Vicarious Radiometric Calibration Research Articles

The Ground-Based Absolute Radiometric Calibration of the Landsat 9 Operational Land Imager

This paper presents the initial vicarious radiometric calibration results for Landsat 9 OLI using a combination of ground-based techniques and test sites located in Nevada, California, and South Dakota, USA. The field data collection methods include the traditional reflectance-based approach and the automated Radiometric Calibration Test Site (RadCaTS). The results for top-of-atmosphere spectral radiance show an average ratio (OLI/ground measurements) of 1.03, 1.01, 1.00, 1.02, 1.02, 1.01, 0.98, and 1.01 for Landsat 9 OLI bands 1–8, which is within the design specification of ±5% for spectral radiance. The results for top-of-atmosphere reflectance show an average ratio (OLI/ground measurements) of 0.99, 0.99, 1.00, 1.02, 1.01, 1.02, 1.00, and 1.00 for Landsat 9 OLI bands 1–8, which is within the design specification of ±3% for top-of-atmosphere reflectance.

Vicarious Radiometric Calibration of the Multispectral Imager Onboard SDGSAT-1 over the Dunhuang Calibration Site, China

The multispectral imager (MII), onboard the Sustainable Development Science Satellite 1 (SDGSAT-1), performs detailed terrestrial change detection and coastal monitoring. SDGSAT-1 was launched at 2:19 UTC on 5 November 2021, as the world’s first Earth science satellite to serve the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda. A vicarious radiometric calibration experiment was conducted at the Dunhuang calibration site (Gobi Desert, China) on 14 December 2021. In-situ measurements of ground reflectance, aerosol optical depth (AOD), total columnar water vapor, radiosonde data, and diffuse-to-global irradiance (DG) ratio were performed to predict the top-of-atmosphere radiance by the reflectance-, irradiance-, and improved irradiance-based methods using the moderate resolution atmospheric transmission model. The MII calibration coefficients were calculated by dividing the top-of-atmosphere radiance by the average digital number value of the image. The radiometric calibration coefficients calculated by the three calibration methods were reliable (average relative differences: 2.20% (reflectance-based vs. irradiance-based method) and 1.43% (reflectance-based vs. improved irradiance-based method)). The total calibration uncertainties of the reflectance-, irradiance-, and improved irradiance-based methods were 2.77–5.23%, 3.62–5.79%, and 3.50–5.23%, respectively. The extra DG ratio measurements in the latter two methods did not improve the calibration accuracy for AODs ≤ 0.1. The calibrated MII images were verified using Landsat-8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) and Sentinel-2A MultiSpectral Instrument (MSI) images. The retrieved ground reflectances of the MII over different surface types were cross-compared with those of OLI and MSI using the FAST Line-of-sight Atmospheric Analysis of Hypercubes software. The MII retrievals differed by <0.0075 (7.13%) from OLI retrievals and <0.0084 (7.47%) from MSI retrievals for calibration coefficients from the reflectance-based method; <0.0089 (7.57%) from OLI retrievals and <0.0111 (8.65%) from MSI retrievals for the irradiance-based method; and <0.0082 (7.33%) from OLI retrievals and <0.0101 (8.59%) from MSI retrievals for the improved irradiance-based method. Thus, our findings support the application of SDGSAT-1 data.

On-Orbit Absolute Radiometric Calibration and Validation of ZY3-02 Satellite Multispectral Sensor.

This study described the on-orbit vicarious radiometric calibration of Chinese civilian high-resolution stereo mapping satellite ZY3-02 multispectral imager (MUX). The calibration was based on gray-scale permanent artificial targets, and multiple radiometric calibration tarpaulins (tarps) using a reflectance-based approach between July and September 2016 at Baotou calibration site in China was described. The calibration results reveal a good linear relationship between DN and TOA radiances of ZY3-02 MUX. The uncertainty of this radiometric calibration was 4.33%, indicating that radiometric coefficients of ZY3-02 MUX are reliable. A detailed discussion on the validation analysis of the comparison results between the different radiometric calibration coefficients is presented in this paper. To further validate the reliability of the three coefficients, the calibrated ZY3-02 MUX was compared with Landsat-8 Operational Land Imager (OLI). The results also indicate that radiometric characteristics of ZY3-02 MUX imagery are reliable and highly accurate for quantitative applications.

