A radiance‐based method for estimating uncertainties in the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) land surface temperature product

[1] Land Surface Temperature (LST) has been identified by NASA and other international organizations as an important Earth System Data Record (ESDR). An ESDR is defined as a long-term, well calibrated and validated data set. Identifying uncertainties in LST products with coarse spatial resolutions (>10 km) such as those from hyperspectral infrared sounders is notoriously difficult due to the challenges of making reliable in situ measurements representative of the spatial scales of the output products. In this study we utilize a Radiance-based (R-based) LST method for estimating uncertainties in the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) v5 LST product. The R-based method provides estimates of the true LST using a radiative closure simulation without the need for in situ measurements, and requires input air temperature, relative humidity profiles and emissivity data. The R-based method was employed at three validation sites over the Namib Desert, Gran Desierto, and Redwood National Park for all AIRS observations from 2002 to 2010. Results showed daytime LST root-mean square errors (RMSE) of 2–3 K at the Namib and Desierto sites, and 1.5 K at the Redwood site. Nighttime LST RMSEs at the two desert sites were a factor of two less when compared to daytime results. Positive daytime LST biases were found at each site due to an underestimation of the daytime AIRS v5 longwave spectral emissivity, while the reverse occurred at nighttime. In the AIRS v6 product (release 2012), LST biases and RMSEs will be reduced significantly due to improved methodologies for the surface retrieval and emissivity first guess.

[1]  Larrabee L. Strow,et al.  Prelaunch spectral calibration of the atmospheric infrared sounder (AIRS) , 2003, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[2]  S. Hook,et al.  The ASTER spectral library version 2.0 , 2009 .

[3]  G. Carbone,et al.  Monitoring agricultural drought for arid and humid regions using multi-sensor remote sensing data , 2010 .

[4]  V. Caselles,et al.  Influence of soil water content on the thermal infrared emissivity of bare soils: Implication for land surface temperature determination , 2007 .

[5]  P. Christensen,et al.  Quantitative thermal emission spectroscopy of minerals: A laboratory technique for measurement and calibration , 1997 .

[6]  Simon J. Hook,et al.  Absolute Radiometric In-Flight Validation of Mid Infrared and Thermal Infrared Data From ASTER and MODIS on the Terra Spacecraft Using the Lake Tahoe, CA/NV, USA, Automated Validation Site , 2007, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

[7]  Simon J. Hook,et al.  Investigating the effects of soil moisture on thermal infrared land surface temperature and emissivity using satellite retrievals and laboratory measurements , 2010 .

[8]  Simon J. Hook,et al.  Validation of the North American ASTER Land Surface Emissivity Database (NAALSED) version 2.0 using pseudo-invariant sand dune sites , 2009 .

[9]  Joan M. Galve,et al.  Temperature‐based and radiance‐based validations of the V5 MODIS land surface temperature product , 2009 .

[10]  N. Lancaster.  Relations between dune generations in the Gran Desierto of Mexico , 1992 .

[11]  Kenta Ogawa,et al.  A sensitivity study of climate and energy balance simulations with use of satellite‐derived emissivity data over Northern Africa and the Arabian Peninsula , 2003 .

[12]  W. C. Snyder,et al.  Classification-based emissivity for land surface temperature measurement from space , 1998 .

[13]  Z. Wan.  New refinements and validation of the MODIS Land-Surface Temperature/Emissivity products , 2008 .

[14]  J. Norman,et al.  Terminology in thermal infrared remote sensing of natural surfaces , 1995 .

[15]  Michael A. Palecki,et al.  Land Surface Temperature product validation using NOAA's surface climate observation networks—Scaling methodology for the Visible Infrared Imager Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) , 2012 .

[16]  N. Lancaster,et al.  Development of the Gran Desierto sand sea, northwestern Mexico , 1990 .

[17]  G. Hulley,et al.  The North American ASTER Land Surface Emissivity Database (NAALSED) Version 2.0 , 2009 .

[18]  J. Susskind,et al.  On the Effect of Surface Emissivity on Temperature Retrievals , 1977 .

[19]  Joan M. Galve,et al.  Ground measurements for the validation of land surface temperatures derived from AATSR and MODIS data , 2005 .

[20]  Z. Wan,et al.  Quality assessment and validation of the MODIS global land surface temperature , 2004 .

[21]  Catherine Ottlé,et al.  Contribution of Thermal Infrared Remote Sensing Data in Multiobjective Calibration of a Dual-Source SVAT Model , 2006 .

[22]  Martha C. Anderson,et al.  Mapping daily evapotranspiration at field to continental scales using geostationary and polar orbiting satellite imagery , 2010 .

[23]  Lihang Zhou,et al.  Regression of Surface Spectral Emissivity From Hyperspectral Instruments , 2008, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

[24]  Eva Borbas,et al.  Development of a Global Infrared Land Surface Emissivity Database for Application to Clear Sky Sounding Retrievals from Multispectral Satellite Radiance Measurements , 2008 .

[25]  Stephen P. Scheidt,et al.  Eolian dynamics and sediment mixing in the Gran Desierto, Mexico, determined from thermal infrared spectroscopy and remote-sensing data , 2011 .

[26]  A. Hsu,et al.  Detecting land cover change at the Jornada Experimental Range, New Mexico with ASTER emissivities , 2008 .

[27]  J. Salisbury,et al.  Thermal-infrared remote sensing and Kirchhoff's law: 2. Field measurements , 1999 .

[28]  Kevin White,et al.  Spectral properties, iron oxide content and provenance of Namib dune sands , 2007 .

[29]  Jun Li,et al.  Surface Emissivity Impact on Temperature and Moisture Soundings from Hyperspectral Infrared Radiance Measurements , 2011 .

[30]  Martha C. Anderson,et al.  Evaluation of Drought Indices Based on Thermal Remote Sensing of Evapotranspiration over the Continental United States , 2011 .

[31]  L. Larrabee Strow,et al.  Validation of the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder radiative transfer algorithm , 2006 .

[32]  Larrabee L. Strow,et al.  An overview of the AIRS radiative transfer model , 2003, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[33]  Christopher D. Barnet,et al.  Retrieval of atmospheric and surface parameters from AIRS/AMSU/HSB data in the presence of clouds , 2003, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[34]  Zhao-Liang Li,et al.  Radiance‐based validation of the V5 MODIS land‐surface temperature product , 2008 .

[35]  Joel Susskind,et al.  Improved surface parameter retrievals using AIRS/AMSU data , 2008, SPIE Defense + Commercial Sensing.

[36]  Simon J. Hook,et al.  Validation of the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) version 5 land surface emissivity product over the Namib and Kalahari deserts , 2009 .