Estimation of Near-Surface Air Temperature Lapse Rate Based on MODIS Data Over the Tibetan Plateau

Abstract

Near-surface air temperature lapse rate (NSATLR) is one of the key criteria for judging atmospheric stability. It is an important model parameter in glacier, hydrology, ecology, climate, and meteorology in high mountains such as the Tibetan Plateau (TP). However, due to the complex interaction between the atmosphere and land surface, retrieving NSATLR from remotely sensed data is challenging. In this article, we develop a novel model based on the MODIS data to estimate the daily 5-km NSATLR over the TP. The input parameters of the model include digital elevation model and the near-surface air temperature estimated from the MODIS data. By combining moving window and specified criteria, the pixel-based NASTLR with a 5-km spatial resolution over the TP is estimated. In addition, we also estimate the NSATLR based on the meteorological data over the TP (NSATLRin situ) to evaluate the accuracy of NSATLR estimation model. Results demonstrate that the NSATLR estimate agrees well with NSATLRin situ in the eastern TP, with an overall root-mean-square error of 1.51 °C/km and a mean bias error of −0.78 °C/km. Larger deviation exists in the southern TP. Thanks to the evident advantages of simplicity, the availability of input parameters and the independence from the meteorological data, the developed model can be applied to larger areas.

Keywords

• Lapse rate
• meteorological data
• MODIS
• near-surface air temperature
• Tibetan Plateau