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ARS Home » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #90652
Title: MONITORING LAND SURFACE FLUXES USING ASTER OBSERVATIONS

Author
item Schmugge, Thomas
item Kustas, William - Bill
item HUMES, KAREN - UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND

Submitted to: IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/4/1998
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: With the prospect of high resolution multispectral thermal infrared surface temperature data becoming available this summer after the launch of NASA's EOS-AM satellite, it is appropriate to develop methods for using these new data to study land surface energy balance and water use. This paper describes one such method and applies the use of remotely sensed data from aircraft platforms acquired over USDA/ARS's Walnut Gulch watershed in Arizona. The results indicate that the method has promise.

Technical Abstract: This paper presents a review of how data from the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) can be used to estimate energy fluxes from the land surface. The basic concepts of energy balance at the land surface are presented along with an example of how remotely sensed surface brightness temperatures can be used to estimate sensible heat. The example is from the Monsoon 90 experiment conducted over an arid watershed in Arizona, USA. In this case temperatures derived from an aircraft thermal infrared sensor as well as vegetation and land use characteristics derived from a Landsat TM image were used in a two source model to predict surface heat fluxes. Agreement with ground measurements was reasonably good for the three days of observations.