| Observing sub-polar ecosystems is important as they are suspected to change significantly in response to the expected increase in temperature for the next decades. To bypass the lack of meteorological stations in the Northern High Latitudes, remote sensing is an interesting alternative tool, covering almost the entire area. This project deals with the development of a method to derive surface parameters (>50°N) from satellite data. For this study, brightness temperature data acquired by the SSM/I (Special Sensor Microwave Imager) in the microwave spectrum are used because they are independent of solar radiation and weakly influenced by the atmosphere. Methods used are based on brightness temperatures measured at 19 and 37 GHz, which allow to derive three geophysical parameters related to climate variability: daily maps of snowcover between 1988 and 2002; a water surface extent (open water, small lakes, reservoirs, wetlands associated with low vegetation); a temperature characterizing the surface and the air above the ground. A method to normalize the temperature is presented to overcome the variation of the time of measurement. It leads to hourly series of temperature, This allows to study climate indicators such as the annual sum of positive degree days. Trends confirm observed climate evolution: increase of surface temperature (+0.8 +/- 0.4°C for Canada/Alaska between 1992 and 2002), decrease in snow extent cover. These original databases could also be useful for validation of regional climate model. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)... |
