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Remote Sensing for Land Surface Temperature (LST) Estimation, Generation, and Analysis

A special issue of Remote Sensing (ISSN 2072-4292).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2018) | Viewed by 134496

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Zhao-Liang Li

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Key Laboratory of Agri-Informatics, Ministry of Agriculture/Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China
Interests: thermal infrared remote sensing; land surface temperature; land surface emissivity; evapotranspiration; scaling problem; hyperspectral analysis; radiative transfer modelling
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Bo-Hui Tang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. Faculty of Land Resource Engineering, Kunming University of Science and Technology (KUST), Kunming 650093, China
2. State Key Laboratory of Resources and Environment Information System, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Interests: retrieval and validation of land surface temperature/emissivity; retrieval and validation of net surface radiation; radiative transfer modeling; quantitative estimation of land surface variables from middle infrared data; hyperspectral thermal infrared data analysis
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

As the direct driving force in the exchange of long-wave radiation and turbulent heat fluxes at the surface–atmosphere interface, land surface temperature (LST) is one of the most important parameters in the physical processes of surface energy and water balance at local to global scales. Knowledge of reliable estimates of LST is crucial because many applications such as evapotranspiration, climate change, hydrological cycle, vegetation monitoring, urban climate and environmental studies, etc., rely on it.

With the development of remote sensing from space, satellite data offer the only possibility for measuring LST over the entire globe with sufficiently high temporal resolution and with complete spatially averaged rather than ground point-based values. Consequently, many efforts have been carried out to estimate LST from satellite thermal infrared (TIR) data. Up to now, many methods have been developed for retrieving LST from polar-orbit and geostationary satellite TIR data, and several methods are used to generate global LST products with fine spatial resolution, such as MODIS and ASTER LST products. However, there is still no “best method” for retrieving LST from space. All of the methods either rely on statistical relationships or assumptions and constraints to solve the inherent, ill-posed retrieval problem. Currently, TIR remote sensing measurements have been greatly improved in terms of spectral, spatial, and temporal resolution. These improvements will soon produce a clearer picture of the land surface than ever before. This is a good opportunity and also a big challenge to solve the inherent, ill-posed problem of retrieving LST from satellite data.

On the other hand, TIR data lose efficiency when the land surface is fully or partly covered by clouds. The passive microwave can observe the Earth’s surface under all-weather conditions but with a coarser spatial resolution. Its measurements are proposed to retrieve LST over cloudy skies and an effective model of combining LSTs retrieved from TIR and passive microwave satellite data is attempted to generate an all-weather high spatial LST product. This Special Issue plans to demonstrate the state-of-the-art reflecting the retrieval of LST from space measurements and the growing interest in generation and analyses of this parameter.

Related References

  1. Becker, F.; Li, Z.L. Temperature-independent spectral indices in thermal infrared bands. Remote Sens. Environ. 1990a, 32, 17–33.

  2. Becker, F.; Li, Z.L. Towards a local split window method over land surfaces. J. Remote Sens. 1990b, 11, 369–393.

  3. Wan, Z.; Dozier, J. A generalized split-window algorithm for retrieving land-surface temperature from space. IEEE Trans. Remote Sens. 1996, 34, 892–905.

  4. Wan, Z.; Li, L. A physics-based algorithm for retrieving land-surface emissivity and temperature from EOS/MODIS data. IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens. 1997, 35, 980–996.

  5. Gillespie, A.R.; Rokugawa, S.; Matsunaga, T.; Cothern, J.S.; Hook, S; Kahle, A.B. A temperature and emissivity separation algorithm for Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) images. IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens. 1998, 36, 1113–1126.

  6. Sobrino, J.A.; Sòria, G.; Prata, A.J. Surface temperature retrieval from along track scanning radiometer 2 data: Algorithms and validation. Geophys. Res. 2004, 109, D11101.

  7. Wan, Z.; Li, L. Radiance-based validation of the V5 MODIS land-surface temperature product. Int. J. Remote Sens. 2008, 29, 5373–5395.

  8. Tang, H.; Bi, Y.; Li, Z.L.*; Xia, J. Generalized split-window algorithm for estimate of land surface temperature from Chinese geostationary FengYun meteorological satellite (Fy-2C) data. Sensors 2008, 8, 933–951. doi:10.3390/s8020933.

  9. Hulley, G.C.; Hook, S.J. Generating consistent land surface temperature and emissivity products between ASTER and MODIS data for Earth science research. IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens. 2011, 49, 1304–1315.

  10. Li, Z.L.*; Tang, H.; Wu, H.; Ren, H.; Yan, G.J.; Wan, Z.; Trigo, I.F.; Sobrino, J. Satellite-derived land surface temperature: Current status and perspectives. Remote Sens. Environ. 2013, 131, 14–37. doi:10.1016/j.rse.2012.12.008.

  11. Li, Z.L.*; Wu, H.; Wang, N.; Shi, Q.; Sobrino, J.A.; Wan, Z.; Tang, H.; Yan, G.J. Land surface emissivity retrieval from satellite data. Int. J. Remote Sens. 2013, 34, 3084–3127. doi:10.1080/01431161.2012.716540.

  12. Tang, H.; Li, L. Quantitative remote sensing in thermal infrared: Theory and applications. Springer Remote Sens./Photogramm. 2014, doi:10.1007/978-3-642-42027-6.

  13. Tang, H.; Shao, K.; Li, Z.L.*; Wu, H.; Nerry, F.; Zhou, G. Estimation and validation of land surface temperature from Chinese second generation polar-orbiting FY-3A VIRR data. Remote Sens. 2015, 7, 3250–3273, doi:10.3390/rs70303250.

