Validation of the standard aerosol models used for atmospheric correction over coastal waters

Abstract

The aerosol climatology used in the atmospheric correction algorithms may not be representative enough of the coastal areas. We take advantage of a network of ground-based measurements of aerosol optical properties (the CIMEL instrument in AERONET) to validate these aerosol models. From space, the selection of the aerosol model is based on the spectral dependency of the aerosol path radiances between the red and infrared. A similar scheme is applied on the CIMEL extinction measurements. Knowing the standard aerosol model and the optical thickness, we simulated the sky radiances and the atmospheric transmittances. An extensive comparison between these simulations and the CIMEL measurements is conducted for two sites in the European waters. The impact of the use of the standard aerosol climatology on the retrieval of the water leaving radiances over coastal areas is also evaluated.