Determination of land surface skin temperatures and surface air temperature and humidity from TOVS HIRS2/MSU data

Abstract

Global climate models operate at scales that are compatible with satellite observations of the earth surface. It is very useful to use retrieved satellite data for the purposes of comparisons with models for validation and calibration. The objective of this paper is to demonstrate that the TOVS Pathfinder Path A data set is useful for the study of land surface process/dynamics for contrasting climatic regions and the relationships between different surface variables. The results show that the anomalies of the diurnal difference of surface skin temperature are related to the anomalies of the monthly precipitation with increasing precipitation anomalies corresponding with decreasing diurnal skin surface temperature difference anomalies. This follows our understanding that increased surface wetness leads to increased evapotranspiration and reduced diurnal (pm minus am) surface skin temperature differences.