  14. Tang, H.; Shao, K.; Li, Z.L.*; Wu, H.; Tang, R. An improved NDVI-based threshold method for estimating land surface emissivity using MODIS satellite data. Int. J. Remote Sens. 2015, 36, 4864–4878. doi:10.1080/01431161.2015.1040132.

  15. Tang, B.H.*; Wang, J. A physics-based method to retrieve land surface temperature from MODIS daytime mid-infrared data. IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens. 2016, 54, 4672–4679. doi:10.1109/TGRS.2016.2548500.

Dr. Zhao-Liang Li
Dr. Bo-Hui Tang
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • Land surface temperature

  • Land surface emissivity

  • Thermal infrared data

  • Passive microwave data

  • LST product generation

  • LST validation

  • LST analysis

  • Atmospheric corrections

  • Temperature and emissivity separation

  • Scaling

Published Papers (18 papers)

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21 pages, 13289 KiB  
Article
An Effective Similar-Pixel Reconstruction of the High-Frequency Cloud-Covered Areas of Southwest China
by Wenping Yu, Junlei Tan, Mingguo Ma, Xiaolu Li, Xiaojun She and Zengjing Song
Remote Sens. 2019, 11(3), 336; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs11030336 - 08 Feb 2019
Cited by 31 | Viewed by 3496
Abstract
With advantages of multispatial resolutions, a high retrieval accuracy, and a high temporal resolution, the satellite-derived land surface temperature (LST) products are very important LST sources. However, the greatest barrier to their wide application is the invalid values produced by large quantities of [...] Read more.
With advantages of multispatial resolutions, a high retrieval accuracy, and a high temporal resolution, the satellite-derived land surface temperature (LST) products are very important LST sources. However, the greatest barrier to their wide application is the invalid values produced by large quantities of cloudy pixels, especially for regions frequently swathed in clouds. In this study, an effective method based on the land energy balance theory and similar pixels (SP) method was developed to reconstruct the LSTs over cloudy pixels for the widely used MODIS LST (MOD11A1). The southwest region of China was selected as the study area, where extreme drought has frequently occurred in recent years in the context of global climate change and which commonly exhibits cloudy and foggy weather. The validation results compared with in situ LSTs showed that the reconstructed LSTs have an average error < 1.00 K (0.57 K at night and −0.14 K during the day) and an RMSE < 3.20 K (1.90 K at night and 3.16 K in the daytime). The experiment testing the SP interpolation indicated that the spatial structure of the LST has a greater effect on the SP performance than the size of the data-missing area, which benefits the LST reconstruction in the area frequently covered by large clouds. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing for Land Surface Temperature (LST) Estimation, Generation, and Analysis)
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18 pages, 10500 KiB  
Article
Reconstructing Geostationary Satellite Land Surface Temperature Imagery Based on a Multiscale Feature Connected Convolutional Neural Network
by Penghai Wu, Zhixiang Yin, Hui Yang, Yanlan Wu and Xiaoshuang Ma
Remote Sens. 2019, 11(3), 300; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs11030300 - 01 Feb 2019
Cited by 71 | Viewed by 6319
Abstract
Geostationary satellite land surface temperature (GLST) data are important for various dynamic environmental and natural resource applications for terrestrial ecosystems. Due to clouds, shadows, and other atmospheric conditions, the derived LSTs are often missing a large number of values. Reconstructing the missing values [...] Read more.
Geostationary satellite land surface temperature (GLST) data are important for various dynamic environmental and natural resource applications for terrestrial ecosystems. Due to clouds, shadows, and other atmospheric conditions, the derived LSTs are often missing a large number of values. Reconstructing the missing values is essential for improving the usability of the geostationary satellite LST data. However, current reconstruction methods mainly aim to fill the values of a small number of invalid pixels with many valid pixels, which can provide useful land surface temperature values. When the missing data extent becomes large, the reconstruction effect will worsen because the relationship between different spatiotemporal geostationary satellite LSTs is complex and highly nonlinear. Inspired by the superiority of the deep convolutional neural network (CNN) in solving highly nonlinear and dynamic problems, a multiscale feature connection CNN model is proposed to fill missing LSTs with large missing regions. The proposed method has been tested on both FengYun-2G and Meteosat Second Generation-Spinning Enhanced Visible and InfraRed Imager geostationary satellite LST datasets. The results of simulated and actual experiments show that the proposed method is accurate to within about 1 °C, with 70% missing data rates. This is feasible and effective for large regions of LST reconstruction tasks. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing for Land Surface Temperature (LST) Estimation, Generation, and Analysis)
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20 pages, 9497 KiB  
Article
Spatial Patterns of Land Surface Temperature and Their Influencing Factors: A Case Study in Suzhou, China
by Yongjiu Feng, Chen Gao, Xiaohua Tong, Shurui Chen, Zhenkun Lei and Jiafeng Wang
Remote Sens. 2019, 11(2), 182; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs11020182 - 18 Jan 2019
Cited by 51 | Viewed by 6716
Abstract
Land surface temperature (LST) is a fundamental Earth parameter, on both regional and global scales. We used seven Landsat images to derive LST at Suzhou City, in spring and summer 1996, 2004, and 2016, and examined the spatial factors that influence the LST [...] Read more.
