Assessment of LST spatial and temporal changes in Jazmourian basin, southeast Iran

ABSTRACT Land surface temperature (LST) is an atmosphere-land interaction, which represents the first thermal reaction of the environmental changes occurring in the earth surface, being one of the most important factors used in the earth sciences. Jazmourian basin, in the southeast of Iran, is a fertile agricultural land with diverse topography and unique climatic conditions. Due to its significance as one of the most important agricultural poles of Iran, the LST variations are of great interest due to their high impact on the environmental processes, especially in the land cover. In recent years, Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer images have been extensively used to estimate the LST due to their spatial and temporal homogeneity and freely available showing improved capabilities of climate analysis in the areas with scarce observation networks. We used a combination of MOD11C3 and MYD11C3 products of daytime and nighttime LST, covering the complete circadian cycle over Jazmourian basin, from 2003 to 2019. Results showed varied trends by months with a significantly positive increase in January. The spatial distribution revealed a generalized positive anomaly in the whole study area, with the highest values in central lowlands and lowest at eastern high elevations of the basin. The temporal and spatial analyses indicated high temperature differences between months and seasons as well as a wide range from −10°C to 65°C.