A Multi-Scale Observation Experiment on Land Surface Temperature Using UAV Remote Sensing (MUSOES-UAV): Preliminary Results

While numerous algorithms have been developed for retrieving land surface temperature (LST) and various LST products have been released for satellite thermal infrared (TIR) remote sensing, capturing thermal details on finer scales remains challenging due to limitations in revisit period and spatial resolution. Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) TIR remote sensing, on the other hand, proves capable of obtaining LST at high to super-high spatial resolutions, thereby supporting studies such as evapotranspiration estimation and precision agriculture. However, challenges arise from the operational characteristics of UAVs and the inherent defects in UAV-borne TIR imagers, which leads to issues in the obtained data. Moreover, the lack of methods to convert LST between ground, UAV, and satellite scales hampers the validation of LST products and impacts our understanding of LST variation from regional to global scales. Therefore, a MUlti-Scale Observation Experiment on land Surface temperature using UAV remote sensing (MUSOES-UAV) was designed and implemented in the middle reaches of the Heihe River basin. MUSOES-UAV provides a research basis for obtaining reliable, high-accuracy LST, offering new insights into the spatiotemporal changes of LST.