Exploiting the IASI profiling capability for surface parameters, atmospheric temperature, and water vapour to design emissivity contrast and water deficit indexes to monitor forests' response to droughts and heatwaves

Abstract
The paper uses Level 2 IASI (Infrared Atmospheric Sounder Interferometer) products to analyse long-standing heatwaves and related droughts. The paper is mostly interested in studying and assessing the effect of drought on vegetation. To this end, we have devised a series of indices sensitive to the water deficit. IASI retrievals are used to derive indices from the surface temperature, emissivity, and temperature/humidity atmospheric profiles. We define the emissivity contrast index, which is sensitive to the land cover and type, and the water deficit index, which combines the surface and air dew point temperatures. These two indices are assessed by considering the heatwave, which hit most of Europe and the Mediterranean basin in 2017. The application of the methodology will be shown by considering a target area in Southern Italy, where woodlands are suffering from climate change. It will be shown that the two indices are sensitive to the water deficit caused by long-lasting droughts.
Anno
2022
Autori IAC
Tipo pubblicazione
Altri Autori
Carmine Serio, Guido Masiello, Pamela Pasquariello, Italia De Feis, Pietro Mastro, Francesco Falabella, Angela Cersosimo, Sara Venafra, Antonio Pepe
Curatori Volume
Adolfo Comerón, Evgueni I. Kassianov, Klaus Schäfer, Richard H. Picard, Konradin Weber, Upendra N. Singh
Titolo Volume
Remote Sensing of Clouds and the Atmosphere XXVII