Skip to main content
Log in

Regional surface fluxes from satellite-derived surface temperatures (AVHRR) and radiosonde profiles

  • Published:
Boundary-Layer Meteorology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Radiometric surface temperatures, derived from measurements by the AVHRR instrument aboard the NOAA-9 and the NOAA-11 polar orbiting satellites, were used in combination with wind velocity and temperature profiles measured by radiosondes, to calculate surface fluxes of sensible heat. The measurements were made during FIFE, the First ISLSCP (International Satellite Land Surface Climatology Project) Field Experiment, in a hilly tall grass prairie area of northeastern Kansas. The method of calculation was based on turbulent similarity formulations for the atmospheric boundary layer. Good agreement (r = 0.7) was obtained with reference values of sensible heat flux, taken as arithmetic means of measurements with the Bowen ratio method at six ground stations. The values of evaporation (latent heat fluxes), derived from these sensible heat fluxes by means of the energy budget, were also in good agreement (r = 0.94) with the corresponding reference values from the ground stations.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Brutsaert, W.: 1982, Evaporation into the Atmosphere, D. Reidel, Dordrecht, 299 pp.

    Google Scholar 

  • brutsaert, W., Sugita, M., and Fritschen, L. J.: 1990, ‘Inner Region Humidity Characteristics of the Neutral Boundary Layer Over Prairie Terrain’, Water Resour. Res. 26, 2931–2936.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brutsaert, W. and Sugita, M.: 1990, ‘The Extent of the Unstable Monin-Obukhov Layer for Temperature and Humidity Above Complex Hilly Grassland’, Boundary-Layer Meteorol. 51, 383–400.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brutsaert, W. and Sugita, M.: 1991, ‘A Bulk Similarity Approach in the Atmospheric Boundary Layer Using Radiometric Skin Temperature to Determine Regional Surface Fluxes’, Boundary-Layer Meteorol. 55. 1–23.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brutsaert, W. and Sugita, M.: 1992, ‘Regional Surface Fluxes Under Non-Uniform and Patchy Soil Moisture Conditions During Drying’, Water Resour. Res. (submitted).

  • Hall, F. G., Sellers, P. J., McPherson, I., Kelly, R. D., Verma, S., Markham, B., Blad, B., Wang, J., and Strebel, D. E.: 1989, ‘FIFE: Analysis and Results — A Review’, Adv. Space Res. 9, 275–293.

    Google Scholar 

  • Price, J. C.: 1983, ‘Estimating Surface Temperatures from Satellite Thermal Infrared Data — A Simple Formulation for the Atmospheric Effect’, Remote Sens. Environment 13, 353–361.

    Google Scholar 

  • Price, J. C.: 1984, ‘Land Surface Temperature Measurements from the Split Window Channels of the NOAA-7 Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer’, J. Geophys. Res. (Atmos.) 89(D5), 7231–7237.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sellers, P. J., Hall, F. G., Asrar, G., Strebel, D. E., and Murphy, R. E.: 1988, ‘The First ISLSCP Field Experiment (FIFE)’, Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc. 69, 22–27.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sugita, M. and Brutsaert, W.: 1990a, ‘Wind Velocity Measurements in the Neutral Boundary Layer Above Hilly Prairie’, J. Geophys. Res. (Atmos.) 95(D6), 7617–7624.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sugita, M. and Brutsaert, W.: 1990b, ‘Regional Surface Fluxes from Remotely Sensed Skin Temperature and Lower Boundary Layer Measurements’, Water Resour. Res. 26, 2937–2944.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sugita, M. and Brutsaert, W.: 1991, ‘Comparison of Surface Temperatures Derived from Satellite Observations with Ground Truth During FIFE’, Intern J. Remote Sensing (in press).

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Brutsaert, W., Sugita, M. Regional surface fluxes from satellite-derived surface temperatures (AVHRR) and radiosonde profiles. Boundary-Layer Meteorol 58, 355–366 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00120237

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00120237

Keywords

Navigation