Towards a Unified and Coherent Land Surface Temperature Earth System Data Record from Geostationary Satellites

Information on Land Surface Temperature (LST) can be generated from observations made from satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO) such as the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER), the Advanced Very-High-Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) sensor, or by sensors in geostationary Earth orbit (GEO) such as the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) series. A unique long term record of observations from the GOES series is available and can be used to generate information on LST that represents the diurnal cycle. We present such an effort using the Radiative Transfer for TOVS (RTTOV) model driven with the Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA-2) information and with the Combined ASTER and MODIS Emissivity over Land (CAMEL) products. We discuss results of evaluation from GOES-E against the MODIS Land Surface Temperature and Emissivity (MOD11) product and against several different ground observations for daytime and nighttime, including two independent height levels, and covering the of (2004-2008/2009). At instantaneous time scale, most LST estimates are within one std from the mean observed value and the bias is under 1 % of the mean, providing confidence in the six year record generated. It was also shown that at several sites with long record of observations, the diurnal cycle of LST as averaged over six years, is consistent with a similar record generated from the satellite observations. Since the evaluation of the GOES - E LST estimates was done for every hour of the day, the data are well suited to address issues related to the diurnal cycle.