Impact of Aerosol Model Selection on Water-Leaving Radiance Retrievals from Satellite Ocean Color Imagery

Remote Sensing

Sean C. McCarthy¹  Richard W. Gould¹  James Richman²  Courtney Kearney¹ 

[1] Bio-Optical/Physical Processes and Remote Sensing Section, Naval Research Laboratory, Code 7331, Stennis Space Center, MS 39529, USA; E-Mails:;Ocean Processes and Predictions Section, Naval Research Laboratory, Code 7323, Stennis Space Center, MS 39529, USA; E-Mail:

关键词: aerosol models;    normalized water-leaving radiance;    MODIS;    AERONET-OC;    atmospheric correction;    ocean color;   

DOI  :  10.3390/rs4123638

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

We examine the impact of atmospheric correction, specifically aerosol model selection, on retrieval of bio-optical properties from satellite ocean color imagery. Uncertainties in retrievals of bio-optical properties (such as chlorophyll, absorption, and backscattering coefficients) from satellite ocean color imagery are related to a variety of factors, including errors associated with sensor calibration, atmospheric correction, and the bio-optical inversion algorithms. In many cases, selection of an inappropriate or erroneous aerosol model during atmospheric correction can dominate the errors in the satellite estimation of the normalized water-leaving radiances (_nL_w), especially over turbid, coastal waters. These errors affect the downstream bio-optical properties. Here, we focus on the impact of aerosol model selection on the _nL_w radiance estimates by comparing Aerosol Robotic Network-Ocean Color (AERONET-OC) measurements of _nL_w and aerosol optical depth (AOD) to satellite-derived values from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS). We also apply noise to the satellite top-of-atmosphere (TOA) radiance values in the two near-infrared (NIR) wavelengths used for atmospheric correction, to assess the effect on aerosol model selection and _nL_w retrievals. In general, for the data sets examined, we found that as little as 1% uncertainty (noise) in the NIR TOA radiances can lead to the selection of a different pair of bounding aerosol models, thus changing _nL_w retrievals. We also compare aerosol size fraction retrieved from AERONET and size fraction represented by aerosol models selected during atmospheric correction.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2012 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.