Determination of the temperature and emissivity of land surface from space

A new approach to the determination of the temperature of the land surface T-1 from space is given, based on optimal statistical approximation of empirical data on the emissivity of different types of land surface and the use of very high-resolution (spectral) measurements of the spectra of outgoing radiation in the 8-12 mu m transmittance window. Numerical examples are given, showing that the method can be used to determine the temperature of the land surface with error similar to 1 K.