Remote sensing radiance image simulation of the non-Lambertian land surface

Abstract

Remote sensing image realistic simulation enables a thorough preparation of earth imaging instruments and data processing algorithms before the launch. Therefore, the development of the end-to-end simulation tool is essential for the future earth observation missions. The natural land surface is mostly heterogeneous and non-Lambertian simultaneously, of which the remote sensing image cannot be reproduced very well by the existing tools. In this paper, a physical based method is proposed for remote sensing radiance image simulation of heterogeneous, non-Lambertian land surface in the solar-reflective spectral range, which generates the input signal at sensor. The successive orders of radiation interactions model is established to account for the radiative transfer processes between atmosphere and surface, so that atmospheric radiation can be decoupled with the complex surface in the more precise way. An algebraic algorithm is adopted to calculate the separated atmospheric radiation parameters. The surface parameters devoting to directional reflection are generated by surface bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) map of imaging region. In this paper, BRDF/Albedo data retrieved from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) measurements is employed to simulate the several cases by the proposed method. The results demonstrate the influence of non-Lambertian surface directional reflection on remote sensing radiance image. The difference of simulation between Lambertian and non-Lambertian surface is analyzed, which shows the necessity of this method.