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Remote Sensing Monitoring of Land Surface Temperature (LST)
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Remote Sensing Monitoring of Land Surface Temperature (LST)

A special issue of Remote Sensing (ISSN 2072-4292). This special issue belongs to the section "Biogeosciences Remote Sensing".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 October 2020) | Viewed by 68837

Printed Edition Available!
A printed edition of this Special Issue is available here.

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Juan Manuel Sánchez

E-Mail Website1 Website2
Guest Editor
Applied Physics Department, Regional Development Institute, University of Castilla-La Mancha, Campus Universtiario s/n, 02071 Albacete, Spain
Interests: earth observation in the thermal domain; land surface temperature and emissivity; land surface fluxes; evapotranspiration; disaggregation of thermal images; calibration/validation; micro-meteorology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. César Coll

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Earth Physics and Thermodynamics, Faculty of Physics, University of Valencia, C/Dr. Moliner, 50, 46100 Burjassot (Valencia), Spain
Interests: Earth Observation in the thermal domain; land surface temperature and emissivity; thermal ground measurements; directional effects in land surface temperature; calibration/validation
Dr. Raquel Niclòs

E-Mail Website1 Website2
Guest Editor
Department of Earth Physics and Thermodynamics, Faculty of Physics, University of Valencia, C/Dr. Moliner, 50, 46100 Burjassot, Valencia, Spain
Interests: earth observation in the thermal domain; land and sea surface temperature and emissivity; thermal ground measurements; calibration/validation; angular variation of emissivities
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The combination of the state-of-the-art in the thermal infrared (TIR) domain with the recent advances in the capabilities provided by new satellite, UAV-based, or aerial remote sensing is encouraging the use of Land Surface Temperature (LST) in a variety of research fields beyond the traditional uses.

LST plays a key role in soil–vegetation–atmosphere processes. Estimation of surface energy flux exchanges, actual evapotranspiration, or vegetation and soil properties, as well as the monitoring of volcano or forest fire activities, are among the traditional applications of LST.

Latest advances in data fusion, downscaling, and disaggregation techniques provide a new dimension to LST applications in water resource and agronomic management thanks to the improvement in both the temporal and spatial resolution of the thermal products. Nevertheless, further research into LST estimation algorithms, as well as continuous calibration/validation, is still required to improve the accuracy of ground LST data and satellite LST products.

This Special Issue aims to collect recent developments, methodologies, calibration/validation, and applications of thermal remote sensing data, and derived products, from UAV-based remote sensing, aerial remote sensing, and satellite remote sensing. Papers on the application of LST to water resources assessment, evapotranspiration estimation, or irrigation management in arid and semiarid regions are particularly encouraged.

We also encourage you to submit papers that present novel methods, based on single or multi-sensor time series of LST, using Landsat TIRS, EOS ASTER, EOS MODIS, Sentinel-3A/B SLSTR, S-NPP/NOAA-20 VIIRS, etc. Review papers on these topics are also welcome.

In short, this Special Issue intends to collect recent efforts and contributions of the thermal remote sensing community dealing with LST estimation and applications.

Dr. Juan Manuel Sánchez
Dr. Raquel Niclòs
Dr. César Coll
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Remote Sensing is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Thermal infrared remote sensing
  • Emissivity and atmospheric correction
  • LST algorithms
  • Land surface energy fluxes / evapotranspiration
  • Downscaling / Disaggregation techniques
  • Calibration / Validation of LST
  • Ground measurements of LST and Land Surface Emissivities
  • Assimilation of LST in hydrological, climatological, and agronomic models.

Published Papers (15 papers)

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Editorial

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3 pages, 202 KiB  
Editorial
Editorial for the Special Issue “Remote Sensing Monitoring of Land Surface Temperature”
by Juan M. Sánchez, César Coll and Raquel Niclòs
Remote Sens. 2021, 13(9), 1765; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/rs13091765 - 01 May 2021
Viewed by 1525
Abstract
The combination of the state-of-the-art in the thermal infrared (TIR) domain [...] Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing Monitoring of Land Surface Temperature (LST))

