Estimating Surface Soil Heat Flux in Permafrost Regions Using Remote Sensing-Based Models on the Northern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau under Clear-Sky Conditions

The ground surface soil heat flux (G0) quantifies the energy transfer between the atmosphere and the ground through the land surface. However; it is difficult to obtain the spatial distribution of G0 in permafrost regions because of the limitation of in situ observation and complication of ground surface conditions. This study aims at developing an improved G0 parameterization scheme applicable to permafrost regions of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau under clear-sky conditions. We validated several existing remote sensing-based models to estimate G0 by analyzing in situ measurement data. Based on the validation of previous models on G0; we added the solar time angle to the G0 parameterization scheme; which considered the phase difference problem. The maximum values of RMSE and MAE between “measured G0” and simulated G0 using the improved parameterization scheme and in situ data were calculated to be 6.102 W/m2 and 5.382 W/m2; respectively. When the error of the remotely sensed land surface temperature is less than 1 K and the surface albedo measured is less than 0.02; the accuracy of estimates based on remote sensing data for G0 will be less than 5%. MODIS data (surface reflectance; land surface temperature; and emissivity) were used to calculate G0 in a 10 x 10 km region around Tanggula site; which is located in the continuous permafrost region with long-term records of meteorological and permafrost parameters. The results obtained by the improved scheme and MODIS data were consistent with the observation. This study enhances our understanding of the impacts of climate change on the ground thermal regime of permafrost and the land surface processes between atmosphere and ground surface in cold regions.

[1]  Wim G.M. Bastiaanssen,et al.  The scaling-up of processes in the heterogeneous landscape of HEIFE with the aid of satellite remote sensing , 1995 .

[2]  Jin Hui,et al.  Impacts of Climatic Change on Permafrost and Cold Regions Environments in China , 2000 .

[3]  MA Wei-qiang.  The Contrast Between the Radiation Budget Plus Seasonal Variation and Remote Sensing Over the Northern TibetanPlateau , 2005 .

[4]  Lei Wang,et al.  Development of a land surface model with coupled snow and frozen soil physics , 2017 .

[5]  Alfredo Huete,et al.  Soil and Sun angle interactions on partial canopy spectra , 1987 .

[6]  Zuo Jin-qing.  Estimation of Ground Heat Flux for a Semi-Arid Grassland and Its Impact on the Surface Energy Budget , 2010 .

[7]  Binbin Wang,et al.  Recent trends (2003–2013) of land surface heat fluxes on the southern side of the central Himalayas, Nepal , 2015 .

[8]  A. Huete,et al.  A Modified Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index , 1994 .

[9]  Massimo Menenti,et al.  Remote sensing parameterization of land surface heat fluxes over arid and semi-arid areas , 2003 .

[10]  Wim G.M. Bastiaanssen,et al.  Mapping of groundwater losses by evaporation in the Western Desert of Egypt , 1991 .

[11]  X. Lee,et al.  Overview of ChinaFLUX and evaluation of its eddy covariance measurement , 2006 .

[12]  Yves Brunet,et al.  A long-term study of soil heat flux under a forest canopy , 2001 .

[13]  Julia Boike,et al.  Satellite-based modeling of permafrost temperatures in a tundra lowland landscape , 2013 .

[14]  최민하,et al.  실제 증발산 산정에 관한 The Surface Energy Balance System (SEBS) 모형 알고리즘 연구 , 2012 .

[15]  Wang Shaoling.  STUDY OF PERMAFROST DEGRADATION IN THE QINGHAI XIZANG PLATEAU , 1997 .

[16]  J. Hogg.  Quantitative remote sensing of land surfaces , 2004 .

[17]  Paul D. Colaizzi,et al.  Two-source energy balance model estimates of evapotranspiration using component and composite surface temperatures☆ , 2012 .

[18]  Ray D. Jackson,et al.  Evaluating evaporation from field crops using airborne radiometry and ground-based meteorological data , 1987, Irrigation Science.

[19]  Li Shu,et al.  Impact of Soil Freezing and Thawing Process on Thermal Exchange between Atmosphere and Ground Surface , 2002 .

[20]  R. Jackson,et al.  Spectral response of a plant canopy with different soil backgrounds , 1985 .

[21]  W. Massman.  PERIODIC TEMPERATURE VARIATIONS IN AN INHOMOGENEOUS SOIL: A COMPARISON OF APPROXIMATE AND EXACT ANALYTICAL EXPRESSIONS , 1993 .

