Impact of topographic correction on high spectral resolution MODIS sensor satellite imagery of Himalayan region

Abstract

Remote sensing provides the facility of acquisition of data associated with Earth's surface to observe regular changes. An important characteristic of imaging sensor is resolution which is classified in four different ways: (a) spatial; (b) spectral; (c) radiometric; and (d) temporal. During recent decades, the emergence of multispectral sensors provides the data with enlarged quantity of spectral bands and change in different spectra often correspond to alterations in some vital surface physical parameters. The higher spectral resolution Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensor delivers data in 36 different spectral bands at three different spatial resolution to enhance the applications of remote sensing. Additionally, MODIS sensor has great temporal resolution which helps in updating of information on nearly daily basis. Beforehand to any application, various pre-processing procedures must be implemented to the remote sensed imagery to enhance different appropriate features. In case of undulating region imagery, it is important to eliminate the topographic effects such as shadowing, which generally, found in the remotely sensed images acquired from Himalayan region. From this perspective, this paper involves the analysis of impact of topographic correction on multispectral MODIS sensor data of Himalayan region. In the referred study, the base map of study area was derived from Himalayan region in which recover the information is problematic due to presence of topographic effects. Experiment conclusions confirmed that topographic corrections are significant in attaining a better quantification and understanding of a wide variety of procedure occurring in atmosphere and on the Earth surface. Moreover, extensive field investigation beyond that covered in this work is mandatory to assess the exact extent of the impact of the different spectral bands of different satellite sensors on topographic corrections.