Vicarious Radiometric Calibration of the AHSI Instrument Onboard ZY1E on Dunhuang Radiometric Calibration Site

The Advanced Hyperspectral Imager (AHSI) is the second hyperspectral imager of China, which is also one of the most important payloads onboard the ZY1E satellite. In order to monitor the radiometric calibration status since its launch on 12 Sep. 2019, and thus provide supplementary on-board radiometric calibration, this paper conducts several vicarious radiometric calibration experiments for the ZY-1E AHSI. Five satellite observations over Dunhuang radiometric calibration site, one of the most relevant China Radiometric Calibration Sites (CRCS), were used. Surface reflectance, radiosonde data, aerosol optical depth (AOD) loading, and water vapor content were used to simulate the top of atmosphere (TOA) radiance at the entrance pupil of the satellite via MODerate resolution atmospheric TRANsmission (MODTRAN). Our results show that the vicarious radiometric calibration coefficients are relatively constant with the official coefficients: the mean relative differences are 5.55%, 5.64%, 7.02%, 5.07%, and 5.30% on 11 Jan, 17 Jan, 12 Feb, 07 May, and 23 Nov, 2021, respectively. The vicarious radiometric calibration coefficients were found in good agreement with the official ones according to the validation analysis based on different surface types, i.e., water and vegetation. Uncertainties of vicarious radiometric calibration due to AOD assumptions, AOD measurements, water vapor measurements, radiosonde data measurements, relative spectral response (RSR) shifts and surface reflectance measurements are also discussed in detail. The obtained results show that the ZY-1E AHSI exhibits good on-orbit radiometric status.

An In-Flight Radiometric Calibration Method Considering Adjacency Effects for High-Resolution Optical Sensors Over Artificial Targets

When using a field calibration site to perform in-orbit radiometric calibration of a space-borne remote sensor, the measured signal by the sensor may contain radiation from adjacent pixels, due to scattering in the Earth’s atmosphere and the sensor viewing characteristics. If this is not accounted for in the modeling, the accuracy of the radiometric calibration will be reduced. Nonuniformities of the ground target are more significant for the calibration of high-resolution sensors. In addition, if the brightness contrast of neighboring targets is not small, the impact of the adjacency effects will be more significant. It is important to quantitatively analyze and estimate the influence of this kind of adjacency effects, to reduce the uncertainty of in-orbit radiometric calibration. To evaluate the adjacency effects caused by atmospheric multiple scattering, this article constructed a local atmospheric point spread function model using long time-series satellite-ground synchronous observation data and developed an adjacency effects simulation method, which considers background reflectance spectral information. Tests on Sentinel-2A and Worldview-3 imagery overpassing the Baotou calibration and validation site (Baotou C&V site) (China) indicate that the proposed modeling method can effectively account for the influence of the adjacency effects in vicarious calibration. Uncertainties of relevant parameters and their contributions to the calibration result were also analyzed, and uncertainty assessment results show that the vicarious radiometric calibration scheme considering adjacency effects correction can bring about a total uncertainty less than 7%.

Vicarious Radiometric Calibration of Ocean Color Bands for FY-3D/MERSI-II at Lake Qinghai, China.

To calibrate the low signal response of the ocean color (OC) bands and test the stability of the Fengyun-3D (FY-3D)/Medium Resolution Spectral Imager II (MERSI-II), an absolute radiometric calibration field test of FY-3D/MERSI-II at the Lake Qinghai Radiometric Calibration Site (RCS) was carried out in August 2018. The lake surface and atmospheric parameters were mainly measured by advanced observation instruments, and the MODerate spectral resolution atmospheric TRANsmittance algorithm and computer model (MODTRAN4.0) was used to simulate the multiple scattering radiance value at the altitude of the sensor. The results showed that the relative deviations between bands 9 and 12 are within 5.0%, while the relative deviations of bands 8, and 13 are 17.1%, and 12.0%, respectively. The precision of the calibration method was verified by calibrating the Aqua/Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and National Polar-orbiting Partnership (NPP)/Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer (VIIRS), and the deviation of the calibration results was evaluated with the results of the Dunhuang RCS calibration and lunar calibration. The results showed that the relative deviations of NPP/VIIRS were within 7.0%, and the relative deviations of Aqua/MODIS were within 4.1% from 400 nm to 600 nm. The comparisons of three on-orbit calibration methods indicated that band 8 exhibited a large attenuation after launch and the calibration results had good consistency at the other bands except for band 13. The uncertainty value of the whole calibration system was approximately 6.3%, and the uncertainty brought by the field surface measurement reached 5.4%, which might be the main reason for the relatively large deviation of band 13. This study verifies the feasibility of the vicarious calibration method at the Lake Qinghai RCS and provides the basis and reference for the subsequent on-orbit calibration of FY-3D/MERSI-II.