Research

Jump to: Editorial

30 pages, 12557 KiB  
Article
Inter-Comparison of Field- and Laboratory-Derived Surface Emissivities of Natural and Manmade Materials in Support of Land Surface Temperature (LST) Remote Sensing
by Mary F. Langsdale, Thomas P. F. Dowling, Martin Wooster, James Johnson, Mark J. Grosvenor, Mark C. de Jong, William R. Johnson, Simon J. Hook and Gerardo Rivera
Remote Sens. 2020, 12(24), 4127; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/rs12244127 - 17 Dec 2020
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3189
Abstract
Correct specification of a target’s longwave infrared (LWIR) surface emissivity has been identified as one of the greatest sources of uncertainty in the remote sensing of land surface temperature (LST). Field and laboratory emissivity measurements are essential for improving and validating LST retrievals, [...] Read more.
Correct specification of a target’s longwave infrared (LWIR) surface emissivity has been identified as one of the greatest sources of uncertainty in the remote sensing of land surface temperature (LST). Field and laboratory emissivity measurements are essential for improving and validating LST retrievals, but there are differing approaches to making such measurements and the conditions that they are made under can affect their performance. To better understand these impacts we made measurements of fourteen manmade and natural samples under different environmental conditions, both in situ and in the laboratory. We used Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometers to deliver spectral emissivities and an emissivity box to deliver broadband emissivities. Field- and laboratory-measured spectral emissivities were generally within 1–2% in the key 8–12 micron region of the LWIR atmospheric window for most samples, though greater variability was observed for vegetation and inhomogeneous samples. Differences between laboratory and field spectral measurements highlighted the importance of field methods for these samples, with the laboratory setup unable to capture sample structure or inhomogeneity. The emissivity box delivered broadband emissivities with a consistent negative bias compared to the FTIR-based approaches, with differences of up to 5%. The emissivities retrieved using the different approaches result in LST retrieval differences of between 1 and 4 °C, stressing the importance of correct emissivity specification. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing Monitoring of Land Surface Temperature (LST))
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23 pages, 4608 KiB  
Article
An Improved Approach for Downscaling Coarse-Resolution Thermal Data by Minimizing the Spatial Averaging Biases in Random Forest
by Sammy M. Njuki, Chris M. Mannaerts and Zhongbo Su
Remote Sens. 2020, 12(21), 3507; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/rs12213507 - 25 Oct 2020
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 4621
Abstract
Land surface temperature (LST) plays a fundamental role in various geophysical processes at varying spatial and temporal scales. Satellite-based observations of LST provide a viable option for monitoring the spatial-temporal evolution of these processes. Downscaling is a widely adopted approach for solving the [...] Read more.
Land surface temperature (LST) plays a fundamental role in various geophysical processes at varying spatial and temporal scales. Satellite-based observations of LST provide a viable option for monitoring the spatial-temporal evolution of these processes. Downscaling is a widely adopted approach for solving the spatial-temporal trade-off associated with satellite-based observations of LST. However, despite the advances made in the field of LST downscaling, issues related to spatial averaging in the downscaling methodologies greatly hamper the utility of coarse-resolution thermal data for downscaling applications in complex environments. In this study, an improved LST downscaling approach based on random forest (RF) regression is presented. The proposed approach addresses issues related to spatial averaging biases associated with the downscaling model developed at the coarse resolution. The approach was applied to downscale the coarse-resolution Satellite Application Facility on Land Surface Analysis (LSA-SAF) LST product derived from the Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infrared Imager (SEVIRI) sensor aboard the Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) weather satellite. The LSA-SAF product was downscaled to a spatial resolution of ~30 m, based on predictor variables derived from Sentinel 2, and the Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS) digital elevation model (DEM). Quantitatively and qualitatively, better downscaling results were obtained using the proposed approach in comparison to the conventional approach of downscaling LST using RF widely adopted in LST downscaling studies. The enhanced performance indicates that the proposed approach has the ability to reduce the spatial averaging biases inherent in the LST downscaling methodology and thus is more suitable for downscaling applications in complex environments. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing Monitoring of Land Surface Temperature (LST))
