Thermal inertia determination from space— a tutorial review

Abstract
Thermal infrared radiation can be used to determine Earth surface temperature from space. The concepts of thermal inertia and apparent thermal inertia are described. The Heat Capacity Mapping Mission (HCMM), and the results of the applications of HCMM data, principally in geological studies, are discussed. It is shown that thermal infrared data from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) can also be used for the determination of thermal inertia with only the need to have a very small additional quantity of local meteorological data.