Scales of Temporal and Spatial Variability of Midlatitude Land Surface Temperature
Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 116, 2011
Konstantin Y. Vinnikov, Yunyue Yu, Mitchell D. Goldberg, Ming Chen, and Dan Tarpley
“Scales of temporal and spatial variability of clear-sky land surface temperature (LST) in middle latitudes are empirically evaluated using data from satellite and land surface observations. We consider separately the time-dependent expected value, its spatial variations, weather-related temporal and spatial anomalies, and errors of LST observation. Seasonal and diurnal cycles in the time-dependent expected value of LST are found to be the main components of temporal variations of clear-sky LST. The scale of spatial variability in the expected value of LST is found to be much smaller than the scale of spatial variability of the weather-related signal. The scale of temporal autocorrelation of weather-related LST variations is found to be in a good agreement with our earlier preliminary estimate and equal to 3 d, which corresponds to the time scale of weather system variations. This weather-related signal in clear-sky LST is statistically the same as in surface air temperature (SAT) observations at regular meteorological stations. The scale of spatial autocorrelation of weather-related LST variations exceeds 1000 km, which is the spatial scale of synoptic weather systems. These estimates provide us with a basis for better understanding and interpretation of LST observations from past, current, and future geostationary satellites and polar orbiters. “
