Estimation of surface air temperature over central and eastern Eurasia from MODIS land surface temperature

Surface air temperature (Ta) is a critical variable in the energy and water cycle of the Earth–atmosphere system and is a key input element for hydrology and land surface models. This is a preliminary study to evaluate estimation of Ta from satellite remotely sensed land surface temperature (Ts) by using MODIS-Terra data over two Eurasia regions: northern China and fUSSR. High correlations are observed in both regions between station-measured Ta and MODIS Ts. The relationships between the maximum Ta and daytime Ts depend significantly on land cover types, but the minimum Ta and nighttime Ts have little dependence on the land cover types. The largest difference between maximum Ta and daytime Ts appears over the barren and sparsely vegetated area during the summer time. Using a linear regression method, the daily maximum Ta were estimated from 1 km resolution MODIS Ts under clear-sky conditions with coefficients calculated based on land cover types, while the minimum Ta were estimated without considering land cover types. The uncertainty, mean absolute error (MAE), of the estimated maximum Ta varies from 2.4 °C over closed shrublands to 3.2 °C over grasslands, and the MAE of the estimated minimum Ta is about 3.0 °C.