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23 pages, 9163 KiB  
Article
Development of a Land Surface Temperature Retrieval Algorithm from GK2A/AMI
by Youn-Young Choi and Myoung-Seok Suh
Remote Sens. 2020, 12(18), 3050; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/rs12183050 - 18 Sep 2020
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 2609
Abstract
Land surface temperature (LST) is an important geophysical element for understanding Earth systems and land–atmosphere interactions. In this study, we developed a nonlinear split-window LST retrieval algorithm for the observation area of GEO-KOMPSAT-2A (GK2A), the next-generation geostationary satellite in Korea. To develop the [...] Read more.
Land surface temperature (LST) is an important geophysical element for understanding Earth systems and land–atmosphere interactions. In this study, we developed a nonlinear split-window LST retrieval algorithm for the observation area of GEO-KOMPSAT-2A (GK2A), the next-generation geostationary satellite in Korea. To develop the GK2A LST retrieval algorithm, radiative transfer model simulation data, considering various impacting factors, were constructed. The LST retrieval algorithm was developed with a total of six equations as per day/night and atmospheric conditions (dry/normal/wet), considering the effects of diurnal variation of LST and atmospheric conditions on LST retrieval. The emissivity of each channel required for LST retrieval was calculated in real-time with the vegetation cover method using the consecutive 8-day cycle vegetation index provided by GK2A. The indirect validation of the results of GK2A LST with Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) LST Collection 6 showed a high correlation coefficient (0.969), slightly warm bias (+1.227 K), and root mean square error (RMSE) (2.281 K). Compared to the MODIS LST, the GK2A LST showed a warm bias greater than +1.8 K during the day, but a relatively small bias (<+0.7 K) at night. Based on the results of the validation with in situ measurements from the Tateno station of the Baseline Surface Radiation Network, the correlation coefficient was 0.95, bias was +0.523 K, and RMSE was 2.021 K. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing Monitoring of Land Surface Temperature (LST))
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27 pages, 4771 KiB  
Article
Sensitivity Analysis and Validation of Daytime and Nighttime Land Surface Temperature Retrievals from Landsat 8 Using Different Algorithms and Emissivity Models
by Aliihsan Sekertekin and Stefania Bonafoni
Remote Sens. 2020, 12(17), 2776; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/rs12172776 - 26 Aug 2020
Cited by 35 | Viewed by 4422
Abstract
Land Surface Temperature (LST) is a substantial element indicating the relationship between the atmosphere and the land. This study aims to examine the efficiency of different LST algorithms, namely, Single Channel Algorithm (SCA), Mono Window Algorithm (MWA), and Radiative Transfer Equation (RTE), using [...] Read more.
Land Surface Temperature (LST) is a substantial element indicating the relationship between the atmosphere and the land. This study aims to examine the efficiency of different LST algorithms, namely, Single Channel Algorithm (SCA), Mono Window Algorithm (MWA), and Radiative Transfer Equation (RTE), using both daytime and nighttime Landsat 8 data and in-situ measurements. Although many researchers conducted validation studies of daytime LST retrieved from Landsat 8 data, none of them considered nighttime LST retrieval and validation because of the lack of Land Surface Emissivity (LSE) data in the nighttime. Thus, in this paper, we propose using a daytime LSE image, whose acquisition is close to nighttime Thermal Infrared (TIR) data (the difference ranges from one day to four days), as an input in the algorithm for the nighttime LST retrieval. In addition to evaluating the three LST methods, we also investigated the effect of six Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)-based LSE models in this study. Furthermore, sensitivity analyses were carried out for both in-situ measurements and LST methods for satellite data. Simultaneous ground-based LST measurements were collected from Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) and Surface Radiation Budget Network (SURFRAD) stations, located at different rural environments of the United States. Concerning the in-situ sensitivity results, the effect on LST of the uncertainty of the downwelling and upwelling radiance was almost identical in daytime and nighttime. Instead, the uncertainty effect of the broadband emissivity in the nighttime was half of the daytime. Concerning the satellite observations, the sensitivity of the LST methods to LSE proved that the variation of the LST error was smaller than daytime. The accuracy of the LST retrieval methods for daytime Landsat 8 data varied between 2.17 K Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) and 5.47 K RMSE considering all LST methods and LSE models. MWA with two different LSE models presented the best results for the daytime. Concerning the nighttime accuracy of the LST retrieval, the RMSE value ranged from 0.94 K to 3.34 K. SCA showed the best results, but MWA and RTE also provided very high accuracy. Compared to daytime, all LST retrieval methods applied to nighttime data provided highly accurate results with the different LSE models and a lower bias with respect to in-situ measurements. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing Monitoring of Land Surface Temperature (LST))
