Assessing Global and Regional Land Surface Skin Temperature Variations

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This project uses satellite observations to analyze the impact of changes in surface characteristics (e.g., land use, snow cover trends and urbanization) on surface temperature variations. Typically global temperature is assessed with in situ 2-meter air temperature measurements from weather stations, which are usually located in populated regions where human activity causes disturbances such that the temperature record may not be representative of the global land surface. The use of satellite observations can provide an independent global estimate of the surface temperature change over the last 25 years or so. This project focuses on infrared-based skin temperature estimates from polar-orbiting satellite instruments and includes cross-validation and calibration of the satellite retrieval estimates. The PIs have done much work previously developing methods to translate skin temperature to near-surface air temperature and have applied this in a global mean sense. This project extends the developed methodology to the scientific problem of trend detection and attribution on regional and smaller scales. A key feature of this project is the effort to connect observed land use changes to observable temperature trends. An examination of uncertainties is also part of the plan. This activity will support a graduate student at Georgia Tech and employ an undergraduate at U. Maryland on an hourly basis to perform data processing. There are strong implications for climate change assessment and attribution.