Simple Air Temperature Estimation Method from MODIS Satellite Images on a Regional Scale

Abstract

Agricultural studies on a regional scale about water balance and evapotranspiration estimation, among others, require estimating air temperature (T-a) spatial variation since the generally low density of weather stations does not allow obtaining such data for a specific area. The aim of this study was to estimate air temperature through atmospheric profiles provided by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensor on a regional level. One of the present-day methodologies estimates T-a through vertical temperature profiles, which is why modifications to this methodology were proposed for zoning, surface elevation, and pressure/altitude ratios. By applying this new methodology, better T-a estimates were obtained by replacing the MODIS sensor surface elevation with those of the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM). Finally, it was possible to estimate T-a spatial variation only from remotely sensed data in various geomorphological areas.