Comparison of field emissivities with laboratory measurements and ASTER data

Abstract

Surface emissivity in the thermal infrared (TIR) region is an important parameter for determining the land surface temperature from remote sensing measurements. This work compares the emissivities measured by different field methods (the Box method and the Temperature and Emissivity Separation, TES, algorithm) as well as emissivity data from ASTER scenes and the spectra obtained from the ASTER Spectral Library. The study was performed with a field radiometer having TIR bands with central wavelengths at 11.3 μm, 10.6 μm, 9.1 μm, 8.7 μm and 8.4 μm, similar to the ASTER TIR bands. The measurements were made at two sites in southern New Mexico. The first was in the White Sands National Monument, and the second was an open shrub land in the Jornada Experimental Range, in the northern Chihuahuan Desert, New Mexico, USA. The measurements show that, in general, emissivities derived with the Box method agree within 3% with those derived with the TES method for the spectral bands centered at 10.6 μm and 11.3 μm. However, the emissivities for the shorter wavelength bands are higher when derived with the Box method than those with the TES algorithm (differences range from 2% to 7%). The field emissivities agree within 2% with the laboratory spectrum for the 8-13 μm, 11.3 μm and 10.6 μm bands. However, the field and laboratory measurements in general differ from 3% to 16% for the shorter wavelength bands, i.e., 9.1 μm, 8.6 μm and 8.4 μm. A good agreement between the experimental measurements and the ASTER TIR emissivity data is observed for White Sands, especially over the 9 - 12 μm range (agreement within 4%). The study showed an emissivity increase up to 17% in the 8 to 9 μm range and an increase of 8% in emissivity ratio of average channels (8.4 μm, 8.6 μm, 9.1 μm):(10.6 μm, 11.3 μm) for two gypsum samples with different water content.