Author
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SCHMUGGE, THOMAS |
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Humes, Karen |
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Submitted to: Journal of Remote Sensing Society of Japan
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal Publication Acceptance Date: 6/6/1996 Publication Date: N/A Citation: N/A Interpretive Summary: The problem we considered in this paper is how remotely sensed data can be used to assess the land surface energy fluxes and their variability which is important for understanding how the land surface will affect the atmospheric circulation. Instruments on NASA's Earth Observing System (EOS) satellite to be lauched in 1998 will acquire data in the visible-near rinfrared (TIR) portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. The former will provide information on surface conditions including vegetation cover and the magnitude of incoming solar energy. The latter, TIR, will provide information on surface temperature. The paper reviews the basic concepts of the energy balance at the earths surface and identifies the factors which can be studied with the data to be obtained from these satellite sensors. An example of a possible approach from previous experiments is given. Technical Abstract: The monitoring of the land surface fluxes at regional spatial scales is recognized as important for applications such as the modeling of atmospheric behavior and the monitoring of water resources. When one looks at a thermal infrared image, it is obvious that the large variations in surface brightness temperatures, TB, arise from differences in the surface energy balance for the different surfaces. Recall that TB is a measure of the emitted radiation from the surface is directly related to the temperature of the surface and its emissivity. The example is from the Monsoon 90 experiment conducted over an arid watershed in the state of Arizona in the United States. |
