Are the Sentinel 3 SLSTR Land Surface Temperature affected by clouds?

Good afternoon,

I am investigating the use of Sentinel 3 for our scope. In the scenario in which clouds cover the area I am interested in, I am wondering if the LTS products (bands 7,8,9 Sentinel 3 SLSLTR) represent the surface temperature OR the temperature of the clouds.

Thank you in advance

Federico

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Hello Federico,

The retrieval of Land Surface Temperature is indeed affected by cloud cover, and very few studies consider scenes with clouds to retrieve LST (bar a few exceptions). Indeed, LST is derived from thermal infrared bands (TIR) which measure radiation from the top of the clouds when they are present. If you want a better overview of the effects of clouds on IR satellite imagery, Penn state college in the USA have put together an informative page.

Maxim

Thank you for the exhaustive answer!

Federico