AN OPTIMAL IMAGE SELECTION METHOD TO IMPROVE QUALITY OF RELATIVE RADIOMETRIC CALIBRATION FOR UAV MULTISPECTRAL IMAGES

Abstract. Radiometric calibration has become important pre-processing with increasing use of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) images in various applications. In order to convert the digital number (DN) to reflectance, vicarious radiometric calibration is widely used including relative radiometric calibration. Some UAV sensor systems can measure irradiance for precise relative radiometric calibration. However, most of UAV sensor systems cannot measure irradiance and therefore precise relative radiometric calibration is needed to produce reflectance map with vicarious calibration. In this study, an optimal image selection method is proposed to improve quality of relative radiometric calibration. The method, relative calibration by the optimal path (RCOP), uses filtered tie points acquired in geometric calibration based on selection optimal image by Dijkstra algorithm. About 100 multispectral images were acquired with a RedEdge-M camera and a fixed-wing UAV. The reflectance map was produced using RCOP and vicarious calibration using ground reference panels. A validation data was processed using irradiance for precise relative radiometric calibration. As a result, the RCOP method showed root mean square error (RMSE) of 0.03–0.10 reflectance to validation data. Therefore, the proposed method can be used to produce precise reflectance map by vicarious calibration.

Relative Radiometric Calibration Using Tie Points and Optimal Path Selection for UAV Images

As the use of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) images rapidly increases so does the need for precise radiometric calibration. For UAV images, relative radiometric calibration is required in addition to the traditional vicarious radiometric calibration due to the small field of view. For relative radiometric calibration, some UAVs install irradiance sensors, but most do not. For UAVs without them, an intelligent scheme for relative radiometric calibration must be applied. In this study, a relative radiometric calibration method is proposed to improve the quality of a reflectance map without irradiance measurements. The proposed method, termed relative calibration by the optimal path (RCOP), uses tie points acquired during geometric calibration to define the optimal paths. A calibrated image from RCOP was compared to validation data calibrated with irradiance measurements. As a result, the RCOP method produces seamless mosaicked images with uniform brightness and reflectance patterns. Therefore, the proposed method can be used as a precise relative radiometric calibration method for UAV images.

New Approach for Temporal Stability Evaluation of Pseudo-Invariant Calibration Sites (PICS)

Pseudo-Invariant Calibration Sites (PICS) are one of the most popular methods for in-flight vicarious radiometric calibration of Earth remote sensing satellites. The fundamental question of PICS temporal stability has not been adequately addressed. However, the main purpose of this work is to evaluate the temporal stability of a few PICS using a new approach. The analysis was performed over six PICS (Libya 1, Libya 4, Niger 1, Niger 2, Egypt 1 and Sudan 1). The concept of a “Virtual Constellation” was developed to provide greater temporal coverage and also to overcome the dependence limitation of any specific characteristic derived from one particular sensor. TOA reflectance data from four sensors consistently demonstrating “stable” calibration to within 5%—the Landsat 7 ETM+ (Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus), Landsat 8 OLI (Operational Land Imager), Terra MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) and Sentinel-2A MSI (Multispectral Instrument)–were merged into a seamless dataset. Instead of using the traditional method of trend analysis (Student’s T test), a nonparametric Seasonal Mann-Kendall test was used for determining the PICS stability. The analysis results indicate that Libya 4 and Egypt 1 do not exhibit any monotonic trend in six reflective solar bands common to all of the studied sensors, indicating temporal stability. A decreasing monotonic trend was statistically detected in all bands, except SWIR 2, for Sudan 1 and the Green and Red bands for Niger 1. An increasing trend was detected in the Blue band for Niger 2 and the NIR band for Libya 1. These results do not suggest abandoning PICS as a viable calibration source. Rather, they indicate that PICS temporal stability cannot be assumed and should be regularly monitored as part of the sensor calibration process.

