Determination Of Aerosol Optical Thickness Research Articles

Simultaneous determination of aerosol optical thickness and water-leaving radiance from multispectral measurements in coastal waters

Abstract. Retrieval of aerosol optical properties and water-leaving radiance over ocean is challenging since the latter mostly accounts for ∼ 10 % of the satellite-observed signal and can be easily influenced by the atmospheric scattering. Such an effort would be more difficult in turbid coastal waters due to the existence of optically complex oceanic substances or high aerosol loading. In an effort to solve such problems, we present an optimization approach for the simultaneous determination of aerosol optical thickness (AOT) and normalized water-leaving radiance (nLw) from multispectral satellite measurements. In this algorithm, a coupled atmosphere–ocean radiative transfer model combined with a comprehensive bio-optical oceanic module is used to jointly simulate the satellite-observed reflectance at the top of atmosphere and water-leaving radiance just above the ocean surface. Then, an optimal estimation method is adopted to retrieve AOT and nLw iteratively. The algorithm is validated using Aerosol Robotic Network – Ocean Color (AERONET-OC) products selected from eight OC sites distributed over different waters, consisting of observations that covered glint and non-glint conditions from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument. Results show a good consistency between retrieved and in situ measurements at each site. It is demonstrated that more accurate AOTs are determined based on the simultaneous retrieval method, particularly in shorter wavelengths and sunglint conditions, where the averaged percentage difference (APD) of retrieved AOT is generally reduced by approximate 10 % in visible bands compared with those derived from the standard atmospheric correction (AC) scheme, since all the spectral measurements can be used jointly to increase the information content in the inversion of AOT, and the wind speed is also simultaneously retrieved to compensate the specular reflectance error estimated from the rough ocean surface model. For the retrieval of nLw, atmospheric overcorrection can be avoided in order to have a significant improvement of the inversion of nLw at 412 nm. Furthermore, generally better estimates of band ratios of nLw(443) / nLw(554) and nLw(488) / nLw(554) are obtained using the simultaneous retrieval approach with lower root mean square errors and relative differences than those derived from the standard AC approach in comparison to the AERONET-OC products, as well as the APD values of retrieved Chl which decreased by about 5 %. On the other hand, the standard AC scheme yields a more accurate retrieval of nLw at 488 nm, prompting a further optimization of the oceanic bio-optical module of the current model.

利用MODIS数据同时反演中国近海海域气溶胶光学厚度和Junge谱指数

Based on the reflectance data of the fifteenth and sixteenth channels in near-infrared bands and spatial geometrical angles of the moderate resolution imaging spectro-radiometer,aphysical iterative algorithm was proposed,using the Junge power-law size distribution to approximate the actual atmospheric aerosol model.The algorithm was used for simultaneous determination of the aerosol optical thickness and the exponent of the Jung power law.The results show that the aerosol optical thickness over most of the studied ocean is in the range of 0.02~0.17,the exponent of the Jung power law is in the range of 2.8~3.8,and both the aerosol optical thickness and exponent of the Jung power law have the trend of descending from coast to open sea.Therefore,the reasonable spatial distributions of the exponent of the Junge power law and aerosol optical thickness were obtained.Comparing the retrieval results with the moderate resolution imaging spectro-radiometer product and aerosol robotic network measurements,the retrieval algorithm whose results are more approach aerosd robotic network data than moderate resolution imaging spectro-radiometer product,is more accurate than moderate resolution imaging spectro-radiometer algorithm.Therefore,the retrieval method which is applied for the studied region is feasible and reliable.