Land surface temperature (LST) is a fundamental Earth parameter, on both regional and global scales. We used seven Landsat images to derive LST at Suzhou City, in spring and summer 1996, 2004, and 2016, and examined the spatial factors that influence the LST patterns. Candidate spatial factors include (1) land coverage indices, such as the normalized difference built-up index (NDBI), the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), and the normalized difference water index (NDWI), (2) proximity factors such as the distances to the city center, town centers, and major roads, and (3) the LST location. Our results showed that the intensity of the surface urban heat island (SUHI) has continuously increased, over time, and the spatial distribution of SUHI was different between the two seasons. The SUHIs in Suzhou were mainly distributed in the city center, in 1996, but expanded to near suburban, in 2004 and 2016, with a substantial expansion at the highest level of SUHIs. Our buffer-zone-based gradient analysis showed that the LST decays logarithmically, or decreases linearly, with the distance to the Suzhou city center. As inferred by the generalized additive models (GAMs), strong relationships exist between the LST and the candidate factors, where the dominant factor was NDBI, followed by NDWI and NDVI. While the land coverage indices were the LST dominant factors, the spatial proximity and location also substantially influenced the LST and the SUHIs. This work improved our understanding of the SUHIs and their impacts in Suzhou, and should be helpful for policymakers to formulate counter-measures for mitigating SUHI effects. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing for Land Surface Temperature (LST) Estimation, Generation, and Analysis)
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18 pages, 3241 KiB  
Article
Estimating Land Surface Temperature from Landsat-8 Data using the NOAA JPSS Enterprise Algorithm
by Xiangchen Meng, Jie Cheng, Shaohua Zhao, Sihan Liu and Yunjun Yao
Remote Sens. 2019, 11(2), 155; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs11020155 - 15 Jan 2019
Cited by 61 | Viewed by 6456
Abstract
Land surface temperature (LST) is one of the key parameters in hydrology, meteorology, and the surface energy balance. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) Enterprise algorithm is adapted to Landsat-8 data to obtain the estimate of LST. [...] Read more.
Land surface temperature (LST) is one of the key parameters in hydrology, meteorology, and the surface energy balance. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) Enterprise algorithm is adapted to Landsat-8 data to obtain the estimate of LST. The coefficients of the Enterprise algorithm were obtained by linear regression using the analog data produced by comprehensive radiative transfer modeling. The performance of the Enterprise algorithm was first tested by simulation data and then validated by ground measurements. In addition, the accuracy of the Enterprise algorithm was compared to the generalized split-window algorithm and the split-window algorithm of Sobrino et al. (1996). The validation results indicate the Enterprise algorithm has a comparable accuracy to the other two split-window algorithms. The biases (root mean square errors) of the Enterprise algorithm were 1.38 (3.22), 1.01 (2.32), 1.99 (3.49), 2.53 (3.46), and −0.15 K (1.11 K) at the SURFRAD, HiWATER_A, HiWATER_B, HiWATER_C sites and BanGe site, respectively, whereas those values were 1.39 (3.20), 1.0 (2.30), 1.93 (3.48), 2.53 (3.35), and −0.35 K (1.16 K) for the generalized split-window algorithm, 1.45 (3.39), 1.08 (2.41), 2.16 (3.67), 2.52 (3.58), and 0.02 K (1.12 K) for the split-window algorithm of Sobrino, respectively. This study provides an alternative method to estimate LST from Landsat-8 data. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing for Land Surface Temperature (LST) Estimation, Generation, and Analysis)
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18 pages, 12459 KiB  
Article
Global Land Surface Temperature Influenced by Vegetation Cover and PM2.5 from 2001 to 2016
by Zengjing Song, Ruihai Li, Ruiyang Qiu, Siyao Liu, Chao Tan, Qiuping Li, Wei Ge, Xujun Han, Xuguang Tang, Weiyu Shi, Lisheng Song, Wenping Yu, Hong Yang and Mingguo Ma
Remote Sens. 2018, 10(12), 2034; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs10122034 - 14 Dec 2018
Cited by 43 | Viewed by 6513
Abstract
Land surface temperature (LST) is an important parameter to evaluate environmental changes. In this paper, time series analysis was conducted to estimate the interannual variations in global LST from 2001 to 2016 based on moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) LST, and normalized difference [...] Read more.
Land surface temperature (LST) is an important parameter to evaluate environmental changes. In this paper, time series analysis was conducted to estimate the interannual variations in global LST from 2001 to 2016 based on moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) LST, and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) products and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) data from the Atmospheric Composition Analysis Group. The results showed that LST, seasonally integrated normalized difference vegetation index (SINDVI), and PM2.5 increased by 0.17 K, 0.04, and 1.02 μg/m3 in the period of 2001–2016, respectively. During the past 16 years, LST showed an increasing trend in most areas, with two peaks of 1.58 K and 1.85 K at 72°N and 48°S, respectively. Marked warming also appeared in the Arctic. On the contrary, remarkable decrease in LST occurred in Antarctic. In most parts of the world, LST was affected by the variation in vegetation cover and air pollutant, which can be detected by the satellite. In the Northern Hemisphere, positive relations between SINDVI and LST were found; however, in the Southern Hemisphere, negative correlations were detected. The impact of PM2.5 on LST was more complex. On the whole, LST increased with a small increase in PM2.5 concentrations but decreased with a marked increase in PM2.5. The study provides insights on the complex relationship between vegetation cover, air pollution, and land surface temperature. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing for Land Surface Temperature (LST) Estimation, Generation, and Analysis)
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19 pages, 3416 KiB  
Article
A New Single-Band Pixel-by-Pixel Atmospheric Correction Method to Improve the Accuracy in Remote Sensing Estimates of LST. Application to Landsat 7-ETM+
by Joan M. Galve, Juan M. Sánchez, César Coll and Julio Villodre
Remote Sens. 2018, 10(6), 826; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs10060826 - 25 May 2018
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 4172
Abstract
Monitoring Land Surface Temperature (LST) from satellite remote sensing requires an accurate correction of the atmospheric effects. Although thermal remote sensing techniques have advanced significantly over the past few decades, to date, single-band pixel-by-pixel atmospheric correction of full thermal images is unsolved. In [...] Read more.