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27 pages, 10552 KiB  
Article
Noise-sensitivity Analysis and Improvement of Automatic Retrieval of Temperature and Emissivity Using Spectral Smoothness
by Honglan Shao, Chengyu Liu, Feng Xie, Chunlai Li and Jianyu Wang
Remote Sens. 2020, 12(14), 2295; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/rs12142295 - 17 Jul 2020
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2161
Abstract
There are numerous algorithms that can be used to retrieve land surface temperature (LST) and land surface emissivity (LSE) from hyperspectral thermal infrared (HTIR) data. The algorithms are sensitive to a number of factors, where noise is difficult to handle due to its [...] Read more.
There are numerous algorithms that can be used to retrieve land surface temperature (LST) and land surface emissivity (LSE) from hyperspectral thermal infrared (HTIR) data. The algorithms are sensitive to a number of factors, where noise is difficult to handle due to its unpredictability. Although there is a lot of research regarding the influence of noise on retrieval errors, few studies have focused on the mechanism. In this study, we selected the automatic retrieval of temperature and emissivity using spectral smoothness (ARTEMISS) algorithm—the representative of the iterative spectral smoothness temperature-emissivity separation algorithm family—as the research object and proposed an improved algorithm. First, we analyzed the influence mechanism of noise on the retrieval errors of ARTEMISS in theory. Second, we carried out a simulation and inversion experiment and analyzed the relationship between instrument spectral resolution, noise level, the ARTEMISS parameter setting and the retrieval errors separately. Last, we proposed an improved method (resolution-degrade-based spectral smoothness algorithm, RDSS) based on the mechanism and law of the influence of noise on retrieval errors and provided corresponding suggestions on instrument design. The results show that RDSS improves the accuracy of temperature inversion and is more effective for thermal infrared data with a high noise level and high spectral resolution, which can reduce the LST inversion error by up to 0.75 K and the LSE median absolute deviation (MAD) by 31%. In the presence of noise in HTIR data, the RDSS algorithm performs better than the ARTEMISS algorithm in terms of temperature-emissivity separation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing Monitoring of Land Surface Temperature (LST))
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16 pages, 5725 KiB  
Article
Monitoring 10-m LST from the Combination MODIS/Sentinel-2, Validation in a High Contrast Semi-Arid Agroecosystem
by Juan M. Sánchez, Joan M. Galve, José González-Piqueras, Ramón López-Urrea, Raquel Niclòs and Alfonso Calera
Remote Sens. 2020, 12(9), 1453; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/rs12091453 - 04 May 2020
Cited by 21 | Viewed by 7256
Abstract
Downscaling techniques offer a solution to the lack of high-resolution satellite Thermal InfraRed (TIR) data and can bridge the gap until operational TIR missions accomplishing spatio-temporal requirements are available. These techniques are generally based on the Visible Near InfraRed (VNIR)-TIR variable relations at [...] Read more.
Downscaling techniques offer a solution to the lack of high-resolution satellite Thermal InfraRed (TIR) data and can bridge the gap until operational TIR missions accomplishing spatio-temporal requirements are available. These techniques are generally based on the Visible Near InfraRed (VNIR)-TIR variable relations at a coarse spatial resolution, and the assumption that the relationship between spectral bands is independent of the spatial resolution. In this work, we adopted a previous downscaling method and introduced some adjustments to the original formulation to improve the model performance. Maps of Land Surface Temperature (LST) with 10-m spatial resolution were obtained as output from the combination of MODIS/Sentinel-2 images. An experiment was conducted in an agricultural area located in the Barrax test site, Spain (39°03′35″ N, 2°06′ W), for the summer of 2018. Ground measurements of LST transects collocated with the MODIS overpasses were used for a robust local validation of the downscaling approach. Data from 6 different dates were available, covering a variety of croplands and surface conditions, with LST values ranging 300–325 K. Differences within ±4.0 K were observed between measured and modeled temperatures, with an average estimation error of ±2.2 K and a systematic deviation of 0.2 K for the full ground dataset. A further cross-validation of the disaggregated 10-m LST products was conducted using an additional set of Landsat-7/ETM+ images. A similar uncertainty of ±2.0 K was obtained as an average. These results are encouraging for the adaptation of this methodology to the tandem Sentinel-3/Sentinel-2, and are promising since the 10-m pixel size, together with the 3–5 days revisit frequency of Sentinel-2 satellites can fulfill the LST input requirements of the surface energy balance methods for a variety of hydrological, climatological or agricultural applications. However, certain limitations to capture the variability of extreme LST, or in recently sprinkler irrigated fields, claim the necessity to explore the implementation of soil moisture or vegetation indices sensitive to soil water content as inputs in the downscaling approach. The ground LST dataset introduced in this paper will be of great value for further refinements and assessments. