Retrieval of Land Surface Temperature With Topographic Effect Correction From Landsat 8 Thermal Infrared Data in Mountainous Areas

Accurate estimation of land surface temperature (LST) is crucial for ecological environment monitoring and climate change studies in mountainous areas. The current LST retrieval algorithms were developed without accounting for the topographic effect, which can only be used to retrieve LST over relatively flat surfaces. Due to the impact of 3-D structure of mountainous surfaces, rugged terrain makes the processes of thermal radiation more complex. In this study, a radiative transfer equation (RTE)-based single-channel algorithm was proposed to retrieve LST with topographic effect correction from the Landsat 8 thermal infrared (TIR) data in mountainous areas. This algorithm accounts for the changes in the thermal radiation components in the TIR RTE caused by the topographic effect. According to the analysis of simulation data, sky-view factor (SVF), atmospheric water vapor content, surface emissivity of target pixel, and average LST of the surrounding terrain have significant influence on the magnitude of the topographic effect. The differences between the LST retrieved without/with topographic effect correction from the Landsat 8 TIR data are related to SVF. The topographic effect should be taken into account in the LST retrieval algorithm when SVF is smaller than 0.7. The largest LST difference of approximately 1 K occurs in the deep valley. The results indicate that LST without topographic effect correction could be overestimated to be as high as 1 K. Due to a lack of in situ LST measurements, the performance of the LST retrieval algorithm in mountainous areas was only evaluated by comparing the brightness temperature (BT) at the top of the atmosphere (TOA) simulated by the DART+MODTRAN model and the TIR RTE over mountainous surfaces at three subregions. There is a good consistency between BT at the TOA simulated by the DART+MODTRAN model and the TIR RTE over mountainous surfaces at the three subregions, with a root mean -squared error (RMSE) of less than 0.23 K.

Automated summary

Accurate estimation of land surface temperature in mountainous areas is crucial for ecological monitoring and climate studies. The new algorithm proposed in this study can retrieve LST from Landsat 8 data with topographic effect correction. Factors such as sky-view factor, atmospheric water vapor content, surface emissivity, and surrounding terrain's LST all play a significant role in the magnitude of the topographic effect.