An Improved Cloud Gap-Filling Method for Longwave Infrared Land Surface Temperatures through Introducing Passive Microwave Techniques

Satellite-derived land surface temperature (LST) data are most commonly observed in the longwave infrared (LWIR) spectral region. However, such data suffer frequent gaps in coverage caused by cloud cover. Filling these ‘cloud gaps’ usually relies on statistical re-constructions using proximal clear...

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Autores principales: Dowling, Thomas P. F., Song, Peilin, Jong, Mark C. de, Merbold, Lutz, Wooster, Martin J., Huang, Jingfeng, Zhang, Yongqiang
Formato: Journal Article
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/152097
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author Dowling, Thomas P. F.
Song, Peilin
Jong, Mark C. de
Merbold, Lutz
Wooster, Martin J.
Huang, Jingfeng
Zhang, Yongqiang
author_browse Dowling, Thomas P. F.
Huang, Jingfeng
Jong, Mark C. de
Merbold, Lutz
Song, Peilin
Wooster, Martin J.
Zhang, Yongqiang
author_facet Dowling, Thomas P. F.
Song, Peilin
Jong, Mark C. de
Merbold, Lutz
Wooster, Martin J.
Huang, Jingfeng
Zhang, Yongqiang
author_sort Dowling, Thomas P. F.
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Satellite-derived land surface temperature (LST) data are most commonly observed in the longwave infrared (LWIR) spectral region. However, such data suffer frequent gaps in coverage caused by cloud cover. Filling these ‘cloud gaps’ usually relies on statistical re-constructions using proximal clear sky LST pixels, whilst this is often a poor surrogate for shadowed LSTs insulated under cloud. Another solution is to rely on passive microwave (PM) LST data that are largely unimpeded by cloud cover impacts, the quality of which, however, is limited by the very coarse spatial resolution typical of PM signals. Here, we combine aspects of these two approaches to fill cloud gaps in the LWIR-derived LST record, using Kenya (East Africa) as our study area. The proposed “cloud gap-filling” approach increases the coverage of daily Aqua MODIS LST data over Kenya from <50% to >90%. Evaluations were made against the in situ and SEVIRI-derived LST data respectively, revealing root mean square errors (RMSEs) of 2.6 K and 3.6 K for the proposed method by mid-day, compared with RMSEs of 4.3 K and 6.7 K for the conventional proximal-pixel-based statistical re-construction method. We also find that such accuracy improvements become increasingly apparent when the total cloud cover residence time increases in the morning-to-noon time frame. At mid-night, cloud gap-filling performance is also better for the proposed method, though the RMSE improvement is far smaller (<0.3 K) than in the mid-day period. The results indicate that our proposed two-step cloud gap-filling method can improve upon performances achieved by conventional methods for cloud gap-filling and has the potential to be scaled up to provide data at continental or global scales as it does not rely on locality-specific knowledge or datasets.
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spelling CGSpace1520972025-12-08T10:29:22Z An Improved Cloud Gap-Filling Method for Longwave Infrared Land Surface Temperatures through Introducing Passive Microwave Techniques Dowling, Thomas P. F. Song, Peilin Jong, Mark C. de Merbold, Lutz Wooster, Martin J. Huang, Jingfeng Zhang, Yongqiang data quality temperature knowledge impacts improvement performance techniques datasets satellite accuracy roots errors Satellite-derived land surface temperature (LST) data are most commonly observed in the longwave infrared (LWIR) spectral region. However, such data suffer frequent gaps in coverage caused by cloud cover. Filling these ‘cloud gaps’ usually relies on statistical re-constructions using proximal clear sky LST pixels, whilst this is often a poor surrogate for shadowed LSTs insulated under cloud. Another solution is to rely on passive microwave (PM) LST data that are largely unimpeded by cloud cover impacts, the quality of which, however, is limited by the very coarse spatial resolution typical of PM signals. Here, we combine aspects of these two approaches to fill cloud gaps in the LWIR-derived LST record, using Kenya (East Africa) as our study area. The proposed “cloud gap-filling” approach increases the coverage of daily Aqua MODIS LST data over Kenya from <50% to >90%. Evaluations were made against the in situ and SEVIRI-derived LST data respectively, revealing root mean square errors (RMSEs) of 2.6 K and 3.6 K for the proposed method by mid-day, compared with RMSEs of 4.3 K and 6.7 K for the conventional proximal-pixel-based statistical re-construction method. We also find that such accuracy improvements become increasingly apparent when the total cloud cover residence time increases in the morning-to-noon time frame. At mid-night, cloud gap-filling performance is also better for the proposed method, though the RMSE improvement is far smaller (<0.3 K) than in the mid-day period. The results indicate that our proposed two-step cloud gap-filling method can improve upon performances achieved by conventional methods for cloud gap-filling and has the potential to be scaled up to provide data at continental or global scales as it does not rely on locality-specific knowledge or datasets. 2021-09-05 2024-09-11T09:25:59Z 2024-09-11T09:25:59Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/152097 en Open Access MDPI Dowling, T. P. F., Song, P., Jong, M. C. D., Merbold, L., Wooster, M. J., Huang, J., & Zhang, Y. (2021). An Improved Cloud Gap-Filling Method for Longwave Infrared Land Surface Temperatures through Introducing Passive Microwave Techniques. Remote Sensing, 13(17), 3522. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13173522
spellingShingle data
quality
temperature
knowledge
impacts
improvement
performance
techniques
datasets
satellite
accuracy
roots
errors
Dowling, Thomas P. F.
Song, Peilin
Jong, Mark C. de
Merbold, Lutz
Wooster, Martin J.
Huang, Jingfeng
Zhang, Yongqiang
An Improved Cloud Gap-Filling Method for Longwave Infrared Land Surface Temperatures through Introducing Passive Microwave Techniques
title An Improved Cloud Gap-Filling Method for Longwave Infrared Land Surface Temperatures through Introducing Passive Microwave Techniques
title_full An Improved Cloud Gap-Filling Method for Longwave Infrared Land Surface Temperatures through Introducing Passive Microwave Techniques
title_fullStr An Improved Cloud Gap-Filling Method for Longwave Infrared Land Surface Temperatures through Introducing Passive Microwave Techniques
title_full_unstemmed An Improved Cloud Gap-Filling Method for Longwave Infrared Land Surface Temperatures through Introducing Passive Microwave Techniques
title_short An Improved Cloud Gap-Filling Method for Longwave Infrared Land Surface Temperatures through Introducing Passive Microwave Techniques
title_sort improved cloud gap filling method for longwave infrared land surface temperatures through introducing passive microwave techniques
topic data
quality
temperature
knowledge
impacts
improvement
performance
techniques
datasets
satellite
accuracy
roots
errors
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/152097
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