14. Microwave Land surface Emissivity Estimation over the Indian
Subcontinent from Satellite data
Author：
Tinu Antony, Korak Saha, Suresh Raju and K. Krishnamoorthy
Affiliation： Vikram Sarabhai Space Center,ISRO
The microwave land emissivity for the Indian subcontinent (lat: 00 – 400N & Long:
60-1000E) is retrieved from the DMSP Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I)
data for the years 2007 and 2008 and monthly mean emissivity maps of Indian
Subcontinent for all the SSM/I channels are generated for the two years. Wide
variety of geographical features and climatic conditions prevail over the Indian
sub-continent and their detailed characterization in terms of microwave emissivity
has been studied in detail. Apart from that, the Indian monsoon which is a unique
feature also influences the land use/land cover and climatic variability over this
region. Based on the microwave emissivity maps, the spectral and seasonal
variations of various land classes are analyzed using multifrequency and dual
polarization data. Such analyses have potential applications in land surface
charcterisation (waterlogged marsh lands/ arid or semiarid regions , sandunes and
rock cutcrop, snow and ice cover) and to discriminate various vegetation classes like
the tropical rain forest, deciduous forest, etc. The seasonal and interannual variability
of emissivity of different land surface classes like tropical evergreen and deciduous
forests, agriculture area, wet land and deserts region like the hot deserts (Thar) and
cold deserts(Taklamakan) have also been studied. The study also extended for
assessing the flood affected area in the Indian Subcontinent during the Indian
monsoon for a period of four years (2007-2010).