WEATHER WATCH


MODIS MAP Land Surface Temperature Barometer


Te map above shows the Land Surface Temperature for the month of May of 2022. Maps also are available for intervals of eight days and of one day. Tese maps are made using data collected during the daytime by the Moderate Resolutions Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), an instrument on NASA’s Terra and Aqua satellites. Please note that the type of “surface” MODIS measures varies as a function of the location. In some places, the measurement represents the skin temperature of the bare land surface. In other places, the temperature represents the skin temperature of whatever is on the land—including snow and ice, or the leafy canopy of forests and crop fields, or human-made structures such as pavement and building rooftops. So, these maps should not be confused with the surface air temperature values that are given in typical weather reports.


Scientists monitor land surface temperature because the warmth rising off Earth’s landscapes influence our world’s weather and climate patterns. Likewise, land surface temperature also is influenced by changes in weather and climate patterns. So scientists routinely produce such maps to better understand the relationships between land surface temperature and changing weather and climate patterns. In particular, scientists want to monitor how the increase in atmospheric greenhouse gases impacts land surface temperature.


Commercial farmers also may use land surface temperature maps like these to evaluate water requirements for their crops during the summer when they are prone to heat stress. Conversely, in winter such maps can help farmers determine where and when their crops were exposed to damaging cold. For more information on the land surface temperature, or to see the most recent map, use the link that follows. https://neo.gsfc.nasa.gov/view.php?datasetId=MOD_LSTD_M


84 TPI Turf News July/August 2022


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