Atmospheric correction algorithm for MODIS data of inland waters by using short-wave infrared bands

Abstract

Atmospheric correction, which can retrieve water-leaving radiance, is an important preprocess in monitoring water quality from remote sensing data. The atmospheric correction algorithms developed by Gordon (1993, 1994) assume that water-leaving radiance of ocean waters in near infrared is zero. However, such an assumption is not applicable to inland waters, and usually leads to failure in atmospheric correction of remote sensing data of inland waters. Some scientists, based on some other assumptions, have developed some improved atmospheric correction algorithms which can be applied to coastal and inland waters. However, these algorithms can only get good results in specific areas. In order to get good results of atmospheric correction of remote sensing data of inland waters in China, an improved atmospheric correction algorithm is developed in this paper. This improved atmospheric correction algorithm assumes that water-leaving radiance in short-wave infrared is zero, which is based on the analysis of absorption and scattering characteristics of inland waters. This atmospheric correction algorithm is validated to have high applicable potentials by applied to concurrent MODIS data and in-situ measured reflectance spectra in Guanting Reservoir in North China.