Validation of land surface temperature derived from MSG/SEVIRI with in situ measurements at Gobabeb, Namibia

Abstract

Land surface temperature (LST) derived from Meteosat Second Generation/ Spinning-Enhanced Visible and Infrared Imager MSG/SEVIRI data is an operational product of the Land Surface Analysis Satellite Applications Facility (LSA SAF). The LST has a temporal resolution of 15 minutes, a sampling distance of 3 km at nadir, and a targeted accuracy of better than 2 K. Gobabeb (Namibia) is one of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology's (KIT's) four dedicated stations for LST validation. In March 2010, a field survey was performed to characterize the Gobabeb site more closely. SAF LST and in situ LST obtained over a period of 3 days from additional measurements with a telescopic mast on the Namib gravel plains were in good agreement with each other (bias 1.0 K). For the same period, the bias between SAF LST and Gobabeb main station LST was even smaller (0.4 K). A mobile measurement system was set up by fixing the telescopic mast to a four-wheel drive. Around solar noon, LST from in situ measurements along a 40 km track and LST from Gobabeb main station had a bias of 0.4 K and a standard deviation of 1.2 K, which means that in situ LSTs at Gobabeb main station are representative for large parts of the gravel plains. Exploiting this relationship, 2 years of LST from MSG/SEVIRI were compared with in situ LST from Gobabeb main station. The magnitude of the monthly biases between the two data sets was generally less than 1.0 K and root mean square errors were below 1.5 K. Furthermore, the bias appears to exhibit a seasonality, which could be accounted for in future validation work.