Scaling of land surface temperature using satellite data: A case examination on ASTER and MODIS products over a heterogeneous terrain area

Field validation of the ASTER Temperature–Emissivity Separation algorithm

Temperature and emissivity separation from ASTER data for low spectral contrast surfaces

The water vapor scaling (WVS) method involves an atmospheric correction algorithm for thermal infrared (TIR) multispectral data, designed mainly for the five TIR spectral bands of the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) on the Terra satellite. First, this method is improved for better applicability to ASTER/TIR imagery. The major improvement is the determination of a water vapor scaling factor on a band-by-band basis, which can reduce most of the errors induced by various factors such as algorithm assumptions. Next, the WVS method is validated by assessing the surface temperature and emissivity retrieved for a global-based simulation model (416 448 conditions), 183 ASTER scenes selected globally, and ASTER scenes from two test sites, Hawaii Island and Tokyo Bay. In situ lake surface temperatures measured in 13 vicarious calibration experiments, Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer sea surface temperature products, and a climatic lake temperature are also used in validation. All the results indicate that although the ASTER/TIR standard atmospheric correction algorithm performs less well in humid conditions, the WVS method will provide more accurate retrieval of surface temperature and emissivity in most conditions including notably humid conditions. The expected root mean square error is about 0.6 K in temperature. Since the WVS method will be degraded by errors in gray pixel selection and cloud detection, these processing steps should be applied accurately.

Accurate atmospheric correction of ASTER thermal infrared imagery using the WVS method

Detecting land cover change at the Jornada Experimental Range, New Mexico with ASTER emissivities

Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER), one of five sensors on Terra, has five bands (10 to 14) in the thermal infrared (TIR) region. These TIR bands are radiometrically calibrated by one onboard blackbody with the function of changing temperature between 270 and 340 K. In normal operation the blackbody is set up at 270 K, and a constant coefficient in a quadratic radiometric calibration equation for each detector is adjusted at that temperature before each Earth observation, but the gain coefficient cannot be adjusted at this time, while it can periodically be updated by long term calibration in which the blackbody is measured at 270, 300, 320, and 340 K. On the other hand the sensor response of all bands (particularly band 12) has been degrading since the launch, and periodical updating of the gain coefficient does not fully follow the degradation, so that the calibration error on level-1 (L1) products is often unacceptable. We therefore have developed a recalibration method which is easily applied to L1 products by a general user. By using this method, the calibration error will mostly be reduced below the level of NEDT.

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Masahiko Kudoh

Papers

ASTER/TIR onboard calibration status and user-based recalibration