利用MODIS数据同时反演中国近海海域气溶胶光学厚度和Junge谱指数

Based on the reflectance data of the fifteenth and sixteenth channels in near-infrared bands and spatial geometrical angles of the moderate resolution imaging spectro-radiometer,aphysical iterative algorithm was proposed,using the Junge power-law size distribution to approximate the actual atmospheric aerosol model.The algorithm was used for simultaneous determination of the aerosol optical thickness and the exponent of the Jung power law.The results show that the aerosol optical thickness over most of the studied ocean is in the range of 0.02~0.17,the exponent of the Jung power law is in the range of 2.8~3.8,and both the aerosol optical thickness and exponent of the Jung power law have the trend of descending from coast to open sea.Therefore,the reasonable spatial distributions of the exponent of the Junge power law and aerosol optical thickness were obtained.Comparing the retrieval results with the moderate resolution imaging spectro-radiometer product and aerosol robotic network measurements,the retrieval algorithm whose results are more approach aerosd robotic network data than moderate resolution imaging spectro-radiometer product,is more accurate than moderate resolution imaging spectro-radiometer algorithm.Therefore,the retrieval method which is applied for the studied region is feasible and reliable.

Simultaneous determination of aerosol optical thickness and surface reflectance using ASTER visible to near-infrared data over land

An innovative method for the determination of aerosol optical thickness (AOT) and surface reflectance for operational use of Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) visible to near-infrared data is presented. This method is designed to obtain the atmospheric parameters needed in the correction of the image. This method is based on a simplified radiative transfer equation describing the relation between the ground surface reflectance, AOT and top-of-atmosphere reflectance. By exploiting the ASTER dual-angle view capabilities in band 3N (Nadir) and band 3B (Backwards), surface reflectance and AOT can be retrieved synchronously. Thus, it solves the problem of separating atmospheric radiance from the transmitted radiance of the surface to some extent. After applying this new atmospheric correction method to three areas of ASTER images, Beijing urban city, the Heihe River Basin and Hong Kong of China, ASTER surface reflectance products (AST07) were obtained. AOT values from in situ measurements of CIMEL Electronique 318 Sun Photometers or AERONET (AErosol RObotic NETwork) and surface reflectance in situ measured using an Analytical Spectral Device (ASD) Field Spec spectral radiometer are used for validation. AOT derived from the new method is consistent with in situ station measurements from CIMEL Electronique 318 Sun Photometer and level 2.0 data from AERONET, with correlation coefficient (R 2) of 0.98 and root mean square error of 0.05, whereas Multi-angle Imaging Spectroradiometer AOT products underestimate AERONET AOT and Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer AOT products overestimate AERONET AOT in these regions. More encouraging is the comparison between the corrected surface reflectance, AST07 and ASD measurements. Root mean square error of AST07 and retrieved surface reflectance are as follows: band 1 (556 nm) = 0.04 and 0.05; band 2 (661 nm) = 0.036 and 0.035; band 3 (807 nm) = 0.056 and 0.038, which suggests that compared with AST07 in bands 2 and 3, retrieved surface reflectance has better agreement with measured reflectance from ASD.

Retrieval of spectral aerosol optical thickness over land using ocean color sensors MERIS and SeaWiFS

Abstract. For the determination of aerosol optical thickness (AOT) Bremen AErosol Retrieval (BAER) has been developed. Method and main features on the aerosol retrieval are described together with validation and results. The retrieval separates the spectral aerosol reflectance from surface and Rayleigh path reflectance for the shortwave range of the measured spectrum of top-of-atmosphere reflectance for wavelength less than 0.670 μm. The advantage of MERIS (Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer on the Environmental Satellite – ENVISAT – of the European Space Agency – ESA) and SeaWiFS (Sea viewing Wide Field Sensor on OrbView-2 spacecraft) observations is the availability of several spectral channels in the blue and visible range enabling the spectral determination of AOT in 7 (or 6) channels (0.412–0.670 μm) and additionally channels in the NIR, which can be used to characterize the surface properties. A dynamical spectral surface reflectance model for different surface types is used to obtain the spectral surface reflectance for this separation. The normalized differential vegetation index (NDVI), taken from the satellite observations, is the model input. Further surface bi-directional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) is considered by the Raman-Pinty-Verstraete (RPV) model. Spectral AOT is obtained from aerosol reflectance using look-up-tables, obtained from radiative transfer calculations with given aerosol phase functions and single scattering albedos either from aerosol models, given by model package "optical properties of aerosol components" (OPAC) or from experimental campaigns. Validations of the obtained AOT retrieval results with data of Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) over Europe gave a preference for experimental phase functions derived from almucantar measurements. Finally long-term observations of SeaWiFS have been investigated for 11 year trends in AOT. Western European regions have negative trends with decreasing AOT with time. For the investigated Asian region increasing AOT have been found.

