid in development of a heat warning system to alert the populations at risk during extreme heat events. This study focuses on the qualitative and quantitative methods used to measure extreme heat events. Land surface temperatures obtained from the Landsat TM images provide useful means by which the spatial distribution of temperatures can be studied in relation to the temporal changes and socioeconomic vulnerability. The percentile method used, helps to determine the vulnerable areas and their extents. The maximum temperatures measured using LST conversion of the original digital number values of the Landsat TM images is reliable in terms of identifying the heat-affected regions.en-USExtreme Heat EventsSpatiotemporal analysis of extreme heat eventsLand Surface TemperaturesGeographic Information ScienceRemote SensingLandsat TMPercentile values for studying heat events- Indianapolis, PhiladelphiaHeat waves (Meteorology)Urban climatology -- Research -- United States -- MethodologyUrban climatology -- Research -- Indiana -- Indianapolis -- MethodologyUrban climatology -- Research -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia -- MethodologyThermal analysis in earth sciencesArtificial satellites in remote sensingSpatial analysis (Statistics)Landsat satellites -- Research -- AnalysisApplied ecology -- ResearchGeospatial data -- Analysis -- MeasurementGeographic information systems -- Research -- Measurement -- EvaluationClimatic changes -- Mathematical modelsEarth sciences -- Remote sensingEnvironmental monitoringClimatic changes -- Health aspectsHeat -- Radiation and absorptionImage processingThesis