Land surface temperature validation

As an essential climate variable (ECV), land surface temperature (LST) is of fundamental importance for the monitoring of the Earth climate system. Satellite LST measurements provide unique data sources with regional and global coverage in fairly good temporal, spatial resolution, and time span. Therefore, LST is one of the baseline products in the Joint Polar Satellite System mission. This chapter introduces the LST algorithm development and validation. To evaluate the LSTs, ground observations from Surface Radiation Network, Baseline Surface Radiation Network, and Atmosphere Radiation Measurement are utilized to estimate the in-situ LSTs. The analysis is performed with respect to the day/night condition, atmospheric conditions, seasonality, and site characteristics. The comparison results indicate that the JPSS the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite LST has a good agreement with the ground observations and is generally consistent with the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer LST.