The inter-comparison of major satellite aerosol retrieval algorithms using simulated intensity and polarization characteristics of reflected light

Abstract. Remote sensing of aerosol from space is a challenging and typically underdetermined retrieval task, requiring many assumptions to be made with respect to the aerosol and surface models. Therefore, the quality of a priori information plays a central role in any retrieval process (apart from the cloud screening procedure and the forward radiative transfer model, which to be most accurate should include the treatment of light polarization and molecular-aerosol coupling). In this paper the performance of various algorithms with respect to the of spectral aerosol optical thickness determination from optical spaceborne measurements is studied. The algorithms are based on various types of measurements (spectral, angular, polarization, or some combination of these). It is confirmed that multiangular spectropolarimetric measurements provide more powerful constraints compared to spectral intensity measurements alone, particularly those acquired at a single view angle and which rely on a priori assumptions regarding the particle phase function in the retrieval process.

Determination of aerosol optical thickness through the derivation of an atmospheric correction for short-wavelength Landsat TM and ASTER image data: an application to areas located in the vicinity of airports at UK and Cyprus

Aerosol optical thickness is considered to be the most important unknown parameter of every atmospheric correction approach for removing atmospheric effects from satellite remotely sensed images. This study presents a description of the basics of the proposed atmospheric correction procedure, which combines the darkest object subtraction principle and the radiative transfer equations. The method considers the true reflectance values of the selected dark targets acquired in situ and the atmospheric parameters such as the aerosol single scattering phase function, single scattering albedo and water vapour absorption, which are also found from ground measurements. The proposed procedure is applicable to short wavelengths such as Landsat TM band 1, 2 and ASTER band 1 in which water vapour absorption is negligible. The proposed image processing method has been tested successfully to determine the aerosol optical thickness on Landsat-5/TM images of the Lower Thames Valley area located to West London (UK) in the vicinity of Heathrow Airport and to Landsat TM/ETM+ and ASTER images of an area located in the vicinity of Paphos International Airport (Cyprus). The determined aerosol optical thicknesses for the Heathrow Airport area were 0.60, 013 and 0.75 for the Landsat TM images (0.45–0.52 µm) acquired on 17th of May 1985, 2nd of June 1985 and 4th of July 1985. The determined aerosol optical thicknesses for the ASTER (0.52–0.60 µm) images acquired on the 4th of February 2008, 26th of February 2008, 17th of December and 24th of December 2007 were 0.18, 0.39, 0.49 and 0.90, respectively. The accuracy assessment applied using the in situ spectroradiometric and sun-photometer data during the satellite overpass acquired on July–August 2008 for the Paphos area in Cyprus shows satisfactory results both for removing the atmospheric effects and for determining the aerosol optical thickness. Indeed, the high correlation between the determined aerosol optical thickness and those extracted from the visibility values increases the potential of the proposed method.

Simultaneous determination of aerosol optical thickness and exponent of Junge power law from satellite measurements of two near-infrared bands over the ocean

An iterative algorithm is presented in this study for simultaneous determination of both the aerosol optical thickness and the exponent of the Junge power law from the total reflectance data of two satellite-based, near-infrared bands over the ocean. The atmospheric aerosol model is assumed as the Junge power-law size distribution in retrieval of the data. Numerical simulations show that relative errors in retrieval of the aerosol optical thickness and the exponent of the Junge power law are less than 5% when the actual atmospheric aerosol follows the Junge power-law size distribution. For other aerosol size distributions, relative errors of the aerosol optical thickness are less than approximately 10%. The proposed method is applied to a case study of the data of two near-infrared channels of the Sea-Viewing Wide Field-of-View Sensor (SeaWiFS) over the East China Sea area. The results show that reasonable spatial distribution of the exponent of the Junge law and the aerosol optical thickness may be obtained on a pixel-by-pixel basis through use of the proposed retrieval algorithm.

