An Algorithm for Retrieving Land Surface Temperatures Using VIIRS Data in Combination with Multi-Sensors

Sensors

Lang Xia³  Kebiao Mao³  Ying Ma³  Fen Zhao³  Lipeng Jiang²  Xinyi Shen¹ 

[1] Hydrometeorology and Remote Sensing Laboratory, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK 73072, USA; E-Mail:;National Meteorological Information Center, China Meteorological Administration, Beijing 100081, China; E-Mail:;National Hulunber Grassland Ecosystem Observation and Research Station, Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China; E-Mails:

关键词: land surface temperature;    retrieval;    MODIS;    VIIRS;   

DOI  :  10.3390/s141121385

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

A practical algorithm was proposed to retrieve land surface temperature (LST) from Visible Infrared Imager Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) data in mid-latitude regions. The key parameter transmittance is generally computed from water vapor content, while water vapor channel is absent in VIIRS data. In order to overcome this shortcoming, the water vapor content was obtained from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data in this study. The analyses on the estimation errors of vapor content and emissivity indicate that when the water vapor errors are within the range of ±0.5 g/cm², the mean retrieval error of the present algorithm is 0.634 K; while the land surface emissivity errors range from −0.005 to +0.005, the mean retrieval error is less than 1.0 K. Validation with the standard atmospheric simulation shows the average LST retrieval error for the twenty-three land types is 0.734 K, with a standard deviation value of 0.575 K. The comparison between the ground station LST data indicates the retrieval mean accuracy is −0.395 K, and the standard deviation value is 1.490 K in the regions with vegetation and water cover. Besides, the retrieval results of the test data have also been compared with the results measured by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) VIIRS LST products, and the results indicate that 82.63% of the difference values are within the range of −1 to 1 K, and 17.37% of the difference values are within the range of ±2 to ±1 K. In a conclusion, with the advantages of multi-sensors taken fully exploited, more accurate results can be achieved in the retrieval of land surface temperature.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2014 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.