What Have We Learned about Land Skin Temperature?

Land-surface skin temperature is the skin-level radiometric temperature retrieved from the surface- emitted upward longwave radiation. As a counterpart of the traditional 2-meter air temperature, skin temperature has different magnitude and physical meaning. For example, on clear days, skin temperature is generally higher than the 2-meter air temperature during the daytime but lower than the latter at night. The differences between skin and 2-meter air temperature have been used to determine the yield of vegetation. Satellite-based skin temperature data, in particular, those from EOS MODIS, has been used to study global land surface changes, urbanization effects, and land-biosphere-atmosphere interactions. Land surface models have also been significantly improved by using satellite skin temperature as an index to evaluate model performance in general and to improve physical processes in specific.

Land skin temperature was the study topic Dr. Robert E. Dickinson suggested back to early 1990s. A report on this topic, from remote sensing, land surface modeling, and the integration of these two fields, is in honor of the pioneering insights that Dr. Dickinson provided.