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NASA's MODIS LST and snow cover press release, April 8, 2002.
Land surface temperature (LST) is one of the key parameters in the physics
of land surface processes, combining surface-atmosphere interactions and
the energy fluxes between the atmosphere and the ground.
LST is required for a wide variety of scientific studies -- from climatology
to hydrology to ecology and biogeology. For example, it is an important
factor in modeling large scale hydrological systems, global primary production,
and the greenhouse effect. Furthermore, it can be used in agricultural
applications (such as evaluating water requirements for wheat and determining
frost damage in orange groves).
The data of the
Moderate
Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the
Earth
Observing System (EOS) AM (Terra) platform have been used to retrieve LST.
Status of the MODIS LST production as of 24 December
2001: the consistent reprocessing for
the collection-3 (version 3) product has been nearly completed for
the period from early November 2000 to the end of year 2001.
The global LST browse images are available from
the MODLAND web page (select
collection 3 and MOD11 (Surface Temperature), then click on Submit selectio.
Status of the MODIS LST product as of 24 December
2001: the MODIS LST product has been validated
with in situ measurements within 1K in 19 clear-sky cases (including
14 cases over land sites) in 2000 and 2001,
in the temperature range of 263-322K and the column water vapor range of
0.4-3cm. ( The status report is also available in ppt format)
Developed
by: Cleo Salisbury and Yulin Zhang (zhang@icess.ucsb.edu)
Last revised:
8 April 2002
Authorized
by: P.I. Zhengming Wan (wan@icess.ucsb.edu),
MODIS Science Team member