Spatial Resolution Enhancement of AMSR Tb Images based on Measurement Local Time of Day

Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR) brightness temperature (Tb) data are typically organized into daily average images characterized by compromised temporal resolution. An alternate approach considers the location-dependent measurement time of each sample and organizes data by local time-of-day (LTOD), producing bi-daily images with high temporal locality and reduced noise. These LTOD images show greater improvement and fewer artifacts than daily images when spatial resolution enhancement algorithms are applied. LTOD ice edges are on average 8 km closer to MODIS ice edges than daily ice edges.