Modeling the Temporal Variability of Thermal Emissions From Row-Planted Scenes Using a Radiosity and Energy Budget Method

Land surface temperature (LST) is often needed for using remotely sensed data to study the surface energy budget and hydrological cycle. However, LST is challenging to measure and simulate because of its high sensitivity to atmospheric instability and solar angle, particularly over large-scale heterogeneous scenes. We propose a model that combines radiosity theory and an energy budget method for surface temperatures; we also explore the anisotropic behavior of row-planted crop emissions. The surface thermodynamic equilibrium state is fulfilled via the interaction between the 3-D radiative transfer calculations of the thermal-region radiosity-graphics combined model and the energy balance equation. Despite its shortcomings, such as the time-consuming calculations, the proposed model is feasible according to the results of an intercomparison and validation analysis. The intercomparison shows that the model exhibits similar performance, in terms of surface temperature calculations, to that of the soil-canopy observation, photochemistry and energy balance model (root-mean-square differences) of 0.59 degrees C and 1.77 degrees C for the leaf and soil components, respectively. Excellent agreement with the observed directional variation over summer maize canopies is also obtained, with R-2 values exceeding 0.6 and a mean RMSE of 0.32 degrees C. Thus, we recommend the new combined model as an option for explaining directional anisotropy due to its potential application to 3-D scenes.