Large-Scale BRDF Retrieval over New Mexico with a Multiangular NOAA AVHRR Dataset

Abstract

In this study a number of linear semiempirical kernel-driven (LiSK) bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) models are adjusted against an extensive Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) dataset collected over a variety of semiarid cover types in the southern part of New Mexico and parts of Chihuahua, Mexico as part of the May 1997 Prototype Validation Exercise (PROVE) campaign, an activity of the NASA Earth Observing System Terra validation program. The aim is to investigate model behavior under conditions of sparse angular sampling such as that provided by the AVHRRs and MODIS over a wide variety of southwestern desert surface types. Linear semiempirical models of the type to be used in the MODIS/MISR BRDF/albedo product (MOD43) are inverted, since these are appropriate for use over large areas. The results of the inversions show that these models are able to describe BRDF for a wide variety of surfaces and provide both a means for correcting for directional phenomena in satellite data and for extracting structural information from multiangular reflectance datasets.