Abstract: Land surface temperature (LST) retrieved from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard the TERRA satellites was used to study the seasonal change characteristics of the urban heat island (UHI) effect in Beijingfrom 2000 to 2006. At the same time, the normalized difference vegetation index(NDVI) and surface Albedo data were used to analyze the causes of UHI changes in summer. The results showed that mean seasonal UHI distributions in Beijing were extending from the urban area to the suburbs. Urban heat island intensity (UHII) was the strongest in the summer, while it was weaker in spring, autumn and winter. The seasonal variations of UHII were closely related to the seasonal changes of solar radiation intensity, surface vegetation coverage and artificial heatrelease. During the period 2000 to 2006 in summer, UHIIs were the strongest in 2005 and 2006 with the maximum intensities of 10.54 and 9.61 ℃, respectively. UHIIs were the weakest in 2002 and 2004 with maximum intensities of 6.54 and 7.39 ℃, respectively. The variation trend of UHII in Beijing increased significantly by 0.326 ℃/a. The impact of summer precipitation on the LST in the Beijing urban area was greater than that in the Beijing suburbs, and this also affected the UHI. Both vegetation and Albedo affected LST and UHI remarkably in summer. Since 2000, the NDVI in the suburbs increased more rapidly than that in the urban area. Affected by the NDVI and Albedo, the LST in the suburbs decreased more quickly than that in the urban area, which increased the temperature difference between the suburban and urban areas and aggravated the UHI in Beijing.