Reconstruction of daytime land surface temperatures under cloud-covered conditions using integrated MODIS/Terra land products and MSG geostationary satellite data

There is considerable demand for satellite observations that can support spatiotemporally continuous mapping of land surface temperature (LST) because of its strong relationships with many surface processes. However, the frequent occurrence of cloud cover induces a large blank area in current thermal infrared-based LST products. To effectively fill this blank area, a new method for reconstructing the cloud-covered LSTs of Terra Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) daytime observations is described using random forest (RF) regression approach. The high temporal resolution of the Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) LST product assisted in identifying the temporal variations in cloud cover. The cumulative downward shortwave radiation flux (DSSF) was estimated as the solar radiation factor for each MODIS pixel based on the MSG DSSF product to represent the impact from cloud cover on incident solar radiation. The RF approach was used to fit an LST linking model based on the datasets collected from clear-sky pixels that depicted the complicated relationship between LST and the predictor variables, including the surface vegetation index (the normalized difference vegetation index and the enhanced vegetation index), normalized difference water index, solar radiation factor, surface albedo, surface elevation, surface slope, and latitude. The fitted model was then used to reconstruct the LSTs of cloud-covered pixels. The proposed method was applied to the Terra/MODIS daytime LST product for four days in 2015, spanning different seasons in southwestern Europe. A visual inspection indicated that the reconstructed LSTs thoroughly captured the distribution of surface temperature associated with surface vegetation cover, solar radiation, and topography. The reconstructed LSTs showed similar spatial pattern according to the comparison with clear-sky LSTs from temporally adjacent days. In addition, evaluations against Global Land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS) NOAH 0.25° 3-h LST data and reference LST data derived based on in-situ air temperature measurements showed that the reconstructed LSTs presented a stable and reliable performance. The coefficients of determination derived with the GLDAS LST data were all above 0.59 on the four examined days. These results indicate that the proposed method has a strong potential for reconstructing LSTs under cloud-covered conditions and can also accurately depict the spatial patterns of LST.