An improved topographic correction model based on Minnaert

Abstract

The uneven distribution of solar radiation due to topographic relief can significantly change the correlation between reflectance and other features such as biomass in rugged terrain regions. In this article, we use the transfer theory to improve the Minnaert approach. After comparing topographic correction methods for Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) and EO-1 Advanced Land Imager (ALI) imagery acquired from the mountainous region in Beijing, China, we used visual inspection, statistical analysis, and correlation analysis to evaluate the algorithms and performance of the proposed Minnaert-E approach. The results indicate that corrections based on non-Lambertian methods have better performance than those based on the Lambertian assumption. The correction performances can be ranked as the Minnaert-E, followed by the Minnaert and the SCS+C corrections, and, finally, the C-HuangWei correction, which performed the worst. We found that the Minnaert-E approach can effectively weaken the influence of terrain relief on pixels and restore the true reflectance of the pixels in the relief area. Further analysis indicates that the Minnaert-E has a better effect on image processing where the slope gradient is restricted to less than 10° or between 30° and 43°.