Monitoring Land Surface Temperature (LST) from satellite remote sensing requires an accurate correction of the atmospheric effects. Although thermal remote sensing techniques have advanced significantly over the past few decades, to date, single-band pixel-by-pixel atmospheric correction of full thermal images is unsolved. In this work, we introduce a new Single-Band Atmospheric Correction (SBAC) tool that provides pixel-by-pixel atmospheric correction parameters regardless of the pixel size. The SBAC tool uses National Centers of Environmental Prediction (NCEP) profiles as inputs and, as a novelty, it also accounts for pixel elevation through a Digital Elevation Model (DEM). Application of SBAC to 19 Landsat 7-ETM+ scenes shows the potential of the proposed pixel-by-pixel atmospheric correction to capture terrain orography or atmospheric variability within the scene. LST estimation yields negligible bias and an RMSE of ±1.6 K for the full dataset. The Landsat Atmospheric Correction Tool (ACT) is also considered for comparison. SBAC-ACT LST deviations are analyzed in terms of distance to the image center, surface elevation, and spatial distribution of the atmospheric water content. Differences within 3 K are observed. These results give us the first insight of the potential of SBAC for the operational pixel-by-pixel atmospheric correction of full thermal images. The SBAC tool is expected to help users of satellite single-channel thermal sensors to improve their LST estimates due to its simplicity and robustness. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing for Land Surface Temperature (LST) Estimation, Generation, and Analysis)
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19 pages, 4438 KiB  
Article
Evaluating Eight Global Reanalysis Products for Atmospheric Correction of Thermal Infrared Sensor—Application to Landsat 8 TIRS10 Data
by Xiangchen Meng and Jie Cheng
Remote Sens. 2018, 10(3), 474; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs10030474 - 19 Mar 2018
Cited by 30 | Viewed by 5833
Abstract
Global reanalysis products have been widely used for correcting the atmospheric effects of thermal infrared data, but their performances have not been comprehensively evaluated. In this paper, we evaluate eight global reanalysis products (NCEP/FNL; NCEP/DOE Reanalysis2; MERRA-3; MERRA-6; MERRA2-3; MERRA2-6; JRA-55; and ERA-Interim) [...] Read more.
Global reanalysis products have been widely used for correcting the atmospheric effects of thermal infrared data, but their performances have not been comprehensively evaluated. In this paper, we evaluate eight global reanalysis products (NCEP/FNL; NCEP/DOE Reanalysis2; MERRA-3; MERRA-6; MERRA2-3; MERRA2-6; JRA-55; and ERA-Interim) commonly used in the atmospheric correction of Landsat 8 TIRS10 data by referencing global radiosonde observations collected from 163 stations. The atmospheric parameters (atmospheric transmittance, upward radiance, and downward radiance) simulated with MERRA-6 and ERA-Interim were accurate than those simulated with other reanalysis products for different water vapor contents and surface elevations. When global reanalysis products were applied to retrieve land surface temperature (LST) from simulated Landsat 8 TIRS10 data, ERA-Interim and MERRA-6 were accurate than other reanalysis products. The overall LST biases and RMSEs between the retrieved LSTs and LSTs that were used to generate the top-of-atmosphere radiances were less than 0.2 K and 1.09 K, respectively. When eight reanalysis products were used to estimate LSTs from thirty-two Landsat 8 TIRS10 images covering the Heihe River basin in China, the various reanalysis products showed similar validation accuracies for LSTs with low water vapor contents. The biases ranged from 0.07 K to 0.24 K, and the STDs (RMSEs) ranged from 1.93 K (1.93 K) to 2.02 K (2.04 K). Considering the above evaluation results, MERRA-6 and ERA-Interim are recommended for thermal infrared data atmospheric corrections. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing for Land Surface Temperature (LST) Estimation, Generation, and Analysis)
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14 pages, 4045 KiB  
Article
An Improved Single-Channel Method to Retrieve Land Surface Temperature from the Landsat-8 Thermal Band
by Jordi Cristóbal, Juan C. Jiménez-Muñoz, Anupma Prakash, Cristian Mattar, Dražen Skoković and José A. Sobrino
Remote Sens. 2018, 10(3), 431; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs10030431 - 10 Mar 2018
Cited by 113 | Viewed by 9748
Abstract
Land surface temperature (LST) is one of the sources of input data for modeling land surface processes. The Landsat satellite series is the only operational mission with more than 30 years of archived thermal infrared imagery from which we can retrieve LST. Unfortunately, [...] Read more.
Land surface temperature (LST) is one of the sources of input data for modeling land surface processes. The Landsat satellite series is the only operational mission with more than 30 years of archived thermal infrared imagery from which we can retrieve LST. Unfortunately, stray light artifacts were observed in Landsat-8 TIRS data, mostly affecting Band 11, currently making the split-window technique impractical for retrieving surface temperature without requiring atmospheric data. In this study, a single-channel methodology to retrieve surface temperature from Landsat TM and ETM+ was improved to retrieve LST from Landsat-8 TIRS Band 10 using near-surface air temperature (Ta) and integrated atmospheric column water vapor (w) as input data. This improved methodology was parameterized and successfully evaluated with simulated data from a global and robust radiosonde database and validated with in situ data from four flux tower sites under different types of vegetation and snow cover in 44 Landsat-8 scenes. Evaluation results using simulated data showed that the inclusion of Ta together with w within a single-channel scheme improves LST retrieval, yielding lower errors and less bias than models based only on w. The new proposed LST retrieval model, developed with both w and Ta, yielded overall errors on the order of 1 K and a bias of −0.5 K validated against in situ data, providing a better performance than other models parameterized using w and Ta or only w models that yielded higher error and bias. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing for Land Surface Temperature (LST) Estimation, Generation, and Analysis)
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18 pages, 21235 KiB  
Article
