# Land-surface temperature - emissivity retrieval
*methodologies*

Retrieves surface temperature and spectral emissivity from TIR radiance measurements; good for urban heat islands, drought stress monitoring, and surface energy balance studies.

## Specifications
- **family**: Thermal IR
- **requirements envelope**: {"kind":"spectral","spectral_range_nm":{"min":8000,"max":12000},"bands_min":2,"calibration_tier_min":"radiometric","snr_min":50,"daylight_required":false,"cloud_tolerant":false}
- **entity type**: methodology
- **last verified date**: 2026-05-22
- **verified by**: sw
- **claim status**: unclaimed
- **attributes**: {"family":"Thermal IR","summary":"Retrieves surface temperature and spectral emissivity from TIR radiance measurements; good for urban heat islands, drought stress monitoring, and surface energy balance studies.","requirements_envelope":"{\"kind\":\"spectral\",\"spectral_range_nm\":{\"min\":8000,\"max\":12000},\"bands_min\":2,\"calibration_tier_min\":\"radiometric\",\"snr_min\":50,\"daylight_required\":false,\"cloud_tolerant\":false}"}
- **technology**: optical-spectral-sensing

## Editorial
Separates emissivity from temperature using split-window or temperature-emissivity separation algorithms. Requires accurate atmospheric correction. [Wikipedia: Land surface temperature](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_surface_temperature)

## Sources
- [wikipedia] | Wikipedia: Land surface temperature | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_surface_temperature | tier=community | accessed=2026-05-22

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Source: https://eo-atlas.org/methodologies/lst-emissivity-retrieval
Maintainer: SpectraWorks B.V. (CC-BY 4.0)