Land surface temperature retrievals from satellite measurements

This paper discusses the importance of considering both atmospheric absorption and surface emittance in an accurate assessment of land surface temperature. This is obtained by combining the measurements in two spectrally close radiometric channels of NOAA-AVHRR/2 instruments (Split Window Channels), accurately simulated for different atmospheric and terrestrial conditions.

The approach, that usually takes into account the atmospheric effects, has been improved, with the addition of a term depending only upon surface emittance. The proposed algorithm, that provides an estimate of land surface temperature within ±1°C if spectral surface emittance is known, has been applied to AVHRR/2 data to obtain surface temperature maps of the Northern Italy.