Estimation of Minimum Land Surface Temperature Using MODIS LST Product for the Himalayan region

摘要

Surface temperature distribution is a governing meteorological factor for studies investigating the hydrological and climatic behavior of a basin. In the Himalayan mountainous region, it is difficult to obtain the high resolution spatial records of the surface temperature because of the scarce and widely scattered meteorological stations. In this study, the potential of MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) land surface temperature (LST) products such as MOD11A2 and MYD11A2 Collection 6 has been investigated for estimating accurate 8-Day minimum ground temperature (8DayMinT) values over Western Himalayan region. The forward, backward and stepwise variable selection methods have been employed for 8 major variables (including: LST products (four variables), altitude, latitude, longitude, and Julian day) and regression models have been formulated for 8DayMinT estimations. The results show that the regional topography explains most of the differences between the MODIS LST and the ground temperature records derived from the 7 climate stations in the Himalayan region. The best results for 8DayMinT estimation has been achieved when a combination of all the 4 LST products of TERRA and AQUA, along with altitude, latitude and longitude data is employed.