scholarly journals Filling the gaps in meteorological continuous data measured at FLUXNET sites with ERA-Interim reanalysis

2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 157-171 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Vuichard ◽  
D. Papale

Abstract. Exchanges of carbon, water and energy between the land surface and the atmosphere are monitored by eddy covariance technique at the ecosystem level. Currently, the FLUXNET database contains more than 500 registered sites, and up to 250 of them share data (free fair-use data set). Many modelling groups use the FLUXNET data set for evaluating ecosystem models' performance, but this requires uninterrupted time series for the meteorological variables used as input. Because original in situ data often contain gaps, from very short (few hours) up to relatively long (some months) ones, we develop a new and robust method for filling the gaps in meteorological data measured at site level. Our approach has the benefit of making use of continuous data available globally (ERA-Interim) and a high temporal resolution spanning from 1989 to today. These data are, however, not measured at site level, and for this reason a method to downscale and correct the ERA-Interim data is needed. We apply this method to the level 4 data (L4) from the La Thuile collection, freely available after registration under a fair-use policy. The performance of the developed method varies across sites and is also function of the meteorological variable. On average over all sites, applying the bias correction method to the ERA-Interim data reduced the mismatch with the in situ data by 10 to 36 %, depending on the meteorological variable considered. In comparison to the internal variability of the in situ data, the root mean square error (RMSE) between the in situ data and the unbiased ERA-I (ERA-Interim) data remains relatively large (on average over all sites, from 27 to 76 % of the standard deviation of in situ data, depending on the meteorological variable considered). The performance of the method remains poor for the wind speed field, in particular regarding its capacity to conserve a standard deviation similar to the one measured at FLUXNET stations. The ERA-Interim reanalysis data de-biased at FLUXNET sites can be downloaded from the PANGAEA data centre (http://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.838234).

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Vuichard ◽  
D. Papale

Abstract. Exchanges of carbon, water and energy between the land surface and the atmosphere are monitored by eddy covariance technique at the ecosystem level. Currently, the FLUXNET database contains more than 500 sites registered and up to 250 of them sharing data (Free Fair Use dataset). Many modelling groups use the FLUXNET dataset for evaluating ecosystem model's performances but it requires uninterrupted time series for the meteorological variables used as input. Because original in-situ data often contain gaps, from very short (few hours) up to relatively long (some months), we develop a new and robust method for filling the gaps in meteorological data measured at site level. Our approach has the benefit of making use of continuous data available globally (ERA-interim) and high temporal resolution spanning from 1989 to today. These data are however not measured at site level and for this reason a method to downscale and correct the ERA-interim data is needed. We apply this method on the level 4 data (L4) from the LaThuile collection, freely available after registration under a Fair-Use policy. The performances of the developed method vary across sites and are also function of the meteorological variable. On average overall sites, the bias correction leads to cancel from 10 to 36% of the initial mismatch between in-situ and ERA-interim data, depending of the meteorological variable considered. In comparison to the internal variability of the in-situ data, the root mean square error (RMSE) between the in-situ data and the un-biased ERA-I data remains relatively large (on average overall sites, from 27 to 76% of the standard deviation of in-situ data, depending of the meteorological variable considered). The performance of the method remains low for the wind speed field, in particular regarding its capacity to conserve a standard deviation similar to the one measured at FLUXNET stations. The ERA-interim reanalysis data debiased at FLUXNET sites can be downloaded from the PANGAEA data center (http://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.838234).


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 1021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Darren Ghent ◽  
Karen Veal ◽  
Tim Trent ◽  
Emma Dodd ◽  
Harjinder Sembhi ◽  
...  

The accuracy of land surface temperature (LST) observations is critical to many applications. Any observation of LST is subject to incomplete knowledge, so an accurate assessment of the uncertainty budget is critical. We present a comprehensive and consistent approach to determining an uncertainty budget for LST products. We apply this approach to the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument on-board the Aqua satellite. In order to generate the uncertainty model, a new implementation of the generalised split-window algorithm is applied, in which retrieval coefficients are categorised by viewing angle and water vapour. Validation of the LST against in situ data shows a mean absolute bias of 0.37 K for daytime and 0.73 K for nighttime. The average standard deviation per site is 1.53 K for daytime and 1.21 K for nighttime. Uncertainties from the implemented model are estimates in their own right and are also validated. We do this by comparing the standard deviation of the differences between the satellite and in situ LSTs, and the total uncertainties of the validation matchups. We show that the uncertainty model provides a good fit. Our approach offers a framework for quantifying uncertainties for LST that is equally applicable across different sensors and different retrieval approaches.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 980
Author(s):  
Hao Sun ◽  
Baichi Zhou ◽  
Chuanjun Zhang ◽  
Hongxing Liu ◽  
Bo Yang

