Long-term accuracy assessment of land surface temperatures derived from the Advanced Along-Track Scanning Radiometer

• Published in: Remote sensing of environment 2012-01, Vol.116, p.211-225
• Main Authors: Coll, César, Valor, Enric, Galve, Joan M., Mira, Maria, Bisquert, Mar, García-Santos, Vicente, Caselles, Eduardo, Caselles, Vicente
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: AATSR; Algorithms; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Applied geophysics; Atmospherics; Biological and medical sciences; Computer simulation; Earth sciences; Earth, ocean, space; Emissivity; Exact sciences and technology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; General aspects. Techniques; Ground measurements; Grounds; Internal geophysics; Land surface temperature; Oryza sativa; Radiative transfer; Radiometers; Teledetection and vegetation maps; Validation; Vegetation
• ISSN: 0034-4257; 1879-0704
• DOI: 10.1016/j.rse.2010.01.027

The accuracy of land surface temperatures (LSTs) derived from the Advanced Along-Track Scanning Radiometer (AATSR) was assessed in a test site in Valencia, Spain from 2002 to 2008. AATSR LSTs were directly compared with concurrent ground measurements over homogeneous, full-vegetated rice fields in the conventional temperature-based (T-based) method. We also applied the new radiance-based (R-based) method over bare soil and water surfaces, where ground LST measurements were not available. In the R-based method, ground LSTs are simulated from AATSR brightness temperatures in the 11μm band and radiative transfer simulations using surface emissivity data and atmospheric water vapor and temperature profiles. The accuracy of the R-based ground LSTs depends on how well the profiles used in simulations represent the actual atmosphere at the time of AATSR observations. This can be checked with the difference δ(T11-T12) between the actual AATSR and the profile-based simulated difference in the 11 and 12μm brightness temperatures (T11 and T12, respectively). We found that for −0.6K