Spatial Correlation Patterns of L-Band Microwave Brightness Temperature

Incorporating the spatial correlation information into the land data assimilation system provides the opportunities to improve the analysis quality of the assimilation system. In order to make use of the spatial autocorrelation information effectively in the land data assimilation system, we used the geostatistics to explore and describe the spatial variations of the microwave brightness temperature data. The corresponding experimental semivariogram model, covariance model, nugget effect, sill value and range were calculated. Then these results were applied to the localization of the microwave remote sensing observation error covariance successfully, and played an important role regarding the enhanced performance of the direct radiance assimilation system.