Generation of land surface temperature orthophoto and temperature accuracy analysis by land covers based on thermal infrared sensor mounted on unmanned aerial vehicle

Land surface temperature is known to be an important factor in understanding the interactions of the groundatmosphere. However, because of the large spatio-Temporal variability, regular observation is rarely made. The existing land surface temperature is observed using satellite images, but due to the nature of satellite, it has the limit of long revisit period and low accuracy. In this study, in order to confirm the possibility of replacing land surface temperature observation using satellite imagery, images acquired by TIR (Thermal Infrared) sensor mounted on UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) are used. The acquired images were transformed from JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) to TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) format and orthophoto was then generated. The DN (Digital Number) value of orthophoto was used to calculate the actual land surface temperature. In order to evaluate the accuracy of the calculated land surface temperature, the land surface temperature was compared with the land surface temperature directly observed with an infrared thermometer at the same time. When comparing the observed land surface temperatures in two ways, the accuracy of all the land covers was below the measure accuracy of the TIR sensor. Therefore, the possibility of replacing the satellite image, which is a conventional land surface temperature observation method, is confirmed by using the TIR sensor mounted on UAV.