Improving the spatial resolution of microwave satellite soil moisture (SM) products is important for various applications. Most of the downscaling methods that fuse optical/thermal and microwave data rely on remotely sensed land surface temperature (LST) or LST-derived SM indexes (SMIs). However, these methods suffer from the problems of “cloud contamination”, “decomposing uncertainty”, and “decoupling effect”. This study presents a new downscaling method, referred to as DSCALE_mod16, without using LST and LST-derived SMIs. This model combines MODIS ET products and a gridded meteorological data set to obtain Land surface Evaporative Efficiency (LEE) as the main downscaling factor. A cosine-square form of downscaling function was adopted to represent the quantitative relationship between LEE and SM. Taking the central part of the United States as the case study area, we downscaled SMAP (Soil Moisture Active and Passive) SM products with an original resolution of 36km to a resolution of 500m. The study period spans more than three years from 2015 to 2018. In situ SM measurements from three sparse networks and three core validation sites (CVS) were used to evaluate the downscaling model. The evaluation results indicate that the downscaled SM values maintain the spatial dynamic range of original SM data while providing more spatial details. Moreover, the moisture mass is conserved during the downscaling process. The downscaled SM values have a good agreement with in situ SM measurements. The unbiased root-mean-square errors (ubRMSEs) of downscaled SM values is 0.035 m3/m3 at Fort Cobb, 0.026 m3/m3 at Little Washita, and 0.055 m3/m3 at South Fork, which are comparable to ubRMSEs of original SM estimates at these three CVS.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oluwakemi Dare-Idowu ◽  
Lionel Jarlan ◽  
Aurore Brut ◽  
Valerie Le-Dantec ◽  
Vincent Rivalland ◽  
...  

<p>This study aims to analyze the main components of the energy and hydric budgets of irrigated maize in southwestern France. To this objective, the ISBA-A-gs (<span>Interactions between Soil, Biosphere, and Atmosphere) </span>is run over six maize growing seasons. As a preliminary step, the ability of the ISBA-A-gs model to predict the different terms of the energy and water budgets is assessed thanks to a large database of <em>in situ</em> measurements by comparing the single budget version of the model with the new Multiple Energy Balance version solving an energy budget separately for the soil and the vegetation. The <em>in situ</em> data set acquired at the Lamasquere site (43.48<sup>o</sup> N, 1.249<sup>o</sup> E) includes half-hourly measurements of sensible (H) and latent heat fluxes (LE) estimated by an Eddy Covariance system. Measurements also include net radiation (Rn), ground heat flux (G), plant transpiration with sap flow sensors, meteorological variables, and 15-days measurements of vegetation characteristics. The seasonal dynamics of the turbulent fluxes were properly reproduced by both configurations of the model with an R² ranging from 0.66 to 0.89, and a root mean square error lower than 48 W m<sup>-2</sup>. Statistical metrics showed that H was better predicted by MEB with R² of 0.80 in comparison to ISBA-Ags (0.73). However, the difference between the RMSE of ISBA-Ags and MEB during the well-developed stage of the plants for both H and LE does not exceed 8 W m<sup>-2</sup>. This implies that MEB only has a significant added value over ISBA-Ags when the soil and the canopy are not fully coupled, and over a heterogeneous field. Furthermore, this study made a comparison between the sap flow measurements and the transpiration simulated by ISBA-A-gs and MEB. A good dynamics was reproduced by ISBA-A-gs and MEB, although, MEB (R²= 0.91) provided a slightly more realistic estimation of the vegetation transpiration. Consequently, this study investigated the dynamics of the water budget during the growing maize seasons. Results indicated that drainage is almost null on the site, while the observed values of cumulative evapotranspiration that was higher than the water inputs are related to a shallow ground table that provides supplement water to the crop. This work provides insight into the modeling of water and energy exchanges over maize crops and opens perspectives for better water management of the crop in the future.</p>


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alejandro Corbea-Pérez ◽  
Gonçalo Vieira ◽  
Carmen Recondo ◽  
Joana Baptista ◽  
Javier F.Calleja ◽  
...  

