A method in near-surface estimation of air temperature (NEAT) in times following the satellite passing time using MODIS images

Air temperature is one of the most important parameters in environmental, agricultural and water resources studies. This information is not usually always available at the required temporal and spatial resolution. The air temperature is measured at a fixed point in the meteorological stations which are dispersed and may not have the appropriate spatial resolution needed for many applications. On the other hand, MODIS satellite images have relatively acceptable spatial resolution specially for use in environmental studies. There is a methodology with which the near surface air temperature can be extracted from MODIS images at the satellite passing time with an acceptable accuracy. The goal in this study is to find a way to predict the air temperature in times after/before the satellite passing time. The procedure consists of two steps. In the first step, the relationship between the air temperature at a time in a synoptic station and the air temperature in other times up to 5 h later were modeled. In the second step, using these built up relationships, the air temperature extracted from the satellite image at the passing time was extrapolated to the next hours. Finally, the results of this extrapolation method were evaluated using the air temperatures measured at those hours and in the pixels containing some other meteorological stations. The error of the method when applied to a relatively homogeneous surface cover was about 1.5 degrees C. This error when applied to the next hours, was below 2 degrees C up to 5 h after satellite passing time. This method can be useful in some agricultural and horticultural applications in which both the spatial and temporal resolution are needed simultaneously. This product is a useful tool for frost prediction, a phenomenon that usually happens at night or early in the morning. (C) 2020 COSPAR. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.