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing Monitoring of Land Surface Temperature (LST))
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28 pages, 645 KiB  
Article
Modelling High-Resolution Actual Evapotranspiration through Sentinel-2 and Sentinel-3 Data Fusion
by Radoslaw Guzinski, Hector Nieto, Inge Sandholt and Georgios Karamitilios
Remote Sens. 2020, 12(9), 1433; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/rs12091433 - 01 May 2020
Cited by 57 | Viewed by 9955
Abstract
The Sentinel-2 and Sentinel-3 satellite constellation contains most of the spatial, temporal and spectral characteristics required for accurate, field-scale actual evapotranspiration (ET) estimation. The one remaining major challenge is the spatial scale mismatch between the thermal-infrared observations acquired by the Sentinel-3 satellites at [...] Read more.
The Sentinel-2 and Sentinel-3 satellite constellation contains most of the spatial, temporal and spectral characteristics required for accurate, field-scale actual evapotranspiration (ET) estimation. The one remaining major challenge is the spatial scale mismatch between the thermal-infrared observations acquired by the Sentinel-3 satellites at around 1 km resolution and the multispectral shortwave observations acquired by the Sentinel-2 satellite at around 20 m resolution. In this study we evaluate a number of approaches for bridging this gap by improving the spatial resolution of the thermal images. The resulting data is then used as input into three ET models, working under different assumptions: TSEB, METRIC and ESVEP. Latent, sensible and ground heat fluxes as well as net radiation produced by the models at 20 m resolution are validated against observations coming from 11 flux towers located in various land covers and climatological conditions. The results show that using the sharpened high-resolution thermal data as input for the TSEB model is a sound approach with relative root mean square error of instantaneous latent heat flux of around 30% in agricultural areas. The proposed methodology is a promising solution to the lack of thermal data with high spatio-temporal resolution required for field-scale ET modelling and can fill this data gap until next generation of thermal satellites are launched. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing Monitoring of Land Surface Temperature (LST))
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23 pages, 6523 KiB  
Article
Estimation of All-Weather 1 km MODIS Land Surface Temperature for Humid Summer Days
by Cheolhee Yoo, Jungho Im, Dongjin Cho, Naoto Yokoya, Junshi Xia and Benjamin Bechtel
Remote Sens. 2020, 12(9), 1398; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/rs12091398 - 28 Apr 2020
Cited by 39 | Viewed by 5255
Abstract
Land surface temperature (LST) is used as a critical indicator for various environmental issues because it links land surface fluxes with the surface atmosphere. Moderate-resolution imaging spectroradiometers (MODIS) 1 km LSTs have been widely utilized but have the serious limitation of not being [...] Read more.
Land surface temperature (LST) is used as a critical indicator for various environmental issues because it links land surface fluxes with the surface atmosphere. Moderate-resolution imaging spectroradiometers (MODIS) 1 km LSTs have been widely utilized but have the serious limitation of not being provided under cloudy weather conditions. In this study, we propose two schemes to estimate all-weather 1 km Aqua MODIS daytime (1:30 p.m.) and nighttime (1:30 a.m.) LSTs in South Korea for humid summer days. Scheme 1 (S1) is a two-step approach that first estimates 10 km LSTs and then conducts the spatial downscaling of LSTs from 10 km to 1 km. Scheme 2 (S2), a one-step algorithm, directly estimates the 1 km all-weather LSTs. Eight advanced microwave scanning radiometer 2 (AMSR2) brightness temperatures, three MODIS-based annual cycle parameters, and six auxiliary variables were used for the LST estimation based on random forest machine learning. To confirm the effectiveness of each scheme, we have performed different validation experiments using clear-sky MODIS LSTs. Moreover, we have validated all-weather LSTs using bias-corrected LSTs from 10 in situ stations. In clear-sky daytime, the performance of S2 was better than S1. However, in cloudy sky daytime, S1 simulated low LSTs better than S2, with an average root mean squared error (RMSE) of 2.6 °C compared to an average RMSE of 3.8 °C over 10 stations. At nighttime, S1 and S2 demonstrated no significant difference in performance both under clear and cloudy sky conditions. When the two schemes were combined, the proposed all-weather LSTs resulted in an average R2 of 0.82 and 0.74 and with RMSE of 2.5 °C and 1.4 °C for daytime and nighttime, respectively, compared to the in situ data. This paper demonstrates the ability of the two different schemes to produce all-weather dynamic LSTs. The strategy proposed in this study can improve the applicability of LSTs in a variety of research and practical fields, particularly for areas that are very frequently covered with clouds. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing Monitoring of Land Surface Temperature (LST))
