MODIS observed impacts of intensive agriculture on surface temperature in the southern Great Plains

Land use/cover change has been recognized as an important component in regional and global climate. This study provides satellite observed impacts of agricultural activities on near surface climate. Land surface temperature products from NASA’s earth observing system (EOS) Terra and Aqua satellites are used. The intensive winter wheat field in the southern Great Plains greatly modifies the seasonal, diurnal and spatial characteristics of surface temperature. Over the period from August 2002 to July 2008, in terms of maximum daytime temperature the winter wheat field is 2.30 °C cooler than surrounding grasslands in the growing season, but 1.61 °C warmer after its harvest. The maximum cool and warm anomalies reach 4.16 °C and 3.35 °C, respectively. At night, the impacts of the wheat fields are less significant especially after harvest. Spatially, the wheat field has more uniform surface temperature than grassland. Over the 6-year period, the standard deviation of daytime land surface temperature over the wheat field is 0.72 °C smaller than grassland. The value of EOS observations for the land/climate interaction research is demonstrated, and similar analysis has potential to be applied to other land use/cover changes in different regions. Copyright  2010 Royal Meteorological Society