Simultaneous determination of aerosol- and surface characteristics from top-of-atmosphere reflectance using MERIS on board of ENVISAT

The determination of aerosol optical thickness (AOT) from nadir scanning multi-spectral radiometers, like SeaWiFS, MERIS or MODIS, requires the separation of spectral atmospheric and surface properties. Since SeaWiFS and MERIS do not provide information at 2.1 μm, like MODIS, the estimation of the surface reflectance cannot be made by the cross correlation approach described by Kaufman et al., 1997. The BAER approach (Bremen AErosol Retrieval), von Hoyningen-Huene et al., 2003, uses a linear mixing model of spectra for ‘green vegetation’ and ‘bare soil’, tuned by the NDVI, determining an apparent surface to enable this separation of aerosol and surface properties from VIS and NIR channels. Thus AOT can be derived over a wide range of land surfaces for wavelengths <0.67 μm. Using MERIS L1 data over Europe, the AOT retrieved is comparable with ground-based observations, provided by AERONET. Regional variation of AOT can be observed, showing the atmospheric variability for clear sky conditions by: large scale variation of aerosol turbidity, regional pollution, urban regions, effects of contrails and cases of aerosol-cloud interaction. Simultaneously with the spectral AOT also spectral surface reflectance is obtained, where all atmospheric influences have been considered (molecules, aerosols and absorbing gases (O 3)) for channels with wavelengths <0.67 μm. The AOT is extrapolated by Angström power law to NIR channels and the atmospheric correction for land surface properties is performed, enabling the further investigation of land use and spectral land properties.

Aerosol optical thickness determination by exploiting the synergy of TERRA and AQUA MODIS

Aerosol retrieval over land remains a difficult task because the solar light reflected by the Earth–atmospheric system mainly comes from the ground surface. The dark dense vegetation (DDV) algorithm for MODIS data has shown excellent competence at retrieving the aerosol distribution and properties. However, this algorithm is restricted to lower surface reflectance, such as water bodies and dense vegetation. In this paper, we attempt to derive aerosol optical thickness (AOT) by exploiting the synergy of TERRA and AQUA MODIS data (SYNTAM), which can be used for various ground surfaces, including for high-reflective surface. Preliminary validation results by comparing with Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) data show good accuracy and promising potential.

Retrieval of aerosol optical thickness over land surfaces from top‐of‐atmosphere radiance

Aerosol remote sensing requires techniques enabling the determination of aerosol optical thickness (AOT) over land surfaces, because the most important sources (continental aerosols, anthropogenic aerosols, biomass burning, desert dust, volcano eruptions and others) are on continents. Here a retrieval method for the AOT over land surfaces from top‐of‐atmosphere (TOA) radiance using nadir looking instruments of the ocean color type (like Ocean Color and Temperature Sensor (OCTS), Sea viewing Wide Field Sensor (SeaWiFS), Moderate resolution Imaging Sensor (MODIS) or Medium Resolution Imaging Sensor (MERIS)) is presented. It is scheduled as an off‐line procedure for the ENVISAT radiometers SCIAMACHY and MERIS. The method is based on lookup tables (LUT) between the AOT and the aerosol reflectance for wavelength &lt;0.67 μm. The aerosol reflectance is obtained from TOA reflectance accounting for Rayleigh path reflectance and the apparent spectral surface reflectance. Over land the surface reflectance is estimated by a mixing model of bare soil and green vegetation spectra, tuned by the normalized differential vegetation index (NDVI) of the satellite scene. The method has been tested and validated with SeaWiFS data and with aerosol properties of the closure experiment LACE‐98 (Lindenberg Aerosol Charactrization Experiment). For short wave channels (0.412–510 μm) an agreement between the retrieved and ground‐based data of 20% is achieved. Thus the method enables the investigation of AOT over land, yielding the regional turbidity situation as well as the identification of aerosol sources like large cities, large fire plumes, haze, small scale dynamical events and also thin cirrus clouds.

