Urban Heat Island (UHI) research has acquired popularity in recent decades because of increasing
recognition of heat stress impacts on human health, environments, and urban resilience under the
compounding pressures of urbanization and climate change. The development of remote sensing
technology has dramatically facilitated UHI research to better understand its spatiotemporal
characteristics. However, there remain many knowledge gaps, confusions, and issues in surface
UHI (SUHI) studies, such as different definitions of urban and rural areas, methodologies dealing
with cloud cover, and other common pitfalls that can increase uncertainties and confuse researchers and practitioners in choosing appropriate assessment methods. We showcase these issues along with future research directions to overcome them. This review also evaluates SUHI
studies over the past decade and systematically highlights the control factors, quantitative proxies, impacts, and mitigation interventions. This review provides a valuable reference and opens
up new avenues for future research to better understand the dynamics of local climate change under the complex interplay between urbanization and global climate change