Evaluation of Three Parametric Models for Estimating Directional Thermal Radiation from Simulation, Airborne, and Satellite Data
by Xiangyang Liu, Bo-Hui Tang and Zhao-Liang Li
Remote Sens. 2018, 10(3), 420; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs10030420 - 09 Mar 2018
Cited by 26 | Viewed by 4079
Abstract
An appropriate model to correct thermal radiation anisotropy is important for the wide applications of land surface temperature (LST). This paper evaluated the performance of three published directional thermal radiation models—the Roujean–Lagouarde (RL) model, the Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF) model, and the [...] Read more.
An appropriate model to correct thermal radiation anisotropy is important for the wide applications of land surface temperature (LST). This paper evaluated the performance of three published directional thermal radiation models—the Roujean–Lagouarde (RL) model, the Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF) model, and the Vinnikov model—at canopy and pixel scale using simulation, airborne, and satellite data. The results at canopy scale showed that (1) the three models could describe directional anisotropy well and the Vinnikov model performed the best, especially for erectophile canopy or low leaf area index (LAI); (2) the three models reached the highest fitting accuracy when the LAI varied from 1 to 2; and (3) the capabilities of the three models were all restricted by the hotspot effect, plant height, plant spacing, and three-dimensional structure. The analysis at pixel scale indicated a consistent result that the three models presented a stable effect both on verification and validation, but the Vinnikov model had the best ability in the erectophile canopy (savannas and grassland) and low LAI (barren or sparsely vegetated) areas. Therefore, the Vinnikov model was calibrated for different land cover types to instruct the angular correction of LST. Validation with the Surface Radiation Budget Network (SURFRAD)-measured LST demonstrated that the root mean square (RMSE) of the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) LST product could be decreased by 0.89 K after angular correction. In addition, the corrected LST showed better spatial uniformity and higher angular correlation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing for Land Surface Temperature (LST) Estimation, Generation, and Analysis)
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17 pages, 3985 KiB  
Article
Disaggregation of Landsat-8 Thermal Data Using Guided SWIR Imagery on the Scene of a Wildfire
by Kangjoon Cho, Yonghyun Kim and Yongil Kim
Remote Sens. 2018, 10(1), 105; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs10010105 - 13 Jan 2018
Cited by 15 | Viewed by 5230
Abstract
Thermal data products derived from remotely sensed data play significant roles as key parameters for biophysical phenomena. However, a trade-off between spatial and spectral resolutions has existed in thermal infrared (TIR) remote sensing systems, with the end product being the limited resolution of [...] Read more.
Thermal data products derived from remotely sensed data play significant roles as key parameters for biophysical phenomena. However, a trade-off between spatial and spectral resolutions has existed in thermal infrared (TIR) remote sensing systems, with the end product being the limited resolution of the TIR sensor. In order to treat this problem, various disaggregation methods of TIR data, based on the indices from visible and near-infrared (VNIR), have been developed to sharpen the coarser spatial resolution of TIR data. Although these methods were reported to exhibit sufficient performance in each study, preservation of thermal variation in the original TIR data is still difficult, especially in fire areas due to the distortion of the VNIR reflectance by the impact of smoke. To solve this issue, this study proposes an efficient and improved disaggregation algorithm of TIR imagery on wildfire areas using guided shortwave infrared (SWIR) band imagery via a guided image filter (GF). Radiometric characteristics of SWIR wavelengths could preserve spatially high frequency temperature components in flaming combustion, and the GF preserved thermal variation of the original TIR data in the disaggregated result. The proposed algorithm was evaluated using Landsat-8 operational land imager (OLI) and thermal infrared sensor (TIRS) images on wildfire areas, and compared with other algorithms based on a vegetation index (VI) originating from VNIR. In quantitative analysis, the proposed disaggregation method yielded the best values of root mean square error (RMSE), mean absolute error (MAE), correlation coefficient (CC), erreur relative globale adimensionelle de synthèse (ERGAS), and universal image quality index (UIQI). Furthermore, unlike in other methods, the disaggregated temperature map in the proposed method reflected the thermal variation of wildfire in visual analysis. The experimental results showed that the proposed algorithm was successfully applied to the TIR data, especially to wildfire areas in terms of quantitative and visual assessments. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing for Land Surface Temperature (LST) Estimation, Generation, and Analysis)
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2686 KiB  
Article
Annual Seasonality Extraction Using the Cubic Spline Function and Decadal Trend in Temporal Daytime MODIS LST Data
by Noppachai Wongsai, Sangdao Wongsai and Alfredo R. Huete
Remote Sens. 2017, 9(12), 1254; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs9121254 - 02 Dec 2017
Cited by 42 | Viewed by 7692
Abstract
Examining climate-related satellite data that strongly relate to seasonal phenomena requires appropriate methods for detecting the seasonality to accommodate different temporal resolutions, high signal variability and consecutive missing values in the data series. Detection of satellite-based Land Surface Temperature (LST) seasonality is essential [...] Read more.
