Preliminary applications of a land surface temperature retrieval method to IASI and AIRS data

Abstract

Land surface temperature (LST) is one of the key state variables for many applications. This article aims to apply our previously developed LST retrieval method to infrared atmospheric sounding interferometer (IASI) and atmospheric infrared sounder (AIRS) data. On the basis of the opposite characteristics of the atmospheric spectral absorption and surface spectral emissivity, a ‘downwelling radiance residual index’ (DRRI) has been recalled and improved to obtain LST and emissivity. To construct an efficient DRRI, an automatic channel selection procedure has been proposed, and 11 groups of channels have been selected within the range 800–1000 cm−1. The DRRI has been tested with IASI and AIRS data. For the IASI data, the radiosonde data have been used to correct for atmospheric effects and to retrieve LST, while the atmospheric profiles retrieved from AIRS data have been used to perform the atmospheric corrections and subsequently to estimate LST from AIRS data. The differences between IASI- and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)-derived LSTs are no more than 2 K, while the differences between AIRS- and MODIS-derived LSTs are less than 5 K. Even though an exceptionally problematic value occurred (–12.89 K), the overall differences between AIRS-estimated LST and the AIRS L2 LST product are no more than 5 K. Although the IASI-derived LST is more accurate than the AIRS-derived one, the convenient retrieval of AIRS atmospheric profile made this method more applicable. Limitations and uncertainties in retrieving LST using the DRRI method are also discussed.