Field experiment design for land surface temperature validation

Validation of land surface temperature (LST) derived from satellites has shown errors of ±3 K with some as large as ±6 K. Much of this error can be attributed to field observation techniques used to collect ground LST. We instrumented a cattle pasture in Oklahoma during the Southern Great Plains (SGP99) experiment to observe the temperature variability throughout tire field. Vegetation differences within a single field can range over 20°C making validation of satellite LST difficult.