TITLE:
Arctic Diurnal Land-Surface Temperature Range Changes Derived by NASA MODIS-Terra and -Aqua 2000 through 2012
AUTHORS:
Reginald R. Muskett
KEYWORDS:
Arctic; Diurnal Range; Land-Surface Temperature; Changes; Trends; MODIS
JOURNAL NAME:
Atmospheric and Climate Sciences,
Vol.4 No.2,
April
14,
2014
ABSTRACT: The diurnal variation of
surface temperature is a fundamental parameter as it is a driver of physical
processes of atmosphere-land and -ocean energy and mass cycles playing a key
role in meteorology and climatology. Our investigation focus is on the diurnal
variation of land-surface temperature derived by the Moderate Resolution
Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) deployed on the NASA Terra and Aqua
satellites. We key our investigation on the ascending and descending mode
equator crossing times for daytime and nighttime land-surface temperature
variations from March 2000 through 2010 (MODIS-Terra) and July 2002 through
2012 (MODIS-Aqua) and assess the diurnal land-surface temperature range changes
at those sampling times. Our investigation shows non-stationary changes in the
trends of land-surface temperature diurnal range. We identify changes in the
diurnal range trends linked to increase of daytime and nighttime land-surface
temperatures from March 2000 through 2010 and decrease in daytime and nighttime
land-surface temperatures from July 2002 through 2012. The most recent decrease
in daytime and nighttime land-surface temperatures and diurnal range will
affect Arctic and other associated energy and mass cycles.