Land Surface Temperature (LST)

An example map of mean Land Surface Temperature for July 2022 - July 2023 using Landsat data.

Description:

Land Surface Temperature (LST) provides the radiative skin temperature of the land derived from solar radiation. It is a crucial geophysical parameter related to surface energy and water balance of the land-atmosphere system. There are four categories of LST retrival algorithms to generate LST products. These include 1) single-channel, 2) split-window, 3) temperature and emissivity separation, and 4) physics-based day/night algorithms. There are three methods for validating LST products. These include 1) temperature-based, 2) radiance-based, and 3) intercomparison methods.

LST data available in Climate Engine are from sensors aboard Aqua/Terra and Landsat satellites. The MODIS Terra/Aqua Daily and 8-day LST products are produced by the split-window (sw) algorithm. The Landsat LST products are produced with the single-channel (SC) algorithm.

References:

Li, Z. L., Wu, H., Duan, S. B., Zhao, W., Ren, H., Liu, X., ... & Zhou, C. (2023). Satellite remote sensing of global land surface temperature: Definition, methods, products, and applications. Reviews of Geophysics, 61(1), e2022RG000777.