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21 pages, 5191 KiB  
Article
Evaluation of Land Surface Temperature Retrieval from Landsat 8/TIRS Images before and after Stray Light Correction Using the SURFRAD Dataset
by Jinxin Guo, Huazhong Ren, Yitong Zheng, Shangzong Lu and Jiaji Dong
Remote Sens. 2020, 12(6), 1023; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/rs12061023 - 22 Mar 2020
Cited by 34 | Viewed by 4623
Abstract
Landsat 8/thermal infrared sensor (TIRS) is suffering from the problem of stray light that makes an inaccurate radiance for two thermal infrared (TIR) bands and the latest correction was conducted in 2017. This paper focused on evaluation of land surface temperature (LST) retrieval [...] Read more.
Landsat 8/thermal infrared sensor (TIRS) is suffering from the problem of stray light that makes an inaccurate radiance for two thermal infrared (TIR) bands and the latest correction was conducted in 2017. This paper focused on evaluation of land surface temperature (LST) retrieval from Landsat 8 before and after the correction using ground-measured LST from five surface radiation budget network (SURFRAD) sites. Results indicated that the correction increased the band radiance at the top of the atmosphere for low temperature but decreased such radiance for high temperature. The root-mean-square error (RMSE) of LST retrieval decreased by 0.27 K for Band 10 and 0.78 K for Band 11 using the single-channel algorithm. For the site with high temperature, the LST retrieval RMSE of the single-channel algorithm for Band 11 even reduced by 1.4 K. However, the accuracy of two of three split-window algorithms adopted in this paper decreased. After correction, the single-channel algorithm for Band 10 and the linear split-window algorithm had the least RMSE (approximately 2.5 K) among five adopted algorithms. Moreover, besides SURFRAD sites, it is necessary to validate using more robust and homogeneous ground-measured datasets to help solely clarify the effect of the correction on LST retrieval. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing Monitoring of Land Surface Temperature (LST))
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15 pages, 3635 KiB  
Article
Towards an Operational, Split Window-Derived Surface Temperature Product for the Thermal Infrared Sensors Onboard Landsat 8 and 9
by Aaron Gerace, Tania Kleynhans, Rehman Eon and Matthew Montanaro
Remote Sens. 2020, 12(2), 224; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/rs12020224 - 09 Jan 2020
Cited by 35 | Viewed by 3888
Abstract
The split window technique has been used for over thirty years to derive surface temperatures of the Earth with image data collected from spaceborne sensors containing two thermal channels. The latest NASA/USGS Landsat satellites contain the Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) instruments that acquire [...] Read more.
The split window technique has been used for over thirty years to derive surface temperatures of the Earth with image data collected from spaceborne sensors containing two thermal channels. The latest NASA/USGS Landsat satellites contain the Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) instruments that acquire Earth data in two longwave infrared bands, as opposed to a single band with earlier Landsats. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) will soon begin releasing a surface temperature product for Landsats 4 through 8 based on the single spectral channel methodology. However, progress is being made toward developing and validating a more accurate and less computationally intensive surface temperature product based on the split window method for Landsat 8 and 9 datasets. This work presents the progress made towards developing an operational split window algorithm for TIRS. Specifically, details of how the generalized split window algorithm was tailored for the TIRS sensors are presented, along with geometric considerations that should be addressed to avoid spatial artifacts in the final surface temperature product. Validation studies indicate that the proposed algorithm is accurate to within 2 K when compared to land-based measurements and to within 1 K when compared to water-based measurements, highlighting the improved accuracy that may be achieved over the current single-channel methodology being used to derive surface temperature in the Landsat Collection 2 surface temperature product. Surface temperature products using the split window methodologies described here can be made available upon request for testing purposes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing Monitoring of Land Surface Temperature (LST))
