Land Surface Temperature

Land surface temperature (LST) is a valuable diagnostic of biospheric stress resulting from soil moisture deficiencies. Soil surface temperature increases with decreasing water content, while moisture depletion in the plant root zone leads to stomatal closure, reduced transpiration, and elevated canopy temperatures. In land surface modeling, thermal infrared (TIR) imagery can serve as an effective substitute for precipitation data, providing much-needed water information in data-poor regions.

The figure below shows the distribution of land surface temperature in the study area as derived from a summer-time Landsat thermal infrared image.