Assessment of satellite images terrestrial surface temperature and WVP using GNSS radio occultation data

Abstract Land Surface Temperature (LST) and Water Vapor Pressure (WVP) contour maps can be produced using cameras aboard satellites, for instance, under the name “Remote Sensing (RS)”. Satellite image observations should be verified before using based on a reliable data. Global Navigation Satellite System Radio Occultation (GNSS-RO) method is observing accurate Earth atmosphere parameters continuously. In the present research, LST and WVP differences between Landsat 8 (LC08), Sentinel-3 (S3), and MODIS (Terra and Aqua) images and GNSS-RO are assessed in Egypt depending on the satellites operating periods and data availability during the years from 2015 to 2020. Statistically, S3 and Terra have insignificant differences with RO temperature with an average bias of 3.48 °C and 1.47 °C, respectively, but LC08 and Aqua have significant differences with it. For WVP, Aqua and LC08 have insignificant differences with an average bias of 0.02 kg/m2 and 2.31 kg/m2, respectively, but S3 and Terra have significant differences with RO observations. When comparing LC08 LST data to other satellites, it was found that there were insignificant differences between LC08 and S3 as well as Terra. However, significant differences were observed when comparing LC08 LST data to Aqua. Additionally, significant differences were noted when comparing LC08 WVP data to other satellites. In response to these differences, improvement models have been developed to enhance the estimation of terrestrial data through remote sensing, particularly for satellites that exhibited significant disparities when compared to reference observations (RO).