Examining climate-related satellite data that strongly relate to seasonal phenomena requires appropriate methods for detecting the seasonality to accommodate different temporal resolutions, high signal variability and consecutive missing values in the data series. Detection of satellite-based Land Surface Temperature (LST) seasonality is essential and challenging due to missing data and noise in time series data, particularly in tropical regions with heavy cloud cover and rainy seasons. We used a semi-parametric approach, involving the cubic spline function with the annual periodic boundary condition and weighted least square (WLS) regression, to extract annual LST seasonal pattern without attempting to estimate the missing values. The time series from daytime Aqua eight-day MODIS LST located on Phuket Island, southern Thailand, was selected for seasonal extraction modelling across three different land cover types. The spline-based technique with appropriate number and placement of knots produces an acceptable seasonal pattern of surface temperature time series that reflects the actual local season and weather. Finally, the approach was applied to the morning and afternoon MODIS LST datasets (MOD11A2 and MYD11A2) to demonstrate its application on seasonally-adjusted long-term LST time series. The surface temperature trend in both space and time was examined to reveal the overall 10-year period trend of LST in the study area. The result of decadal trend analysis shows that various Land Use and Land Cover (LULC) types have increasing, but variable surface temperature trends. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing for Land Surface Temperature (LST) Estimation, Generation, and Analysis)
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19085 KiB  
Article
Online Global Land Surface Temperature Estimation from Landsat
by David Parastatidis, Zina Mitraka, Nektrarios Chrysoulakis and Michael Abrams
Remote Sens. 2017, 9(12), 1208; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs9121208 - 23 Nov 2017
Cited by 141 | Viewed by 21979
Abstract
This study explores the estimation of land surface temperature (LST) for the globe from Landsat 5, 7 and 8 thermal infrared sensors, using different surface emissivity sources. A single channel algorithm is used for consistency among the estimated LST products, whereas the option [...] Read more.
This study explores the estimation of land surface temperature (LST) for the globe from Landsat 5, 7 and 8 thermal infrared sensors, using different surface emissivity sources. A single channel algorithm is used for consistency among the estimated LST products, whereas the option of using emissivity from different sources provides flexibility for the algorithm’s implementation to any area of interest. The Google Earth Engine (GEE), an advanced earth science data and analysis platform, allows the estimation of LST products for the globe, covering the time period from 1984 to present. To evaluate the method, the estimated LST products were compared against two reference datasets: (a) LST products derived from ASTER (Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer), as higher-level products based on the temperature-emissivity separation approach; (b) Landsat LST data that have been independently produced, using different approaches. An overall RMSE (root mean square error) of 1.52 °C was observed and it was confirmed that the accuracy of the LST product is dependent on the emissivity; different emissivity sources provided different LST accuracies, depending on the surface cover. The LST products, for the full Landsat 5, 7 and 8 archives, are estimated “on-the-fly” and are available on-line via a web application. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing for Land Surface Temperature (LST) Estimation, Generation, and Analysis)
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3843 KiB  
Article
Sensitivity of Landsat 8 Surface Temperature Estimates to Atmospheric Profile Data: A Study Using MODTRAN in Dryland Irrigated Systems
by Jorge Rosas, Rasmus Houborg and Matthew F. McCabe
Remote Sens. 2017, 9(10), 988; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs9100988 - 23 Sep 2017
Cited by 36 | Viewed by 8171
Abstract
The land surface temperature (LST) represents a critical element in efforts to characterize global surface energy and water fluxes, as well as being an essential climate variable in its own right. Current satellite platforms provide a range of spatial and temporal resolution radiance [...] Read more.
The land surface temperature (LST) represents a critical element in efforts to characterize global surface energy and water fluxes, as well as being an essential climate variable in its own right. Current satellite platforms provide a range of spatial and temporal resolution radiance data from which LST can be determined. One of the most complete records of data comes via the Landsat series of satellites, which provide a continuous sequence that extends back to 1982. However, for much of this time, Landsat thermal data were provided through a single broadband thermal channel, making surface temperature retrieval challenging. To fully exploit the valuable time-series of thermal information that is available from these satellites requires efforts to better describe and understand the accuracy of temperature retrievals. Here, we contribute to these efforts by examining the impact of atmospheric correction on the estimation of LST, using atmospheric profiles derived from a range of in-situ, reanalysis, and satellite data. Radiance data from the thermal infrared (TIR) sensor onboard Landsat 8 was converted to LST by using the MODTRAN version 5.2 radiative transfer model, allowing the production of an LST time series based upon 28 Landsat overpasses. LST retrievals were then evaluated against in-situ thermal measurements collected over an arid zone farmland comprising both bare soil and vegetated surface types. Atmospheric profiles derived from AIRS, MOD07, ECMWF, NCEP, and balloon-based radiosonde data were used to drive the MODTRAN simulations. In addition to examining the direct impact of using various profile data on LST retrievals, randomly distributed errors were introduced into a range of forcing variables to better understand retrieval uncertainty. Results indicated differences in LST of up to 1 K for perturbations in emissivity and profile measurements, with the analysis also highlighting the challenges in modeling aerosol optical depth (AOD) over arid lands and its impact on the TIR bands. Days with high AOD content (AOD > 0.5) in the evaluation study seem to consistently underestimate in-situ LSTs by 1–2 K, suggesting that MODTRAN is unable to accurately simulate the aerosol conditions for the TIR bands. Comparisons between available in-situ and Landsat 8 derived LST illustrate a range of seasonal and land surface dynamics and provide an assessment of retrieval accuracy throughout the nine-month long study period. In terms of the choice of atmospheric profile, when excluding the in-situ data, results show a mean absolute range of between 1.2 K to 1.8 K over bare soil and 3.3 K to 3.8 K over alfalfa for the different meteorological forcing, with the AIRS profile providing the best reproduction over the studied arid land irrigation region. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing for Land Surface Temperature (LST) Estimation, Generation, and Analysis)
