Surface Albedo over the Sahel from METEOSAT Radiances

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Abstract
A method to estimate surface albedo in the African Sahel is proposed and discussed. This method, which uses METEOSAT imagery and routine surface global radiation measurement is shown to be relevant for climatological studies. The accuracy in the estimated albedos is analysed with respect to the intervening physical parameters. It is shown that a main source of error lies in the estimate of 0.4–1.1 μm radiances from filtered METEOSAT radiances. This problem limits the expected attainable accuracy in albedo to about 10% for typical land surface albedos.