Diurnal trends in reflectance of bare soil surfaces in Southern Tunisia

In an area in southern Tunisia diurnal trends of bare soil surfaces have been investigated. The study area comprises two main parts: the footslopes and the playas. The diurnal variation of the bidirectional reflectance factor (BRF) in nadir direction on the footslopes is dominated by the effect of roughness. Maximum BRF is found with small solar zenith angles due to decrease in shadow related to surface roughness. For Landsat overpass it implies that the normal ground reflectance for a bare surface on the footslopes at identical surface conditions is up to 10% lower in December (solar zenith angle 63 degrees) than in June (28 degrees). Band ratios on the footslopes hardly change with variation of zenith angle. The diurnal variation in the playas is dominated by moisture. Asymmetric daily curves, with the lowest reflectance in the morning have been found. Four phenomena are reported which can be held responsible for this effect. This daily effect of moisture is weather dependent and may obscure long time changes of TM signal. In band ratios even with TM band 7 the diurnal moisture change can hardly be detected.