Analysis of the Spatial and Temporal Variations of Land Surface Temperature Over the Tibetan Plateau from 2000 to 2018

Based on time series of MODIS/Terra daily LST product from 2000 to 2018, the spatial and temporal variations in the land surface temperature (LST) of the Tibetan Plateau was analyzed in this study. Due to the influence of cloud cover, it is not possible to obtain daily LST with full spatial coverage. Therefore, the annual temperature cycle (ATC) model was used to extract the mean annual surface temperature (MAST) during the daytime and nighttime to reflect changes in LST. The average value of the MASTs from 2000 to 2018 showed a cross-distribution characteristic, and there are significant differences between daytime and nighttime. Combining the elevation map and the land cover map, it was found that terrain and land cover strongly affected the spatial distribution in LST. According to the interannual change rate of the estimated MAST over the 19 years, it revealed that the average change rate at the nighttime was higher than that at the daytime. The trend analysis based on linear regression also indicated that the LSTs of both daytime and nighttime have an increasing trend.