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• Surface property models
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Surface property models

The surface property models task group

At the Beijing 2005 ITSC the RTSP working group endorsed the formation of a task group to co-ordinate surface radiative property modelling activities, proposed by Ben Ruston. It was agreed that, while the task group will address surface property modelling for all surface types, in the first instance the task group would focus on land surface emissivity atlas and model developments in the first instance.

Catherine Prigent (Meteo France) and Fuzhong Weng (NOAA/NESDIS) are the co-chairs of the surface property models task group.

The task group has completed a survey of operational weather centres on the use of surface-sensitive ATOVS radiances, and is organising the First Workshop on Remote Sensing and Modeling of Surface Properties, to be held in Paris in June 2006.

Summary of operational surface emissivity models

Infrared

Microwave

Surface emissivity atlases

• the CERES surface property website provides maps of soil type, surface albedo, broadband IR emissivity, water fraction and surface elevation.
• the University of Wisconsin have recently generated a global infrared land surface emissivity database