Retrieval of Hourly Records of Surface Hydrometeorological Variables Using Satellite Remote Sensing Data

Abstract

A new algorithm is formulated for retrieving hourly time series of surface hydrometeorological variables including net radiation, sensible heat flux, and near-surface air temperature aided by hourly visible images from the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) and in situ observations of mean daily air temperature. The algorithm is based on two unconventional, recently developed methods: the maximum entropy production model of surface heat fluxes and the half-order derivative-integral model that has been tested previously. The close agreement between the retrieved hourly variables using remotely sensed input and the corresponding field observations indicates that this algorithm is an effective tool in remote sensing of the earth system.

Evaporation estimates using weather station data and boundary layer theory

“…Many recent studies have used remote sensing data to estimate evapotranspiration using infrared temperature information (e.g., [ Kustas et al ., ; Bastiaanssen et al ., ; Caparrini et al ., ; Crow and Kustas , ; Kustas and Anderson , ; Kustas and Norman , ; Bateni and Entekhabi , ; Sun et al ., ; Cammalleri et al ., ] among many). The latter methods typically also require additional information on air temperature and humidity available at nearby weather stations to force a land surface model, even though some alternatives exist [ Bastiaanssen et al ., ; Wang and Bras , , ; Moghim et al ., ]. A potential error may stem from biases between infrared thermal and weather sensors.…”