Mapping aerodynamic roughness length with multi-source remote sensing data

Aerodynamic roughness length (z0) is one of those important biophysical parameters, which influence energy exchange at the land-atmosphere interface, so it is significant to quantify the z0 accurately. In this paper, a scheme parameterizing land-surface z0 at regional scale has been approached based on multi-resource remote sensing data, including LiDAR and optical remote sensing. Firstly, we retrieved the regional vegetation height from LiDAR data of Geoscience Laser Altimeter System(GLAS) onboard the Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite(ICESat), and then the z0 values of vegetated surface were calculated using height data and canopy area index retrieved from remote sensing data. Finally, the wall-to-wall map of z0 in January and July 2008 were developed. This operational scheme to parameterize z0 based on the vegetation height and canopy area index retrieved from multi-source remote sensing data can be applied to quantify time serial z0 at regional scale. Besides, it can also improve z0 parameterization in land models or atmospheric models.