Vicarious radiometric calibration/validation of Landsat-8 operational land imager using a ground reflected radiance-based approach with Baotou site in China

Radiometric calibration of the Landsat-8 operational land imager (OLI) sensor is a key step that enables additional quantitative research and application of the data. This study introduces a ground reflected radiance-based approach to vicarious radiometric validate the Landsat-8 OLI onboard radiometric calibration results. Vicarious radiometric calibration/validation field campaign of the Landsat-8 OLI sensor was carried out at the Baotou site in Inner Mongolia, China, on March 27, 2015, October 28, 2015, March 29, 2016, and April 21, 2016. The relative errors of the OLI bands are within 5% for the ground reflected radiance-based approach when compared with satellite observations of top of atmosphere (TOA) radiance in the OLI bands, and the average 1σ standard deviation of the four results using the vicarious radiometric calibration is less than 0.025. A well-calibrated Terra MODIS sensor was used to cross-validate the Landsat-8 OLI sensor, and the relative errors are within 10%. The results suggest that the OLI onboard the Landsat-8 satellite displays stable radiometric performance for the four calibration/validation days. An uncertainty analysis of the ground reflected radiance-based approach showed an overall uncertainty of less than 4.5%, taking into account uncertainty sources, including surface characteristics, atmospheric characteristics, radiative transfer, solar irradiance, and the calibration model.

Initial Radiometric Characteristics of KOMPSAT-3A Multispectral Imagery Using the 6S Radiative Transfer Model, Well-Known Radiometric Tarps, and MFRSR Measurements

On-orbit radiometric characterization of the multispectral (MS) imagery of the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI)’s Korea Multi-Purpose Satellite-3A (KOMPSAT-3A), which was launched on 25 March 2015, was conducted to provide quantitative radiometric information about KOMPSAT-3A. During the in-orbit test (IOT), vicarious radiometric calibration of KOMPSAT-3A was performed using the Second Simulation of a Satellite Signal in the Solar Spectrum (6S) radiative transfer model. The characteristics of radiometric tarps, the atmospheric optical depth from multi-filter rotating shadowband radiometer (MFRSR) measurements, and sun–sensor–geometry were carefully considered, in order to calculate the exact top of atmosphere (TOA) radiance received by KOMPSAT-3A MS bands. In addition, the bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) behaviors of the radiometric tarps were measured in the laboratory with a two-dimensional hyperspectral gonioradiometer, to compensate for the geometry discrepancy between the satellite and the ASD FieldSpec® 3 spectroradiometer. The match-up datasets between the TOA radiance and the digital number (DN) from KOMPSAT-3A were used to determine DN-to-radiance conversion factors, based on linear least squares fitting for two field campaigns. The final results showed that the R2 values between the observed and simulated radiances for the blue, green, red, and near-infrared (NIR) bands, are greater than 0.998. An approximate error budget analysis for the vicarious calibration of KOMPSAT-3A showed an error of less than 6.8%. When applying the laboratory-based BRDF correction to the case of higher viewing zenith angle geometry, the gain ratio was improved, particularly for the blue (1.3%) and green (1.2%) bands, which exhibit high sensitivity to the BRDF of radiometric tarps during the backward-scattering phase. The calculated gain ratio between the first and second campaigns showed a less than 5% discrepancy, indicating that the determined radiometric characteristics of KOMPSAT-3A are reliable and useful to the user group for quantitative applications.