<p>Land surface temperature is an important factor for permafrost modelling as well as for understanding the dynamics of Antarctic terrestrial ecosystems (Bockheim et al. 2008). In the South Shetland Islands the distribution of permafrost is complex (Vieira et al. 2010) and the use of remote sensing data is essential since the installation and maintenance of an extensive network of ground-based stations are impossible. Therefore, it is important to evaluate the applicability of satellites and sensors by comparing data with in-situ observations. In this work, we present the results from the analysis of land surface temperatures from Barton Peninsula, an ice-free area in King George Island (South Shetlands). We have studied the period from March 1, 2019 to January 31, 2020 using data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Land Surface Temperature (LST) and in-situ data from 6 ground temperature loggers. MOD11A1 and MYD11A1 products, from TERRA and AQUA satellites, respectively, were used, following the application of MODIS quality filters. Given the scarce number of high-quality data as defined by MODIS, all average LST with error ≤ 2K were included. Dates with surface temperature below -20ºC, which are rare in the study area, and dates when the difference between MODIS and in-situ data exceeded 10ºC were also examined. In both cases, those days on which MOD09GA/MYD09GA products showed cloud cover were eliminated. Eight in-situ ground temperature measurements per day were available, from which the one nearest to the time of satellite overpass was selected for comparison with MODIS-LST. The results obtained show a better correlation with daytime data than with nighttime data. Specifically, the best results are obtained with daytime data from AQUA (R<sup>2</sup> between 0.55 and 0.81). With daytime data, correlation between MODIS-LST and in-situ data was verified with relative humidity (RH) values provided by King Sejong weather station, located in the study area. When RH is lower, the correlation between LST and in-situ data improves: we obtained correlation coefficients between 0.6 - 0.7 for TERRA data and 0.8 - 0.9 for AQUA data with RH values lower than 80%. The results suggest that MODIS can be used for temperature estimation in the ice-free areas of the Maritime Antarctic.</p><p>References:</p><p>Bockheim, J. G., Campbell, I. B., Guglielmin, M., and López- Martınez, J.: Distribution of permafrost types and buried ice in ice free areas of Antarctica, in: 9th International Conference on Permafrost, 28 June–3 July 2008, Proceedings, University of Alaska Press, Fairbanks, USA, 2008, 125–130.</p><p>Vieira, G.; Bockheim, J.; Guglielmin, M.; Balks, M.; Abramov, A. A.; Boelhouwers, J.; Cannone, N.; Ganzert, L.; Gilichinsky, D. A.; Goryachkin, S.; López-Martínez, J.; Meiklejohn, I.; Raffi, R.; Ramos, M.; Schaefer, C.; Serrano, E.; Simas, F.; Sletten, R.; Wagner, D. Thermal State of Permafrost and Active-layer Monitoring in the Antarctic: Advances During the International Polar Year 2007-2009. Permafr. Periglac. Process. 2010, 21, 182–197.</p><p> </p><p>Acknowledgements</p><p>This work was made possible by an internship at the IGOT, University of Lisbon, Portugal, funded by the Principality of Asturias (code EB20-16).</p><p> </p>


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 336 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenping Yu ◽  
Junlei Tan ◽  
Mingguo Ma ◽  
Xiaolu Li ◽  
Xiaojun She ◽  
...  

With advantages of multispatial resolutions, a high retrieval accuracy, and a high temporal resolution, the satellite-derived land surface temperature (LST) products are very important LST sources. However, the greatest barrier to their wide application is the invalid values produced by large quantities of cloudy pixels, especially for regions frequently swathed in clouds. In this study, an effective method based on the land energy balance theory and similar pixels (SP) method was developed to reconstruct the LSTs over cloudy pixels for the widely used MODIS LST (MOD11A1). The southwest region of China was selected as the study area, where extreme drought has frequently occurred in recent years in the context of global climate change and which commonly exhibits cloudy and foggy weather. The validation results compared with in situ LSTs showed that the reconstructed LSTs have an average error < 1.00 K (0.57 K at night and -0.14 K during the day) and an RMSE < 3.20 K (1.90 K at night and 3.16 K in the daytime). The experiment testing the SP interpolation indicated that the spatial structure of the LST has a greater effect on the SP performance than the size of the data-missing area, which benefits the LST reconstruction in the area frequently covered by large clouds.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 1266 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mingzheng Zhang ◽  
Dehai Zhu ◽  
Wei Su ◽  
Jianxi Huang ◽  
Xiaodong Zhang ◽  
...  

Continuous monitoring of crop growth status using time-series remote sensing image is essential for crop management and yield prediction. The growing season of summer corn in the North China Plain with the period of rain and hot, which makes the acquisition of cloud-free satellite imagery very difficult. Therefore, we focused on developing image datasets with both a high temporal resolution and medium spatial resolution by harmonizing the time-series of MOD09GA Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) images and 30-m-resolution GF-1 WFV images using the improved Kalman filter model. The harmonized images, GF-1 images, and Landsat 8 images were then combined and used to monitor the summer corn growth from 5th June to 6th October, 2014, in three counties of Hebei Province, China, in conjunction with meteorological data and MODIS Evapotranspiration Data Set. The prediction residuals ( Δ P R K ) in NDVI between the GF-1 observations and the harmonized images was in the range of −0.2 to 0.2 with Gauss distribution. Moreover, the obtained phenological curves manifested distinctive growth features for summer corn at field scales. Changes in NDVI over time were more effectively evaluated and represented corn growth trends, when considered in conjunction with meteorological data and MODIS Evapotranspiration Data Set. We observed that the NDVI of summer corn showed a process of first decreasing and then rising in the early growing stage and discuss how the temperature and moisture of the environment changed with the growth stage. The study demonstrated that the synthesized dataset constructed using this methodology was highly accurate, with high temporal resolution and medium spatial resolution and it was possible to harmonize multi-source remote sensing imagery by the improved Kalman filter for long-term field monitoring.


