Estimating daily air temperature across the Southeastern United States using high-resolution satellite data: A statistical modeling study - PubMed Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2016 Apr:146:51-8.
doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2015.12.006. Epub 2015 Dec 21.

Estimating daily air temperature across the Southeastern United States using high-resolution satellite data: A statistical modeling study

Liuhua Shi  1 , Pengfei Liu  2 , Itai Kloog  3 , Mihye Lee  4 , Anna Kosheleva  4 , Joel Schwartz  4
Affiliations

Estimating daily air temperature across the Southeastern United States using high-resolution satellite data: A statistical modeling study

Liuhua Shi et al. Environ Res. 2016 Apr.

Abstract

Accurate estimates of spatio-temporal resolved near-surface air temperature (Ta) are crucial for environmental epidemiological studies. However, values of Ta are conventionally obtained from weather stations, which have limited spatial coverage. Satellite surface temperature (Ts) measurements offer the possibility of local exposure estimates across large domains. The Southeastern United States has different climatic conditions, more small water bodies and wetlands, and greater humidity in contrast to other regions, which add to the challenge of modeling air temperature. In this study, we incorporated satellite Ts to estimate high resolution (1km×1km) daily Ta across the southeastern USA for 2000-2014. We calibrated Ts-Ta measurements using mixed linear models, land use, and separate slopes for each day. A high out-of-sample cross-validated R(2) of 0.952 indicated excellent model performance. When satellite Ts were unavailable, linear regression on nearby monitors and spatio-temporal smoothing was used to estimate Ta. The daily Ta estimations were compared to the NASA's Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA) model. A good agreement with an R(2) of 0.969 and a mean squared prediction error (RMSPE) of 1.376°C was achieved. Our results demonstrate that Ta can be reliably predicted using this Ts-based prediction model, even in a large geographical area with topography and weather patterns varying considerably.

Keywords: Air temperature; Exposure error; MODIS; Reanalysis; Surface temperature.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: The authors declare that they have no actual or potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Map of the study area showing all available NCDC air temperature monitor stations across southeastern USA for 2000-2014.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Scatter plots of the monitored air temperature versus satellite surface temperature (left) and the monitored air temperature versus that from the stage 1 calibration (right). Data are shown for the year 2011.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Predicted air temperature (°C) from stage 2 (top) and both stage 2 & 3 (bottom) in each 1 km × 1 km grid on a sample day (2011.08.25) across the southeastern USA.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Spatial pattern of predicted air temperature (°C), averaged over the 2011 for the southeastern USA.
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Predicted air temperature (°C) at a 1 km × 1 km grid for August 3, 2011 (top) and August 25, 2011 (bottom).
Fig. 6
Fig. 6
A scatter plot of the calculated daily average Ta versus the daily T2m from MERRA. Data are shown for the year 2011.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Gosling SN, Lowe JA, McGregor GR, Pelling M, Malamud BD. Associations between elevated atmospheric temperature and human mortality: a critical review of the literature. Climatic Change. 2009;92(3-4):299–341.
    1. Gosling SN, McGregor GR, Lowe JA. Climate change and heat-related mortality in six cities Part 2: climate model evaluation and projected impacts from changes in the mean and variability of temperature with climate change. International journal of biometeorology. 2009;53(1):31–51. - PubMed
    1. Zanobetti A, Schwartz J. Temperature and mortality in nine US cities. Epidemiology (Cambridge, Mass) 2008;19(4):563–570. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Medina-Ramón M, Schwartz J. Temperature, temperature extremes, and mortality: a study of acclimatisation and effect modification in 50 US cities. Occupational and environmental medicine. 2007;64(12):827–833. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Basu R. High ambient temperature and mortality: a review of epidemiologic studies from 2001 to 2008. Environ Health. 2009;8(1):40–52. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources