Correlation Analysis between Air Temperature and MODIS Land Surface Temperature and Prediction of Air Temperature Using TensorFlow Long Short-Term Memory for the Period of Occurrence of Cold and Heat Waves

• Main Authors: Jeehun Chung, Yonggwan Lee, Wonjin Jang, Siwoon Lee, Seongjoon Kim
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-10-01
• Series: Remote Sensing
• Subjects: air temperature prediction; heat and cold waves; long short-term memory; MODIS land surface temperature; TensorFlow
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/12/19/3231

The purpose of this study is to analyze the correlation between surface air temperature (SAT) and land surface temperature (LST) based on land use when heat and cold waves occur and to predict the distribution of SAT using the long short-term memory (LSTM) of TensorFlow. For the correlation analysis, the Terra and Aqua Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) daytime and nighttime LST and maximum, minimum, and mean SAT were measured at 79 weather stations of the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) from 2008 to 2018. As a result of the correlation analysis between SAT and LST, the maximum SAT (T_MX) had a good correlation with the daytime LST of Terra MODIS, with a Pearson’s correlation coefficient (<i>R</i>) of 0.92 and root mean square error (RMSE) of 4.8 °C, and the minimum SAT (T_MN) showed a good correlation with the nighttime LST of Terra MODIS, with an <i>R</i> of 0.93 and RMSE of 4.2 °C. When analyzing temperature characteristics by land use (urban, paddy, upland crop, forest, grass, wetland, bare field, and water), it was confirmed that the climate mitigation effect of the wetland and vegetation area appeared in the LSTs and the observed SAT. In the cold wave period, the average temperatures for urban and wetland areas was the highest, and the average temperature for wetland and forest was not higher than that of other land use classes. As the SAT results predicted through the LSTM model, the accuracy of the T_MN during the cold wave period was 0.59 for the coefficient of determination (<i>R</i>²), 3.1 °C for RMSE, and 0.76 for the index of agreement (IoA), while the accuracy of the T_MX for the heat wave period was 0.24 for <i>R</i>², 2.23 °C for RMSE, and 0.63 for IoA.