Temporal Upscaling of MODIS 1-km Instantaneous Land Surface Temperature to Monthly Mean Value: Method Evaluation and Product Generation

Abstract

The monthly mean land surface temperature (MMLST) reflects more stable intra- and inter-annual temperature variations, and therefore, it has a wider range of applications than instantaneous land surface temperature (LST). This study aimed to generate a high-resolution global MMLST product by temporally upscaling the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) 1-km instantaneous LST. First, six current methods were comprehensively evaluated using cross-validation technology. These six methods are the cross combinations of two temporal aggregation schemes: the average by observations (ABO) and by days (ABD), and three conversion models: the diurnal temperature cycle model (DTC), a simple average model for two instantaneous LSTs (TSA), and a weighted average model for multiple instantaneous LSTs (MWA). The analysis with measurements from 235 flux stations worldwide revealed that the choice of conversion model considerably affected the overall retrieval accuracy whereas the influence of the aggregation scheme was minor. From the conversion model standpoint, MWA performed best, followed by DTC, and finally TSA; this order remained the same even if DTC and TSA were improved with mean bias correction. Notably, the errors of ABD <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">MWA</sub> decreased as the number of daily mean LST (NOD) increased, whereas the errors of ABO <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">MWA</sub> were not related to NOD. Accordingly, we deduced that the optimal strategy for estimating MMLST is using ABO <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">MWA</sub> when NOD is <20 and ABD <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">MWA</sub> when NOD is ≥20. Subsequently, we adopted this combination method to process MODIS instantaneous LSTs and produced a global 1-km MMLST dataset for the years 2003–2020. The validation showed a satisfactory accuracy with a root mean square error of 1.6 K. The intercomparison with MMLSTs from geostationary satellites (containing complete LST daily cycle) presented a good agreement (biases < 0.3 K and STDs < 2 K). Compared with AIRS3STM product which had the same temporal span, the newly generated product exhibited a high consistency in reflecting temporal variations of global temperature. Most importantly, it had a prominently better ability to retrieve spatial details of temperature variations due to its higher resolution. Our new method and product show promising prospects for applications in global change studies where accurate spatially resolved MMLST data are one of the fundamental geophysical variables required.