Absolute Radiometric Calibration of KOMPSAT-3A

This paper presents a vicarious radiometric calibration of the Korea Multi-Purpose Satellite-3A (KOMPSAT-3A) performed by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) and the Pukyong National University Remote Sensing Group (PKNU RSG) in 2015.The primary stages of this study are summarized as follows: (1) A field campaign to determine radiometric calibrated target fields was undertaken in Mongolia and South Korea. Surface reflectance data obtained in the campaign were input to a radiative transfer code that predicted at-sensor radiance. Through this process, equations and parameters were derived for the KOMPSAT-3A sensor to enable the conversion of calibrated DN to physical units, such as at-sensor radiance or TOA reflectance. (2) To validate the absolute calibration coefficients for the KOMPSAT-3A sensor, we performed a radiometric validation with a comparison of KOMPSAT-3A and Landsat-8 TOA reflectance using one of the six PICS (Libya 4). Correlations between top-of-atmosphere (TOA) radiances and the spectral band responses of the KOMPSAT-3A sensors at the Zuunmod, Mongolia and Goheung, South Korea sites were significant for multispectral bands. The average difference in TOA reflectance between KOMPSAT-3A and Landsat-8 image over the Libya 4, Libya site in the red-green-blue (RGB) region was under 3%, whereas in the NIR band, the TOA reflectance of KOMPSAT-3A was lower than the that of Landsat-8 due to the difference in the band passes of two sensors. The KOMPSAT-3Aensor includes a band pass near 940 nm that can be strongly absorbed by water vapor and therefore displayed low reflectance. Toovercome this, we need to undertake a detailed analysis using rescale methods, such as the spectral bandwidth adjustment factor.

Absolute Radiometric Calibration of KOMPSAT-3A

Abstract. This paper presents a vicarious radiometric calibration of the Korea Multi-Purpose Satellite-3A (KOMPSAT-3A) performed by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) and the Pukyong National University Remote Sensing Group (PKNU RSG) in 2015.The primary stages of this study are summarized as follows: (1) A field campaign to determine radiometric calibrated target fields was undertaken in Mongolia and South Korea. Surface reflectance data obtained in the campaign were input to a radiative transfer code that predicted at-sensor radiance. Through this process, equations and parameters were derived for the KOMPSAT-3A sensor to enable the conversion of calibrated DN to physical units, such as at-sensor radiance or TOA reflectance. (2) To validate the absolute calibration coefficients for the KOMPSAT-3A sensor, we performed a radiometric validation with a comparison of KOMPSAT-3A and Landsat-8 TOA reflectance using one of the six PICS (Libya 4). Correlations between top-of-atmosphere (TOA) radiances and the spectral band responses of the KOMPSAT-3A sensors at the Zuunmod, Mongolia and Goheung, South Korea sites were significant for multispectral bands. The average difference in TOA reflectance between KOMPSAT-3A and Landsat-8 image over the Libya 4, Libya site in the red-green-blue (RGB) region was under 3%, whereas in the NIR band, the TOA reflectance of KOMPSAT-3A was lower than the that of Landsat-8 due to the difference in the band passes of two sensors. The KOMPSAT-3Aensor includes a band pass near 940 nm that can be strongly absorbed by water vapor and therefore displayed low reflectance. Toovercome this, we need to undertake a detailed analysis using rescale methods, such as the spectral bandwidth adjustment factor.

CASI 초분광 영상을 이용한 RapidEye 위성영상의 대리복사보정

지상의 모든 물체는 고유의 분광 반사율을 갖고 있으며, 이러한 특성을 이용하여 지상 물체의 분류와 목표물 탐지 등이 가능하다. 정확한 분석을 위해서는 취득된 원격탐사 자료를 분광 반사율로 변환해야 한다. 이를 위한 절대복사보정 기법으로는 자료 제공 기관에서 명시한 변환 수식을 이용하는 방법, 지상에서 측정한 분광 반사율만으로 단순 경험적 회귀 분석을 이용하는 방법, ATCOR/FLAASH 같은 수학적 모델을 이용하는 방법 등이 있다. 본 연구에서는 CASI 초분광 영상의 분광 반사율 자료를 이용하여 RapidEye 위성영상의 대리복사보정을 수행하고, 그 결과를 다른 복사보정 기법 결과 및 지상 자료와 비교하였다. 실험 결과 제안 기법이 ATCOR 및 New Kurucz 2005 기법보다 높은 유사성을 보였으며, 일반적으로 활용되는 ELM 기법과 유사한 결과를 도출하였다.