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7372 KiB  
Article
Downscaling Land Surface Temperature in an Arid Area by Using Multiple Remote Sensing Indices with Random Forest Regression
by Yingbao Yang, Chen Cao, Xin Pan, Xiaolong Li and Xi Zhu
Remote Sens. 2017, 9(8), 789; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs9080789 - 31 Jul 2017
Cited by 105 | Viewed by 8486
Abstract
Many downscaling algorithms have been proposed to address the issue of coarse-resolution land surface temperature (LST) derived from available satellite-borne sensors. However, few studies have focused on improving LST downscaling in arid regions (especially in deserts) because of inaccurate remote sensing LST products. [...] Read more.
Many downscaling algorithms have been proposed to address the issue of coarse-resolution land surface temperature (LST) derived from available satellite-borne sensors. However, few studies have focused on improving LST downscaling in arid regions (especially in deserts) because of inaccurate remote sensing LST products. In this study, LST was downscaled by a random forest model between LST and multiple remote sensing indices (such as soil-adjusted vegetation index, normalized multi-band drought index, modified normalized difference water index, and normalized difference building index) in an arid region with an oasis–desert ecotone. The proposed downscaling approach, which involves the selection of remote sensing indices, was evaluated using LST derived from the MODIS LST product of Zhangye City in Heihe Basin. The spatial resolution of MODIS LST was downscaled from 1 km to 500 m. Results of visual and quantitative analyses show that the distribution of downscaled LST matched that of the oasis and desert ecosystem. The lowest (approximately 22 °C) and highest temperatures (higher than 37 °C) were detected in the middle oasis and desert regions, respectively. Furthermore, the proposed approach achieves relatively satisfactory downscaling results, with coefficient of determination and root mean square error of 0.84 and 2.42 °C, respectively. The proposed approach shows higher accuracy and minimization of the MODIS LST in the desert region compared with other methods. Optimal availability occurs in the vegetated region during summer and autumn. In addition, the approach is also efficient and reliable for LST downscaling of Landsat images. Future tasks include reliable LST downscaling in challenging regions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing for Land Surface Temperature (LST) Estimation, Generation, and Analysis)
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2811 KiB  
Article
A Robust Inversion Algorithm for Surface Leaf and Soil Temperatures Using the Vegetation Clumping Index
by Zunjian Bian, Biao Cao, Hua Li, Yongming Du, Lisheng Song, Wenjie Fan, Qing Xiao and Qinhuo Liu
Remote Sens. 2017, 9(8), 780; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs9080780 - 30 Jul 2017
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 5062
Abstract
The inversion of land surface component temperatures is an essential source of information for mapping heat fluxes and the angular normalization of thermal infrared (TIR) observations. Leaf and soil temperatures can be retrieved using multiple-view-angle TIR observations. In a satellite-scale pixel, the clumping [...] Read more.
The inversion of land surface component temperatures is an essential source of information for mapping heat fluxes and the angular normalization of thermal infrared (TIR) observations. Leaf and soil temperatures can be retrieved using multiple-view-angle TIR observations. In a satellite-scale pixel, the clumping effect of vegetation is usually present, but it is not completely considered during the inversion process. Therefore, we introduced a simple inversion procedure that uses gap frequency with a clumping index (GCI) for leaf and soil temperatures over both crop and forest canopies. Simulated datasets corresponding to turbid vegetation, regularly planted crops and randomly distributed forest were generated using a radiosity model and were used to test the proposed inversion algorithm. The results indicated that the GCI algorithm performed well for both crop and forest canopies, with root mean squared errors of less than 1.0 °C against simulated values. The proposed inversion algorithm was also validated using measured datasets over orchard, maize and wheat canopies. Similar results were achieved, demonstrating that using the clumping index can improve inversion results. In all evaluations, we recommend using the GCI algorithm as a foundation for future satellite-based applications due to its straightforward form and robust performance for both crop and forest canopies using the vegetation clumping index. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing for Land Surface Temperature (LST) Estimation, Generation, and Analysis)
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10951 KiB  
Article
Multiple Regression Analysis for Unmixing of Surface Temperature Data in an Urban Environment
by Andreas Wicki and Eberhard Parlow
Remote Sens. 2017, 9(7), 684; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs9070684 - 04 Jul 2017
Cited by 35 | Viewed by 8421
Abstract
Global climate change and increasing urbanization worldwide intensify the need for a better understanding of human heat stress dynamics in urban systems. During heat waves, which are expected to increase in number and intensity, the development of urban cool islands could be a [...] Read more.
