USE OF SATELLITE-BASED SENSING IN LAND-SURFACE CLIMATOLOGY

Common types of satellite-derived measurements are reviewed with respect to how they are used to provide information on variables important to land surface climatology. The variables considered include solar radiation, surface albedo, surface temperature, outgoing longwave radiation, cloud cover, net radiation, soil moisture, latent and sensible heat flux, surface cover and leaf area index. A selection of land surface climate modelling schemes is identified and considered with a view to their practicality for use with satellite-derived data. Issues arising from the form-going considerations include the absence from satellite data of some variables required by land surface climate models, the importance of extreme pixel values in model parameterization, the importance of matching spatial resolution in satellite data and climate model, and the need to have concurrent, independently observed, meteorological data in order to make full use of the satellite data.