An algorithm for determination of aerosol opticalthickness from AVHRR imagery over oceans

The uncertainty in aerosol size distributions is a main source of errors in aerosol optical thickness determined from satellite measurements. To reduce the errors resulting from the uncertainty in aerosol size distributions, we have performed sensitivity analyses. It is found the errors resulting from the uncertainty in aerosol size distribution can be considerably reduced by using the Junge power law to approximate the aerosol size distribution in an actual atmosphere, if the exponent value is determined at the same time. An iterative algorithm is then developed for the simultaneous determination of aerosol optical thickness and the exponent of the Junge power law over ocean areas from the upwelling radiances measured in AVHRR visible and near infrared channels. A number of numerical experiments are carried out to investigate the validity of the Junge power law approximation by assuming the aerosol size distributions in an actual atmosphere are bimodal with different mode parameters, and by using the actual aerosol size distributions determined at several places by Kaufman et al. (1994). The results show that the errors in determined aerosol optical thickness resulting from the Junge power law approach are significantly reduced. The iterative algorithm is investigated further by comparing the aerosol optical thickness deduced from satellite measurement with that observed by a sun photometer.

Determination of aerosol optical thickness from measurements of spectral sky radiance

Simultaneous measurements of spectral optical thickness and path radiance are used to test the relationship between path radiance and aerosol optical thickness for a given geometry of illumination and observation. The selected geometry is representative of satellite remote sensing conditions. The measurements have been accomplished in an urban location with a slightly polluted atmosphere. Ground-based measurements were made with a device that combines sun-photometer and sky radiometer functions. The measurement sequence includes measurements of transmission of the direct sunlight in order to retrieve the aerosol optical thickness in nine spectral bands between 440 and 1030 nm, followed by measurements of the sky radiance in the solar almucantar on both sides of the sun in the same spectral bands. For this purpose we have used a set of radiances acquired around 60° solar zenith angle in the antisolar direction of the solar almucantar. The results obtained show that aerosol optical thickness estimates are possible from path radiance measurements. On the other hand, it seems feasible to derive the atmospheric correction in a given spectral band from information acquired at another wavelength. The aerosol optical thickness (radiance) in one spectral band allows appropriate estimates of aerosol optical thickness (radiance) in another spectral band. In this sense, we also obtain a relationship between the spectral dependencies of aerosol optical thickness and path radiance.

Variability of the Phase Function of Atmospheric Aerosols at Large Scattering Angles

The variability of phase functions of submicrometer atmospheric aerosols was studied using Mie theory. In the analyzed statistical ensemble of phase functions, the effective radii of particles were 0.1–1.5 μm, real parts of refractive indices were 1.45–1.6, imaginary parts of refractive indices were 0.001–0.01, and coefficients of variance of particle size distributions were 0.2–1.1. An ensemble average, a coefficient of variance of a phase function, and a skewness were calculated. It was found that the coefficient of variance of a phase function has a minimum near a scattering angle of 150°. This fact was used to estimate the error in the aerosol optical thickness determination from space in the single scattering approximation of the radiative transfer theory.

Radiometric correction of multitemporal Thematic Mapper data for use in agricultural land-cover classification and vegetation monitoring

Abstract Many remote sensing applications, especially multitemporal approaches, require radiometric corrections of image data in which radiometric normalization to standard conditions and modelistic atmospheric corrections are often considered as alternative solutions. Successful radiometric normalization depends on the availability of suitable reference targets within the scenes under considerations, which may be critical. It is demonstrated that even simplified atmospheric correction modelling can provide a valuable alternative solution. We present an atmospheric correction approach for Thematic Mapper data, which is based solely on the evaluation of scene information and may therefore be considered operational. The method is based on the determination of aerosol optical thickness from histogram minima and clear water targets. Atmospheric conditions are assumed constant over the scene, but their variation with the Sunto-satellite scattering angle is accounted for. The environment effect is approximately...