Abstract
The diurnal variation of surface temperature is a fundamental parameter as it is a driver of physical processes of atmosphere-land and -ocean energy and mass cycles playing a key role in meteorology and climatology. Our investigation focus is on the diurnal variation of land-surface temperature derived by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) deployed on the NASA Terra and Aqua satellites. We key our investigation on the ascending and descending mode equator crossing times for daytime and nighttime land-surface temperature variations from March 2000 through 2010 (MODIS-Terra) and July 2002 through 2012 (MODIS-Aqua) and assess the diurnal land-surface temperature range changes at those sampling times. Our investigation shows non-stationary changes in the trends of land-surface temperature diurnal range. We identify changes in the diurnal range trends linked to increase of daytime and nighttime land-surface temperatures from March 2000 through 2010 and decrease in daytime and nighttime land-surface temperatures from July 2002 through 2012. The most recent decrease in daytime and nighttime land-surface temperatures and diurnal range will affect Arctic and other associated energy and mass cycles.
Highlights
The diurnal variation of land-surface temperature is a long-studied parameter of climatology and micrometeorology [1]-[5]
Our investigation assesses the changes in the diurnal land-surface temperature at 1-km postings as sampled by Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Terra at local 10:30 and 22:30 equator crossing times and MODIS-Aqua at local 13:30 and 01:30 equator crossing times for the decade ranges from March 2000 through 2010 and July 2002 through 2012, respectively
Arctic nighttime 22:30 and 01:30 local equator crossing times show increases of 1.8 ̊C ± 0.3 ̊C (MODIS-Terra) and 0.2 ̊C ± 0.2 ̊C (MODIS-Aqua), on average over their decadal ranges [7]. This indicates that the decadal diurnal hour land-surface temperature range change of MODIS-Terra +0.2 ̊C ± 0.1 ̊C is from an increase of daytime temperatures
Summary
The diurnal variation of land-surface temperature is a long-studied parameter of climatology and micrometeorology [1]-[5]. It is important in practical aspects of agriculture, ecosystems and atmosphere-surface energy. Muskett cycles on land and oceans [3] [4] It serves as a central focal point in the “global warming” and “climate change” investigations since the 1980s [1]-[5]. Many early studies investigated details and variations of land-surface temperature at site-specific and landscape scales. These were followed in the 1990s by model, re-analysis and simulation studies at the regional to global scales [1]-[5]
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