title: Evaluation of MODIS surrogates for meteorological humidity data in east Africa.
abstract: Satellite remote sensing technology has shown promising results in characterizing the environment in which plants and animals thrive. Remote sensing scientists, biologists, and epidemiologists are adopting remotely sensed imagery to compensate for the paucity of weather information measured by weather stations. With measured humidity from three stations as baselines, our study reveals that Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and atmosphere saturation deficits at the 780 hPa pressure level (DMODIS), both of which were derived from the MODerate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensor, were significantly correlated with station saturation deficits (Dstn)(ȣrȣ = 0.42-0.63,p< 0.001). These metrics have the potential to estimate saturation deficits over east Africa. Four to nine days of lags were found in the NDVI responding toDstn. For the daily estimations ofDstn,DMODIShad a better performance than the NDVI. However, both of them poorly explained the variances in dailyDstnusing simple regression models (adj.R2= 0.17-0.39). When the estimation temporal scale was changed to 16-day, their performances were similar, and both were better than daily estimations. ForDstnestimations at coarser geographic scales, given that many factors such as soil, vegetation, slope, aspect, and wind speed might complicate the NDVI response lags and model construction,DMODISis more favourable as a proxy of the saturation deficit over ground due to its simple relationship withDstn.
authors: College of Environment and Natural Resources, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China.
authors: Shengpan
authors: S
authors: Lin
authors: Nathan J
authors: NJ
authors: Moore
authors: Joseph P
authors: JP
authors: Messina
authors: Jiaping
authors: J
authors: Wu
references: Bull Entomol Res. 2007 Dec;97(6):607-12
references: 17997874
references: Ann Trop Med Parasitol. 1996 Feb;90(1):1-19
references: 8729623
references: Geospat Health. 2006 Nov;1(1):71-84
references: 18686233
references: Nature. 2002 Feb 7;415(6872):710-5
references: 11832960
references: Annu Rev Entomol. 1985;30:197-216
references: 3882049
references: Nature. 1991 Jun 27;351(6329):739-41
references: 2062367
references: Astrobiology. 2003 Winter;3(4):785-811
references: 14987483
references: Environ Health Perspect. 1991 Dec;96:171-4
references: 1820262
references: Ann Trop Med Parasitol. 2010 Jan;104(1):35-53
references: 20149291
references: J Biogeogr. 2004 Oct;31(10):1579-1604
references: 32336865
references: J Environ Manage. 2009 May;90(7):2261-9
references: 18423845
references: PLoS Pathog. 2007 Oct 26;3(10):1361-71
references: 17967056