Validating MODIS land surface reflectance products using ground-measured reflectance spectra – a case study in semi-arid grassland in Inner Mongolia, China

Abstract

Validation of Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) land surface reflectance products is important to effective utilization of such products for earth systems science. Ground-based measurements are normally utilized for such validation. However, the major scale mismatch between the ground ‘point’ measurement and MODIS resolution (500 m and 1 km) makes direct comparison infeasible over many land surface types. In this paper, an indirect comparison between ground ‘point’ measurements and MODIS land surface products via high-resolution remotely sensed imagery (Landsat Thematic Mapper/TM) was utilized in semi-arid grassland of Inner Mongolia in summer 2005, where ground measurements are relatively sparse in comparison with other locations around the world. Within the validation, the TM reflectance imagery was first calibrated by the ground ‘point’ measurements, and then aggregated to MODIS data resolution for determination of their accuracy. Besides common direct spectral band comparison of reflectance between TM and MODIS, empirical/indirect comparison between TM and MODIS was also implemented. Both types of validation showed that the absolute error of bidirectional reflectance from atmospheric correction (MOD09) is less than 9.4%, and for nadir bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF)-adjusted reflectance (MOD43B4) it is less than 3.1%, in which the error of visible bands of two data sets is less than 1.35% and 0.95%, respectively. This validation will help improve the accuracy of MODIS products used in this area.