Retrieval of geophysical parameters from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer thermal infrared data: evaluation of a two-step physical algorithm

A two-step physical algorithm that simultaneously retrieves geophysical parameters from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) measurements was developed. The retrieved geophysical parameters include atmospheric temperature-humidity profile, surface skin temperature, and two surface emissivities within the shortwave (3-5-microm) and the longwave (8-14.5-microm) regions. The physical retrieval is accomplished in two steps: (i) The Tikhonov regularization method is employed to generate a regularization solution along with an optimum regularization parameter; (ii) the nonlinear Newtonian iteration algorithm is carried out with the regularization solution as a first-guess profile to obtain a final maximum probability solution for geophysical parameters. The algorithm was tested with both simulated and real MODIS Airborne Simulator (MAS) data. Sensitivity studies on simulated MAS data demonstrate that simultaneous retrievals of land and atmospheric parameters improve the accuracy of the retrieved geophysical parameters. Finally, analysis and accuracy of retrievals from real MAS data are discussed.