Comparison of Diurnal Variation of Land Surface Temperature From GOES-16 ABI and MODIS Instruments

Land surface temperature (LST) and its diurnal variation are the critical factors in many aspects of climate study, surface energy balance, and environmental applications. Several satellite-based LST products are available for retrievals from regional to a global scale. However, due to the differences in sensor configurations and retrieval algorithms, these products may not necessarily be consistent. In this letter, the consistency of spatial and temporal skin temperature variations from two infrared satellite platforms has been evaluated over the contiguous United States (CONUS). Comparisons are made between the LST products from the newly launched Geostationary Operation Environmental Satellite R Series (GOES-R) advanced baseline imager (ABI) and the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on both Aqua and Terra satellites which are polar orbiting. Overall, both products show a general agreement in their diurnal variations with differences mostly under 2 K. However, a temperature-dependent inconsistency has been detected. The MODIS LST product seems to estimate higher temperatures in the summer months while the GOES product estimates higher temperatures during the winter months. Moreover, the maximum observed diurnal differences could reach up to 10 K in mountainous regions. The results suggest that the corresponding temperature differences should be accounted for when LST diurnal variations are compared or generated from satellite observations.