Assessment of long-term relationship between surface albedo and near surface temperature in grassland dominant region in the United States.

Surface albedo (or albedo) directly affects the energy balance of the Earth and its climate feedbacks, leading to global climate change. Albedo and temperature are considered as thermo-physical parameters which characterize the heat absorption behavior of an area. The present research work aims at examining the long-term relationship between near surface temperature (NST) and albedo in a grassland dominant region in the United States. To this purpose, U.S. Climate Reference Network (USCRN) temperature data and Copernicus PROBA and SPOT-Vegetation albedo data in the period 2006--2020 are used. The directional (black-sky) albedo over visible band [0.4--0.7 $\mu$m], near infrared band [0.7--4 $\mu$m] and total spectrum [0.4--4 $\mu$m} are considered. The monthly mean of albedo and NST are computed to study their relationship and trend. The findings of this research work are useful for improving climate models and applications considering albedo as a proxy of NST in grassland dominant areas.