Remote Sensing Parameterization of Land Surface Heat Fluxes over Arid and Semi-arid Areas

Dealing with the regional land surfaces heat fluxes over inhomogeneous land surfaces in arid and semi-arid areas is an important but not an easy issue. In this study, one parameterization method based onsatellite remote sensing and field observations is proposed and tested for deriving the regional land surfaceheat fluxes over inhomogeneous landscapes. As a case study, the method is applied to the Dunhuangexperimental area and the HEIFE (Heihe River Field Experiment, 1988-1994) area. The Dunhuang areais selected as a basic experimental area for the Chinese National Key Programme for Developing BasicSciences: Research on the Formation Mechanism and Prediction Theory of Severe Climate Disaster inChina (G1998040900, 1999-2003). The four scenes of Landsat TM data used in this study are 3 June 2000,22 August 2000, and 29 01- 2001 for the Dunhuang area and 9 07- 1991 for the HEIFE area. Theregional distributions of land surface variables, vegetation variables, and heat fluxes over inhomogeneouslandscapes in arid and semi-arid areas are obtained in this study.