Global climate change and increasing urbanization worldwide intensify the need for a better understanding of human heat stress dynamics in urban systems. During heat waves, which are expected to increase in number and intensity, the development of urban cool islands could be a lifesaver for many elderly and vulnerable people. The use of remote sensing data offers the unique possibility to study these dynamics with spatially distributed large datasets during all seasons of the year and including day and night-time analysis. For the city of Basel 32 high-quality Landsat 8 (L8) scenes are available since 2013, enabling comprehensive statistical analysis. Therefore, land surface temperature (LST) is calculated using L8 thermal infrared (TIR) imagery (stray light corrected) applying improved emissivity and atmospheric corrections. The data are combined with a land use/land cover (LULC) map and evaluated using administrative residential units. The observed dependence of LST on LULC is analyzed using a thermal unmixing approach based on a multiple linear regression (MLR) model, which allows for quantifying the gradual influence of different LULC types on the LST precisely. Seasonal variations due to different solar irradiance and vegetation cover indicate a higher dependence of LST on the LULC during the warmer summer months and an increasing influence of the topography and albedo during the colder seasons. Furthermore, the MLR analysis allows creating predicted LST images, which can be used to fill data gaps like in SLC-off Landsat 7 ETM+ data. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing for Land Surface Temperature (LST) Estimation, Generation, and Analysis)
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3756 KiB  
Article
Land Surface Temperature and Emissivity Retrieval from Field-Measured Hyperspectral Thermal Infrared Data Using Wavelet Transform
by Yu-Ze Zhang, Hua Wu, Xiao-Guang Jiang, Ya-Zhen Jiang, Zhao-Xia Liu and Franҫoise Nerry
Remote Sens. 2017, 9(5), 454; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs9050454 - 07 May 2017
Cited by 22 | Viewed by 5212
Abstract
Currently, the main difficulty in separating the land surface temperature (LST) and land surface emissivity (LSE) from field-measured hyperspectral Thermal Infrared (TIR) data lies in solving the radiative transfer equation (RTE). Based on the theory of wavelet transform (WT), this paper proposes a [...] Read more.
Currently, the main difficulty in separating the land surface temperature (LST) and land surface emissivity (LSE) from field-measured hyperspectral Thermal Infrared (TIR) data lies in solving the radiative transfer equation (RTE). Based on the theory of wavelet transform (WT), this paper proposes a method for accurately and effectively separating LSTs and LSEs from field-measured hyperspectral TIR data. We show that the number of unknowns in the RTE can be reduced by decomposing and reconstructing the LSE spectrum, thus making the RTE solvable. The final results show that the errors introduced by WT are negligible. In addition, the proposed method usually achieves a greater accuracy in a wet-warm atmosphere than that in a dry-cold atmosphere. For the results under instrument noise conditions (NE∆T = 0.2 K), the overall accuracy of the LST is approximately 0.1–0.3 K, while the Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) of the LSEs is less than 0.01. In contrast to the effects of instrument noise, our method is quite insensitive to noises from atmospheric downwelling radiance, and all the RMSEs of our method are approximately zero for both the LSTs and the LSEs. When we used field-measured data to better evaluate our method’s performance, the results showed that the RMSEs of the LSTs and LSEs were approximately 1.1 K and 0.01, respectively. The results from both simulated data and field-measured data demonstrate that our method is promising for decreasing the number of unknowns in the RTE. Furthermore, the proposed method overcomes some known limitations of current algorithms, such as singular values and the loss of continuity in the spectrum of the retrieved LSEs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing for Land Surface Temperature (LST) Estimation, Generation, and Analysis)
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13 pages, 1467 KiB  
Technical Note
Comparison of Three Methods for Estimating Land Surface Temperature from Landsat 8-TIRS Sensor Data
by Vicente García-Santos, Joan Cuxart, Daniel Martínez-Villagrasa, Maria Antònia Jiménez and Gemma Simó
Remote Sens. 2018, 10(9), 1450; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs10091450 - 11 Sep 2018
Cited by 89 | Viewed by 7452
Abstract
After Landsat 8 was launched in 2013, it was observed that for Thermal Infrared sensor (TIRS) bands, radiance from outside of an instrument’s field-of-view produced a non-uniform ghost signal across the focal plane that varied depending on the out-of-scene content (i.e., the stray [...] Read more.
After Landsat 8 was launched in 2013, it was observed that for Thermal Infrared sensor (TIRS) bands, radiance from outside of an instrument’s field-of-view produced a non-uniform ghost signal across the focal plane that varied depending on the out-of-scene content (i.e., the stray light effect). A new stray light correction algorithm (SLCA) is currently operational and has been implemented into the United States Geological Survey (USGS) ground system since February 2017. The SLCA has also been applied to reprocess historical Landsat 8 scenes. After approximately two years of SLCA implementation, more land surface temperature (LST) validation studies are required to check the effect of correction in the estimation of LST from different retrieval algorithms. For this purpose, three different LST estimation method algorithms (i.e., the radiative transfer equation (RTE), single-channel algorithm (SCA), and split-window algorithm (SWA)) have been assessed. The study site is located on the campus of the University of Balearic Islands on the island of Mallorca (Spain) in the western Mediterranean Sea. The site is considered a heterogeneous area that is composed of different types of surfaces, such as buildings, asphalt roads, farming areas, sloped terrains, orange fields, almond trees, lawns, and some natural vegetation regions. Data from 21 scenes, which were acquired by the Landsat 8-TIRS sensor and extracted from a 100 × 100 m2 pixel, were used to retrieve the LST with different algorithms; then, they were compared with in situ LST measurements from a broadband thermal infrared radiometer located on the same Landsat 8 pixel. The results show good performances of the three methods, with the SWA showing the lowest observed RMSE (within 1.6–2 K), whereas the SCA applied to the TIRS band 10 (10 µm) was also appropriate, with a RMSE ranging within 2.0–2.3 K. The LST estimates using the RTE algorithm display the highest observed RMSE values (within 2.0–3.6 K) of all of the compared methods, but with an almost unbiased value of −0.1 K for the case of techniques applied to band 10 data. The SWAs are the preferred method to estimate the LST in our study area. However, further validation studies around the world are required. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing for Land Surface Temperature (LST) Estimation, Generation, and Analysis)
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