Land-biosphere-atmosphere interactions over the Tibetan plateau from MODIS observations

Eleven years (2000-10) of monthly observations from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Terra Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) show the diurnal, seasonal, and inter-annual variations of skin temperature over the Tibetan plateau (75-100 degrees E, 27-45 degrees N) at 0.05 degrees x 0.05 degrees resolution. A slight warming trend is observed during this period of time, although the relatively short duration of the observation makes such a trend uncertain. More importantly, using the most recent climatology of land skin temperature, spatially high correlation coefficients are found among normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), water vapor and cloud relations, indicating that the land surface, vegetation and atmosphere influence one another. Such a quantitative understanding of these relationships at high spatial resolution would be helpful for modeling the biosphere-atmosphere-land surface interaction processes over the Tibetan plateau.