Estimating net solar radiation using Landsat Thematic Mapper and digital elevation data

Journal Article · Tue Sep 01 04:00:00 EDT 1992 · Water Resources Research; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1029/92WR00772· OSTI ID:5822622

Dubayah, R ^[1]

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1. Maryland Univ., College Park (United States)

A radiative transfer algorithm is combined with digital elevation and satellite reflectance data to model spatial variability in net solar radiation at fine spatial resolution. The method is applied to the tall-grass prairie of the 16 x 16 sq km FIFE site (First ISLSCP Field Experiment) of the International Satellite Land Surface Climatology Project. Spectral reflectances as measured by the Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) are corrected for atmospheric and topographic effects using field measurements and accurate 30-m digital elevation data in a detailed model of atmosphere-surface interaction. The spectral reflectances are then integrated to produce estimates of surface albedo in the range 0.3-3.0 microns. This map of albedo is used in an atmospheric and topographic radiative transfer model to produce a map of net solar radiation. A map of apparent net solar radiation is also derived using only the TM reflectance data, uncorrected for topography, and the average field-measured downwelling solar irradiance. Comparison with field measurements at 10 sites on the prairie shows that the topographically derived radiation map accurately captures the spatial variability in net solar radiation, but the apparent map does not. 29 refs.

• OSTI ID: 5822622
• Journal Information: Water Resources Research; (United States), Journal Name: Water Resources Research; (United States) Vol. 28:9; ISSN WRERAQ; ISSN 0043-1397
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
140100* -- Solar Energy-- Resources & Availability
ALGORITHMS
DATA ACQUISITION
ENERGY TRANSFER
HEAT TRANSFER
MATHEMATICAL LOGIC
MULTISPECTRAL PHOTOGRAPHY
OPTICAL PROPERTIES
PHOTOGRAPHY
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
RADIANT HEAT TRANSFER
RADIATIONS
RESOLUTION
SOLAR RADIATION
SPATIAL RESOLUTION
SPECTRAL REFLECTANCE
STELLAR RADIATION
TOPOGRAPHY