An experimental study of angular effects on surface temperature for various plant canopies and bare soils

Abstract

Surface temperature is a key parameter for assessing fluxes at the surface-atmosphere interface. Proper estimation of radiative surface temperature requires corrections for perturbating factors such as atmospheric contributions and angular effects. Several models have been derived to address angular effects, but relevant data for validating such models is still scarce. This paper describes a field experiment dedicated to collecting angular measurements of brightness surface temperature over several types of surfaces (bare soils with different roughnesses, corn, grass, alfalfa), using a unique measurement protocol with simultaneous temperature readings at two angles. For each surface zenithal and azimuthal angular effects are quantified. In some cases (unstressed, fully-covering alfalfa) the difference between oblique and vertical brightness temperatures is within ±0.5 K. Over stressed corn the temperature measured at angles of ±60° is about 4 K less than the nadir looking temperature, but it is 3.5 K higher over a ploughed bare soil, when the inclined radiometer faces the sunlit side of the furrows. Over a bare smooth soil the observed angular variations are shown to be compatible with those due to possible angular variations in emissivity. All the results are discussed in terms of surface geometry and microclimatic conditions, and compared to previous studies. Implications are deduced for the interpretation of satellite measurements of surface temperature.