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GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 34, L11809, doi:10.1029/2007GL030186, 2007

Diurnal cycle of land surface temperature in a desert encroachment zone as observed from satellites

R. T. Pinker

Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science, University of Maryland at College Park, College Park, Maryland, USA


D. Sun

Center for Earth Observing and Space Research, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia, USA


M. Miller

Environmental Sciences Department, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York, USA


G. J. Robinson

Environmental Systems Science Centre, University of Reading, Reading, UK


Abstract

Climate variability in the African Soudano-Sahel savanna zone has attracted much attention because of the persistence of anomalously low rainfall. Past efforts to monitor the climate of this region have focused on rainfall and vegetation conditions, while land surface temperature (LST) has received less attention. Remote sensing of LST is feasible and possible at global scale. Most remotely sensed estimates of LST are based on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) that are limited in their ability to capture the full diurnal cycle. Although more frequent observations are available from past geostationary satellites, their spatial resolution is coarser than that of polar orbiting satellites. In this study, the improved capabilities of the Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infrared Imager (SEVIRI) on the METEOSAT Second Generation (MSG) instrument are used to remotely sense the LST in the African Soudano-Sahel savanna zone at a resolution of 3 km and 15 minutes. In support of the Radiative Atmospheric Divergence using the ARM Mobile Facility (AMF), GERB and AMMA Stations (RADAGAST) project, African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analyses (AMMA) project and the Department of Energy's Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) program, the ARM Mobile Facility was deployed during 2006 in this climatically sensitive region, thereby providing a unique opportunity to evaluate remotely sensed algorithms for deriving LST.

Received 30 March 2007; accepted 8 May 2007; published 9 June 2007.

Keywords: land surface temperature; sub-Sahel; SEVIRI.

Index Terms: 0399 Atmospheric Composition and Structure: General or miscellaneous; 0480 Biogeosciences: Remote sensing; 0498 Biogeosciences: General or miscellaneous.

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Citation: Pinker, R. T., D. Sun, M. Miller, and G. J. Robinson (2007), Diurnal cycle of land surface temperature in a desert encroachment zone as observed from satellites, Geophys. Res. Lett., 34, L11809, doi:10.1029/2007GL030186.