Comparison of the MuSyQ and MODIS Collection 6 Land Surface Temperature Products Over Barren Surfaces in the Heihe River Basin, China

In this study, to improve the accuracy of land surface temperature (LST) products over barren surfaces, we present an operational algorithm to retrieve the LST from Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) thermal infrared data using physically retrieved emissivity products. The LST algorithm involved two steps. First, the emissivity in the two MODIS split-window (SW) channels was estimated using the vegetation cover method, with the bare soil component emissivity derived from the ASTER global emissivity data set. Then, the LST was retrieved using a modified generalized SW algorithm. This algorithm was implemented in the MUlti-source data SYnergized Quantitative (MuSyQ) remote sensing product system. The MuSyQ MODIS LST product and the Collection 6 MODIS LST product (MxD11_L2) were compared and validated using ground measurements collected from four barren surface sites in Northwest China during the Heihe Watershed Allied Telemetry Experimental Research (HiWATER) experiment from June 2012 to December 2015. In total, 2268 and 2715 clear-sky samples were used in the validation for Terra and Aqua, respectively. The evaluation results indicate that the MuSyQ LST products provide better accuracy than the C6 MxD11 product during both daytime and nighttime at all four sites. For the daytime results, the LST is underestimated by the C6 MxD11 products at all four sites, with a mean bias of −1.78 and −2.86 K and a mean root-mean-square error (RMSE) of 3.16 and 3.94 K for Terra and Aqua, respectively, whereas the mean biases of the MuSyQ LST products are within 1 K, with a mean bias of −0.26 and −1.03 K and a mean RMSE of 2.45 and 2.71 K for Terra and Aqua, respectively. For the nighttime results, the LST is also underestimated by the C6 MxD11 products at all four sites, with a mean bias of −1.60 and −1.26 K and a mean RMSE of 1.93 and 1.60 K for Terra and Aqua, respectively, whereas the mean biases of the MuSyQ LST products are 0.16 and 0.58 K and the mean RMSEs are 1.12 and 1.25 K for Terra and Aqua, respectively. The results indicate that the underestimation of the C6 MxD11 LST product at all four sites mainly results from the overestimation of the emissivities in MODIS bands 31 and 32. This study demonstrates that physically retrieved emissivity products are a useful source for LST retrieval over barren surfaces and can be used to improve the accuracy of global LST products.