Estimation of Land Surface Temperature under Cloudy Skies Using Combined Diurnal Solar Radiation and Surface Temperature Evolution

Land surface temperature (LST) is a key parameter in the interaction of the land-atmosphere system. However, clouds affect the retrieval of LST data from thermal-infrared remote sensing data. Thus, it is important to determine a method for estimating LSTs at times when the sky is overcast. Based on a one-dimensional heat transfer equation and on the evolution of daily temperatures and net shortwave solar radiation (NSSR), a new method for estimating LSTs under cloudy skies (Tcloud) from diurnal NSSR and surface temperatures is proposed. Validation is performed against in situ measurements that were obtained at the ChangWu ecosystem experimental station in China. The results show that the root-mean-square error (RMSE) between the actual and estimated LSTs is as large as 1.23 K for cloudy data. A sensitivity analysis to the errors in the estimated LST under clear skies (Tclear) and in the estimated NSSR reveals that the RMSE of the obtained Tcloud is less than 1.5 K after adding a 0.5 K bias to the actual Tclear and 10 percent NSSR errors to the actual NSSR. Tcloud is estimated by the proposed method using Tclear and NSSR products of MSG-SEVIRI for southern Europe. The results indicate that the new algorithm is practical for retrieving the LST under cloudy sky conditions, although some uncertainty exists. Notably, the approach can only be used during the daytime due to the assumption of the variation in LST caused by variations in insolation. Further, if there are less than six Tclear observations on any given day, the method cannot be used