Toward a Combined Surface Temperature Data Set for the Arctic From the Along‐Track Scanning Radiometers

Abstract

Surface temperature data sets for, or including, the Arctic have been derived from various thermal infrared sensors. However, a combined, all surface temperature data set for the Arctic has not been generated previously. Here we present the first combined land, ocean, and ice surface temperature data set for the Arctic produced from Along‐Track Scanning Radiometer ‐ 2 and the Advanced Along‐Track Scanning Radiometer satellite sensors: the Along‐Track Scanning Radiometer Arctic combined Surface Temperature data set. Separate products, produced independently for each sensor and containing quantified uncertainties, together cover the period August 1995 to April 2012. Product validation, utilizing a more extensive in situ database than previous studies, shows that Along‐Track Scanning Radiometer Arctic combined Surface Temperature surface temperatures generally agree with in situ data and are similar to previous validation of input surface temperature retrievals. Biases range from −1.74 to 0.23 K over open ocean, sea ice, snow over land, and the Greenland ice sheet with higher variability over snow/ice. However, there are noticeable outliers in the validation results, particularly over Arctic land in boreal summer for Along‐Track Scanning Radiometer ‐ 2, which are likely due to cloud contamination resulting from a climatologically static snow field being used for that sensor. This study suggests that the Along‐Track Scanning Radiometer Arctic combined Surface Temperature data set presented here is a useful tool for assessment of models in the Arctic. Further work would have clear benefits including improvements to snow cover and cloud clearing to achieve a fully consistently processed, climate quality combined surface temperature data set for the Arctic region.

A new Level 4 multi-sensor ice surface temperature product for the Greenland Ice Sheet

“…The primary IR sensors used for estimating IST are the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) available since August 1981 (Comiso andHall, 2014;Dybkjaer et al, 2012;Comiso, 2003), the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) available since 1999 (Hall et al, 2008(Hall et al, , 2012(Hall et al, , 2013, the (Advanced) Along Track Scanning Radiometer ((A)ATSR) available since 1991 (Dodd et al, 2019), and the Sea and Land Surface Temperature Radiometer (SLSTR) A/B as successors of the (A)ATSR series. Recently, the European Space Agency (ESA) funded the Land Surface Temperature Climate Change Initiative (LST_cci) project, part of the agency's Climate Change Initiative (CCI) programme, releasing initial versions of data products from several satellites that provide temperature information across land surfaces regionally and globally, with a temporal extent of 20 years (Perry et al, 2020).…”

A new L4 multi-sensor ice surface temperature product for the Greenland Ice Sheet

“…The primary IR sensors used for estimating IST are the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) available since August 1981 (Comiso and Hall, 2014;Dybkjaer et al, 2012;Comiso, 2003), the Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) available since 1999 (Hall et al, 2008(Hall et al, , 2012(Hall et al, , 2013, the (Advanced) Along Track Scanning Radiometers, (A)ATSRs, available since 1991 (Dodd et al, 2019) and the Sea and Land Surface Temperature Radiometer (SLSTR) A/B as successors of the (A)ATSR series. Recently, the European Space Agency (ESA) funded LST_cci project, part of the Agency's Climate Change Initiative (CCI) Programme, released initial versions of data products from several satellites that provide temperature information across land surfaces regionally and globally, with a temporal extent of 20 years (Perry et al, 2020).…”