Real time and spatially distributed Ta (air temperature) data are desired for many applications. Ts (land surface temperature) derived from remote sensors has been used to estimate Ta in previous studies. Exploring MODIS Aqua Ts and station measured daily maximum and minimum Ta over east Africa, we found that Ts did not agree well with Ta during the day (MAE (Mean Absolute Error) = 6.9 ± 5.0 ◦C...

Polynyas and leads are key elements of the wintertime Arctic sea-ice cover. They play a crucial role in surface heat loss, potential ice formation and consequently in the seasonal sea-ice budget. While polynyas are generally sufficiently large to be observed with passive microwave satellite sensors, the monitoring of narrow leads requires the use of data at a higher spatial resolution. We apply...

Most ocean color algorithms are designed for optically deep waters, where the seafloor has little or no effect on remote sensing reflectance. This can lead to inaccurate retrievals of inherent optical properties (IOPs) in optically shallow water environments. Here, we investigate in situ hyperspectral bottom reflectance signatures and their separability for coral reef waters, when observed at t...

Suomi NPP (National Polar-orbiting Partnership) satellite (http://npp.gsfc.nasa.gov/viirs.html) began to daily collect global data following its successful launch on October 28, 2011. The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) is a key NPP sensor. Similar to the design of the OLS, SeaWiFS and MODIS instruments, VIIRS has on-board calibration components including a solar diffuser (SD)...

The AnnAGNPS pollution model uses evapotranspiration as one of the inputs to predict runoff, sediment, nutrients, and pesticide contributions from land to streams. This modeling tool has been modified to accept evapotranspiration estimates derived from remotely sensed imagery, produced by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensor. This research evaluated the next generati...

The MODIS Land team is producing a suite of global land products whose uncertainty will be estimated through validation activities. The MODIS Land team will base its validation work on the comparison of its products to similar products derived from independent sources. The independent products will be derived from a combination of in situ data and imagery from airborne and spaceborne sensors. S...

We develop an assimilation method of high horizontal resolution sea surface temperature data, provided from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS-SST) sensors boarded on the Aqua and Terra satellites operated by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), focusing on the reproducibility of the Kuroshio front variations south of Japan in February 2010. Major concerns...

We present the results from two independent approaches for monitoring ice-sheet melt area over western Greenland. The microwave-based cross-polarization gradient ratio (XPGR) approach (Abdalati, W. and Steffen, K., 1995, Detecting ice-sheet melt area over western Greenland using MODIS and AMSR-E data for the summer periods of 2002–2006. Geophysical Research Letter, 22, pp. 787–790) is compared ...

The opacity of clouds is the main problem for optical and thermal space-borne sensors, like the Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). Especially during polar nighttime, the low thermal contrast between clouds and the underlying snow/ice results in deficiencies of the MODIS cloud mask and affected products. There are different approaches to retrieve information about frequently ...

The angular Instantaneous Field Of View (IFOV) of rotating mirror is constant in flying spot scanners and as a result the more area is viewed by mirror with going out of nadir condition and it will cause gradually compression of the effective pixel size at the extremities of scan line. This error is known as panoramic error that is so more sensible in sensors which have high angular Field Of Vi...