PRISMA Hyperspectral Satellite Imagery Application to Local Climate Zones Mapping

The urban heat island effect exacerbates the vulnerability of cities to climate change, emphasizing the need for sustainable urban planning driven by data evidence. In the last decade, the Local Climate Zone (LCZ) model emerged as a key tool for categorizing urban landscapes, aiding in the development of urban temperature mitigation strategies. In this work, the contribution of hyperspectral satellite imagery to LCZ mapping, leveraging the Italian Space Agency (ASI)’s PRISMA satellite, is investigated. Mapping performances are compared with traditional multispectral-based LCZ mapping using Sentinel-2 satellite imagery. The Random Forest algorithm is utilized for LCZ classification, with evaluation conducted through spectral separability analysis and accuracy assessment between PRISMA and Sentinel-2 derived LCZ maps as well as with the benchmark LCZ Generator mapping tool. An initial experiment on the effect of PRISMA image pan-sharpening on LCZ spectral separability is also presented. Results obtained for Milan (Northern Italy) demonstrate the potential of hyperspectral imagery in enhancing LCZ identification compared to multispectral data, with promising improvements in LCZ maps overall accuracy. Finally, air temperature patterns within each LCZ class are explored, qualitatively confirming the influence of urban morphology on thermal comfort.