Abstract: The urban heat island is a hot social issue during the construction of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. The study of the driving factors for the heat island is an important scientific issue. Based on satellite remote sensing data, we quantitatively analyzed the spatiotemporal distribution of urban heat islands in GuangdongHong KongMarco Greater Bay Area. The driving factors of urban heat islands were analyzed by the multiple regression. The results showed that the urban heat island effect in Greater Bay Area increased significantly from 2003 to 2018, with an annual increase of the heat island intensity of 0.05 ℃ and an annual increase of the heat island area of 0.18%. For seasonal variation of urban heat islands, the intensity was the strongest in summer and the weakest in winter. The heat island area was the largest in summer, and second largest in winter. The heat island area was mainly distributed in Dongguan, Shenzhen, the junction of Guangzhou and Foshan, the north of Zhongshan, and the central part of Huizhou. Theresults of multiple regression analysis showed that the altitude had the most significant impact on urban heat islands, followed by the light index, normalized vegetation index, and aerosol optical thickness in a descending order. The light index was a positive driving factor, whereas the rest were negative driving factors.

Key words: heat island intensity, heat island area, spatiotemporal distribution, driving factor.