Estimation of regional surface resistance to evapotranspiration from NDVI and thermal-IR AVHRR data

R. R. Nemani, S. W. Running

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450 Scopus citations

Abstract

We tested a hypothesis that the relationship between surface temperature and canopy density is sensitive to seasonal changes in canopy resistance of conifer forests. Surface temperature (Ts) and canopy density were computed for a 20×25 km forested region in Montana, from the NOAA/AVHRR for 8 days during the summer of 1985. A forest ecosystem model, FOREST-BGC, simulated canopy resistance (Rc) for the same period. For all eight days, surface temperatures had high association with canopy density, measured as Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) (R2=0.73-0.91), implying that latent heat exchange is the major cause of spatial variations in surface radiant temperatures. -from Authors

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)276-284
Number of pages9
JournalJournal of Applied Meteorology
Volume28
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - 1989

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