An Evaluation of TVX Method Efficiency to Estimate Air Temperature: A Case Study of Northwestern Iran

Air temperature is a key parameter in environment and earth sciences studies. Determining the air temperature using TVX method and remote sensing technique by surmounting the restrictions of sparse network of meteorological stations is of paramount importance. The main objective of this study is to investigate the efficiency of TVX method in estimating the air temperature emphasizing the precise estimation of land surface temperature. In this regard, Sobrino and Price algorithms were used for land surface temperature estimation. A comparison of RMSE values related to the land surface temperature and air temperature was indicative of a 7% and 18% decrease of errors, respectively. Moreover, TVX method is sensitive to the vegetation cover. Therefore, increasing the efficiency of TVX method should be done in terms of two components, land surface temperature and NDVI index. Using this method can affect the results of investigating hydrological cycle such as change of evaporation from lakes, change of volume and duration runoff and consequently water resources management planning.