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17 pages, 5242 KiB  
Article
Quantifying the Congruence between Air and Land Surface Temperatures for Various Climatic and Elevation Zones of Western Himalaya
by Shaktiman Singh, Anshuman Bhardwaj, Atar Singh, Lydia Sam, Mayank Shekhar, F. Javier Martín-Torres and María-Paz Zorzano
Remote Sens. 2019, 11(24), 2889; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/rs11242889 - 04 Dec 2019
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 3809
Abstract
The surface and near-surface air temperature observations are primary data for glacio-hydro-climatological studies. The in situ air temperature (Ta) observations require intense logistic and financial investments, making it sparse and fragmented particularly in remote and extreme environments. The temperatures in [...] Read more.
The surface and near-surface air temperature observations are primary data for glacio-hydro-climatological studies. The in situ air temperature (Ta) observations require intense logistic and financial investments, making it sparse and fragmented particularly in remote and extreme environments. The temperatures in Himalaya are controlled by a complex system driven by topography, seasons, and cryosphere which further makes it difficult to record or predict its spatial heterogeneity. In this regard, finding a way to fill the observational spatiotemporal gaps in data becomes more crucial. Here, we show the comparison of Ta recorded at 11 high altitude stations in Western Himalaya with their respective land surface temperatures (Ts) recorded by Moderate Resolution Imagining Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Aqua and Terra satellites in cloud-free conditions. We found remarkable seasonal and spatial trends in the Ta vs. Ts relationship: (i) Ts are strongly correlated with Ta (R2 = 0.77, root mean square difference (RMSD) = 5.9 °C, n = 11,101 at daily scale and R2 = 0.80, RMSD = 5.7 °C, n = 3552 at 8-day scale); (ii) in general, the RMSD is lower for the winter months in comparison to summer months for all the stations, (iii) the RMSD is directly proportional to the elevations; (iv) the RMSD is inversely proportional to the annual precipitation. Our results demonstrate the statistically strong and previously unreported Ta vs. Ts relationship and spatial and seasonal variations in its intensity at daily resolution for the Western Himalaya. We anticipate that our results will provide the scientists in Himalaya or similar data-deficient extreme environments with an option to use freely available remotely observed Ts products in their models to fill-up the spatiotemporal data gaps related to in situ monitoring at daily resolution. Substituting Ta by Ts as input in various geophysical models can even improve the model accuracy as using spatially continuous satellite derived Ts in place of discrete in situ Ta extrapolated to different elevations using a constant lapse rate can provide more realistic estimates. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing Monitoring of Land Surface Temperature (LST))
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23 pages, 13737 KiB  
Article
Reconstructing One Kilometre Resolution Daily Clear-Sky LST for China’s Landmass Using the BME Method
by Yunfei Zhang, Yunhao Chen, Yang Li, Haiping Xia and Jing Li
Remote Sens. 2019, 11(22), 2610; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/rs11222610 - 07 Nov 2019
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2456
Abstract
The land surface temperature (LST) is a key parameter used to characterize the interaction between land and the atmosphere. Therefore, obtaining highly accurate, spatially consistent and temporally continuous LSTs in large areas is the basis of many studies. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer [...] Read more.
The land surface temperature (LST) is a key parameter used to characterize the interaction between land and the atmosphere. Therefore, obtaining highly accurate, spatially consistent and temporally continuous LSTs in large areas is the basis of many studies. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) LST product is commonly used to achieve this. However, it has many missing values caused by clouds and other factors. The current gap-filling methods need to be improved when applied to large areas. In this study, we used the Bayesian maximum entropy (BME) method, which considers spatial and temporal correlation, and takes multiple regression results of the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Digital Elevation Model (DEM), longitude and latitude as soft data to reconstruct space-complete daily clear-sky LSTs with a 1 km resolution for China’s landmass in 2015. The average Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) of this method was 1.6 K for the daytime and 1.2 K for the nighttime when we simultaneously covered more than 10,000 verification points, including blocks that were continuous in space, and the average RMSE of a single discrete verification point for 365 days was 0.4 K for the daytime and 0.3 K for the nighttime when we covered four discrete points. Urban and snow land cover types have a higher accuracy than forests and grasslands, and the accuracy is higher in winter than in summer. The high accuracy and great ability of this method to capture extreme values in urban areas can help improve urban heat island research. This method can also be extended to other study areas, other time periods, and the estimation of other geographical attribute values. How to effectively convert clear-sky LST into real LST requires further research. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing Monitoring of Land Surface Temperature (LST))