2013 ◽  
Vol 6 (12) ◽  
pp. 3613-3634 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Masiello ◽  
C. Serio ◽  
I. De Feis ◽  
M. Amoroso ◽  
S. Venafra ◽  
...  

Abstract. The high temporal resolution of data acquisition by geostationary satellites and their capability to resolve the diurnal cycle allows for the retrieval of a valuable source of information about geophysical parameters. In this paper, we implement a Kalman filter approach to apply temporal constraints on the retrieval of surface emissivity and temperature from radiance measurements made from geostationary platforms. Although we consider a case study in which we apply a strictly temporal constraint alone, the methodology will be presented in its general four-dimensional, i.e., space-time, setting. The case study we consider is the retrieval of emissivity and surface temperature from SEVIRI (Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infrared Imager) observations over a target area encompassing the Iberian Peninsula and northwestern Africa. The retrievals are then compared with in situ data and other similar satellite products. Our findings show that the Kalman filter strategy can simultaneously retrieve surface emissivity and temperature with an accuracy of ± 0.005 and ± 0.2 K, respectively.


2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (9) ◽  
pp. 3127-3138 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. L. Herman ◽  
J. E. Cherry ◽  
J. Young ◽  
J. M. Welker ◽  
D. Noone ◽  
...  

Abstract. The EOS (Earth Observing System) Aura Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES) retrieves the atmospheric HDO / H2O ratio in the mid-to-lower troposphere as well as the planetary boundary layer. TES observations of water vapor and the HDO isotopologue have been compared with nearly coincident in situ airborne measurements for direct validation of the TES products. The field measurements were made with a commercially available Picarro L1115-i isotopic water analyzer on aircraft over the Alaskan interior boreal forest during the three summers of 2011 to 2013. TES special observations were utilized in these comparisons. The TES averaging kernels and a priori constraints have been applied to the in situ data, using version 5 (V005) of the TES data. TES calculated errors are compared with the standard deviation (1σ) of scan-to-scan variability to check consistency with the TES observation error. Spatial and temporal variations are assessed from the in situ aircraft measurements. It is found that the standard deviation of scan-to-scan variability of TES δD is ±34.1‰ in the boundary layer and ± 26.5‰ in the free troposphere. This scan-to-scan variability is consistent with the TES estimated error (observation error) of 10–18‰ after accounting for the atmospheric variations along the TES track of ±16‰ in the boundary layer, increasing to ±30‰ in the free troposphere observed by the aircraft in situ measurements. We estimate that TES V005 δD is biased high by an amount that decreases with pressure: approximately +123‰ at 1000 hPa, +98‰ in the boundary layer and +37‰ in the free troposphere. The uncertainty in this bias estimate is ±20‰. A correction for this bias has been applied to the TES HDO Lite Product data set. After bias correction, we show that TES has accurate sensitivity to water vapor isotopologues in the boundary layer.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (21) ◽  
pp. 2534 ◽  
Author(s):  
Willibroad Gabila Buma ◽  
Sang-Il Lee

As the world population keeps increasing and cultivating more land, the extraction of vegetation conditions using remote sensing is important for monitoring land changes in areas with limited ground observations. Water supply in wetlands directly affects plant growth and biodiversity, which makes monitoring drought an important aspect in such areas. Vegetation Temperature Condition Index (VTCI) which depends on thermal stress and vegetation state, is widely used as an indicator for drought monitoring using satellite data. In this study, using clear-sky Landsat multispectral images, VTCI was derived from Land Surface Temperature (LST) and the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). Derived VTCI was used to observe the drought patterns of the wetlands in Lake Chad between 1999 and 2018. The proportion of vegetation from WorldView-3 images was later introduced to evaluate the methods used. With an overall accuracy exceeding 90% and a kappa coefficient greater than 0.8, these methods accurately acquired vegetation training samples and adaptive thresholds, allowing for accurate estimations of the spatially distributed VTCI. The results obtained present a coherent spatial distribution of VTCI values estimated using LST and NDVI. Most areas during the study period experienced mild drought conditions, though severe cases were often seen around the northern part of the lake. With limited in-situ data in this area, this study presents how VTCI estimations can be developed for drought monitoring using satellite observations. This further shows the usefulness of remote sensing to improve the information about areas that are difficult to access or with poor availability of conventional meteorological data.


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