Utilization of terra/MODIS L1B data for analysis of horizontal wind profile in the troposphere

Abstract

This study was concerned with horizontal wind derived from data collected with the Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board the NASA’s Earth Observation System (EOS)-Terra satellite. The aim of this study is to develop a method for the estimation of horizontal wind movement in the troposphere based on Navier-Stokes equation. The method was applied to a calibrated and geolocated Terra/MODIS L1B 1 km data set. The data inputs to estimate surface temperature are retrieved from TIR (Thermal Infrared) bands 31 (10.780 μm to 11.280 μm) and 32 (11.770 μm to 12.270 μm). The obtained surface temperatures were later used to approximate geopotential height on a constant-pressure surface by using the modified Poisson equation. The main assumptions used are the hydrostatic equilibrium, ideal gas law, constant lapse rate and constant acceleration of gravity. Based on the distribution of geopotential height, the pressure gradient force is measured by the gradient of geopotential on an isobaric coordinate to present the horizontal wind profile. For certain topographic areas especially in the mountain ranges, there was a disadvantage of using pressure as a vertical coordinate which lead to inaccuracy. In spite of that, Terra/MODIS L1B data with 1 km spatial resolution can be used to estimate the horizontal wind movement in the troposphere.