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18 pages, 3838 KiB  
Article
Evaluating the Variability of Urban Land Surface Temperatures Using Drone Observations
by Joseph Naughton and Walter McDonald
Remote Sens. 2019, 11(14), 1722; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/rs11141722 - 20 Jul 2019
Cited by 50 | Viewed by 6548
Abstract
Urbanization and climate change are driving increases in urban land surface temperatures that pose a threat to human and environmental health. To address this challenge, we must be able to observe land surface temperatures within spatially complex urban environments. However, many existing remote [...] Read more.
Urbanization and climate change are driving increases in urban land surface temperatures that pose a threat to human and environmental health. To address this challenge, we must be able to observe land surface temperatures within spatially complex urban environments. However, many existing remote sensing studies are based upon satellite or aerial imagery that capture temperature at coarse resolutions that fail to capture the spatial complexities of urban land surfaces that can change at a sub-meter resolution. This study seeks to fill this gap by evaluating the spatial variability of land surface temperatures through drone thermal imagery captured at high-resolutions (13 cm). In this study, flights were conducted using a quadcopter drone and thermal camera at two case study locations in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and El Paso, Texas. Results indicate that land use types exhibit significant variability in their surface temperatures (3.9–15.8 °C) and that this variability is influenced by surface material properties, traffic, weather and urban geometry. Air temperature and solar radiation were statistically significant predictors of land surface temperature (R2 0.37–0.84) but the predictive power of the models was lower for land use types that were heavily impacted by pedestrian or vehicular traffic. The findings from this study ultimately elucidate factors that contribute to land surface temperature variability in the urban environment, which can be applied to develop better temperature mitigation practices to protect human and environmental health. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing Monitoring of Land Surface Temperature (LST))
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23 pages, 7691 KiB  
Article
Towards a Unified and Coherent Land Surface Temperature Earth System Data Record from Geostationary Satellites
by Rachel T. Pinker, Yingtao Ma, Wen Chen, Glynn Hulley, Eva Borbas, Tanvir Islam, Chris Hain, Kerry Cawse-Nicholson, Simon Hook and Jeff Basara
Remote Sens. 2019, 11(12), 1399; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/rs11121399 - 12 Jun 2019
Cited by 17 | Viewed by 3463
Abstract
Our objective is to develop a framework for deriving long term, consistent Land Surface Temperatures (LSTs) from Geostationary (GEO) satellites that is able to account for satellite sensor updates. Specifically, we use the Radiative Transfer for TOVS (RTTOV) model driven with Modern-Era Retrospective [...] Read more.
Our objective is to develop a framework for deriving long term, consistent Land Surface Temperatures (LSTs) from Geostationary (GEO) satellites that is able to account for satellite sensor updates. Specifically, we use the Radiative Transfer for TOVS (RTTOV) model driven with Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA-2) information and Combined ASTER and MODIS Emissivity over Land (CAMEL) products. We discuss the results from our comparison of the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite East (GOES-E) with the MODIS Land Surface Temperature and Emissivity (MOD11) products, as well as several independent sources of ground observations, for daytime and nighttime independently. Based on a six-year record at instantaneous time scale (2004–2009), most LST estimates are within one std from the mean observed value and the bias is under 1% of the mean. It was also shown that at several ground sites, the diurnal cycle of LST, as averaged over six years, is consistent with a similar record generated from satellite observations. Since the evaluation of the GOES-E LST estimates occurred at every hour, day and night, the data are well suited to address outstanding issues related to the temporal variability of LST, specifically, the diurnal cycle and the amplitude of the diurnal cycle, which are not well represented in LST retrievals form Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing Monitoring of Land Surface Temperature (LST))
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