The impact of satellite derived land surface temperatures on numerical weather predication analyses and forecasts

Candy, B., Saunders, R. W., Ghent, D. and Bulgin, C. E. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4368-7386 (2017) The impact of satellite derived land surface temperatures on numerical weather predication analyses and forecasts. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 122 (18). pp. 9783-9802. ISSN 2169-8996 doi: 10.1002/2016JD026417

Abstract/Summary

Land surface temperature (LST) observations from a variety of satellite instruments operating in the infrared have been compared to estimates of surface temperature from the Met Office operational numerical weather prediction (NWP) model. The comparisons show that during the day the NWP model can under predict the surface temperature by up to 10 K in certain regions such as the Sahel and Southern Africa. By contrast at night the differences are generally smaller. Matchups have also been performed between satellite LSTs and observations from an in situ radiometer located in Southern England within a region of mixed land use. These matchups demonstrate good agreement at night and suggest that the satellite uncertainties in LST are less than 2 K. The Met Office surface analysis scheme has been adapted to utilize nighttime LST observations. Experiments using these analyses in an NWP model have shown a benefit to the resulting forecasts of near surface air temperature, particularly over Africa.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/72267
Identification Number/DOI	10.1002/2016JD026417
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Science > School of Mathematical, Physical and Computational Sciences > Department of Meteorology
Publisher	American Geophysical Union
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