A Study on the Land Surface Emissivity (LSE) Distribution of Mid-wavelength Infrared (MWIR) over the Korean Peninsula.

This study presents the methods and results of land surface emissivity (LSE) of the mid-wavelength infrared (MWIR) in terms of land cover types over the Korean Peninsula. Surface emissivity and its background values for each sensor are mandatorily necessary for MWIR remote sensing to retrieve surface temperature and temporal variation. The MWIR emissivity was estimated by applying the Temperature Independent Spectral Indices (TISI) method to the VIIRS band 4 Day/Night images (3.74μm in center wavelength). The obtained values were classified according to land-cover types, and the obtained emissivity was then compared with those calculated from a standard ASTER spectral library. The annual means of MWIR emissivity of Deciduous Broadleaf Forest (0.958) and Mixed Forest (0.935) are higher than those of Croplands (0.925) and Natural Vegetation Mosaics (0.935) by about 2-3%. The annual mean of Urban is the lowest (0.914) with an annual variation of about 2% which is larger than those (1%) of other land-covers. The TISI and VIIRS based emissivity is slightly smaller than the ASTER spectral library based results by about 2-3%. The results will be used to understand the MWIR emissivity properties of the Korean Peninsula and to examine the seasonal and other environmental changes using MWIR images.