[22]  Thomas Foken,et al.  Sensitivity analysis for two ground heat flux calculation approaches , 2005 .

[23]  Albert A. M. Holtslag,et al.  A Simple Parameterization of the Surface Fluxes of Sensible and Latent Heat During Daytime Compared with the Penman-Monteith Concept. , 1982 .

[24]  Yao Jimin.  Seasonal Variation Characteristics of Surface Energy Budget Components in Permafrost Regions of Northern Tibetan Plateau , 2011 .

[25]  W. Bastiaanssen.  Regionalization of surface flux densities and moisture indicators in composite terrain. A remote sensing approach under clear skies in Mediterranean climates. , 1995 .

[26]  S. Idso,et al.  Analysis of an empirical model for soil heat flux under a growing wheat crop for estimating evaporation by an infrared-temperature based energy balance equation , 1987 .

[27]  Chad J. Shuey,et al.  Narrowband to broadband conversions of land surface albedo: II , 2003 .

[28]  Toshio Koike,et al.  Regionalization of Surface Fluxes over Heterogeneous Landscape of the Tibetan Plateau by Using Satellite Remote Sensing Data , 2003 .

[29]  Mingguo Ma,et al.  Evaluation of MODIS LST Products Using Longwave Radiation Ground Measurements in the Northern Arid Region of China , 2014, Remote. Sens..

[30]  Ye Jing.  Comparison of Adaptability of Remote Sensing Models for Soil Heat Flux Estimation over Semiarid Area , 2012 .

[31]  P. Sellers.  Canopy reflectance, photosynthesis and transpiration , 1985 .

[32]  Marcel Fuchs,et al.  The heat flux density in a non-homogeneous bare loessial soil , 1972 .

[33]  Keith L. Bristow,et al.  Soil surface heat flux: some general questions and comments on measurements , 1995 .

[34]  Philip N. Slater,et al.  Mapping surface energy balance components by combining landsat thematic mapper and ground-based meteorological data , 1989 .

[35]  Z. Su.  The Surface Energy Balance System (SEBS) for estimation of turbulent heat fluxes , 2002 .

[36]  Ray D. Jackson,et al.  Evapotranspiration calculated from remote multispectral and ground station meteorological data , 1985 .

[37]  Ding Yongjian,et al.  RECENT DEGRADATION OF PERMAFROST IN CHINA AND THE RESPONSE TO CLIMATIC WARMING , 1998 .

[38]  Zhao-Liang Li,et al.  A physics-based algorithm for retrieving land-surface emissivity and temperature from EOS/MODIS data , 1997, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[39]  Jiang Hao,et al.  Study of Calculation of Soil Heat Conduction: Progress and Prospect , 2004 .

[40]  Ray D. Jackson,et al.  Net radiation — soil heat flux relations as influenced by soil water content variations , 1975 .

[41]  Liu Yue.  Urban Surface Heat Flux Inversion Based on Infrared Remote Sensing and the Relationship with Land Cover , 2012 .

[42]  Merril Eisenbud,et al.  Principles of Environmental Physics.John L. Monteith , 1975 .

[43]  E. Hauber,et al.  A 20-year record (1998–2017) of permafrost, active layer and meteorological conditions at a high Arctic permafrost research site (Bayelva, Spitsbergen) , 2018 .

[44]  Li Zhang,et al.  Uncertainty analysis of modeled carbon fluxes for a broad-leaved Korean pine mixed forest using a process-based ecosystem model , 2012, Journal of Forest Research.

[45]  M. Friedl,et al.  Diurnal Covariation in Soil Heat Flux and Net Radiation , 2003 .

[46]  S. Liang.  Narrowband to broadband conversions of land surface albedo I Algorithms , 2001 .

[47]  Kenji Tanaka,et al.  Surface Energy Budget at Amdo on the Tibetan Plateau using GAME/Tibet IOP98 Data. , 2001 .

[48]  Liu Shaomin,et al.  The Observation and Calculation Method of Soil Heat Flux and Its Impact on the Energy Balance Closure , 2013 .

[49]  D. Deering.  Rangeland reflectance characteristics measured by aircraft and spacecraft sensors , 1979 .

[50]  Osamu Tsukamoto,et al.  Determination of regional land surface heat flux densities over heterogeneous landscape of HEIFE integrating satellite remote sensing with field observations. , 2002 .

[51]  Zhang Kai.  Contrast of Ground Surface Radiation-Energy Balance in Summer and Winter on Dunhuang Gobi , 2009 .