Radiometric characterization and validation for the KOMPSAT-3 sensor

A radiometric characterization of the Korea Multi-Purpose Satellite (KOMPSAT) Series multispectral imagery was performed by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) and the Pukyong National University Remote Sensing Group (PKNU RSG). This paper presents a vicarious radiometric calibration performed by KARI and PKNU RSG in 2012 and 2014. Correlations between top-of-atmosphere (TOA) radiances and the spectral band responses of the KOMPSAT-3 sensors at Zuunmod, Mongolia and Goheung, South Korea, were significant for multispectral bands. KOMPSAT-3 calibration coefficients for all bands estimated in 2012 continued to agree well with calibration coefficients estimated in 2014 (within 1.5%). As a result of this study, KARI will update and publish the KOMPSAT-3 multispectral radiometric calibration coefficients as official values. The average difference in TOA reflectance between KOMPSAT-3 and Landsat-8 images over the Libya 4, Libya and Railroad Valley Playa, USA, in the red–green–blue region was under 3%, whereas in the near-infrared band, the TOA reflectance of KOMPSAT-3 was lower than that of Landsat-8 due to the difference in the bandwidths of two sensors. The KOMPSAT-3 sensor includes a bandwidth near 940 nm that can be strongly absorbed by water vapour and therefore displayed low reflectance.

Vicarious radiometric calibration of a multispectral sensor from an aerial trike applied to precision agriculture

This article proposes a vicarious calibration as a radiometric calibration method using an onboard multispectral sensor and a low-cost manned aerial platform, PPG (powered paraglider) trike. The statistical analysis of the errors shows the precision reached with this methodology. The greatest advantage offered by this type of manned platforms is its flexibility of flight, autonomy and payload capacity, allowing multiple sensors to be integrated without constraints to weight and volume. The results were validated at two different heights in order to verify the solution obtained with the method, demonstrating the insignificance of relative atmospheric influence between the aerial platform and ground using this platform according to the radiative transfer model on a clear and sunny day. At the same time, the study aims to develop a new trend for remote sensing that will assists in decision making for the sustainable management of extensive crop areas using low-cost geomatic techniques. As a result of the radiometric calibration process, georeferenced images with different vegetation indices over vineyards are obtained.

Vicarious Radiometric Calibration of a Multispectral Camera on Board an Unmanned Aerial System

Combinations of unmanned aerial platforms and multispectral sensors are considered low-cost tools for detailed spatial and temporal studies addressing spectral signatures, opening a broad range of applications in remote sensing. Thus, a key step in this process is knowledge of multi-spectral sensor calibration parameters in order to identify the physical variables collected by the sensor. This paper discusses the radiometric calibration process by means of a vicarious method applied to a high-spatial resolution unmanned flight using low-cost artificial and natural covers as control and check surfaces, respectively.

TIR Spectral Radiance Calibration of the GOSAT Satellite Borne TANSO-FTS With the Aircraft-Based S-HIS and the Ground-Based S-AERI at the Railroad Valley Desert Playa

The thermal infrared (TIR) band of Thermal and Near-Infrared Sensor for carbon Observations Fourier Transform Spectrometer (TANSO-FTS) on the Greenhouse gases Observing SATellite (GOSAT) measures a wide range of scene temperatures using a single detector band with broad spectral coverage. This work describes the vicarious radiometric calibration over a large footprint (10.5 km) and high temperature surface using well-calibrated ground-based and airborne FTS sensors. The vicarious calibration campaign of GOSAT was conducted at Railroad Valley, NV in June 2011. During the campaign, the Scanning High-resolution Interferometer Sounder (S-HIS) mounted on the high-altitude NASA ER-2 aircraft observed upwelling radiation and the ground-based Surface-Atmospheric Emitted Radiance Interferometer (S-AERI) observed infrared thermal emission from the atmosphere and the surface at the same location and time as the GOSAT TANSO-FTS. We validated TANSO-FTS TIR radiance with S-HIS radiance using double difference method, which reduces the effect of differences in the observation geometry. In this paper, we estimated the TANSO-FTS Instantaneous Field of View average temperature and emissivity by the coincident S-AERI and S-HIS observed radiance. The double difference between TANSO-FTS and S-HIS result in a difference of 0.5 K at atmospheric window channels (800 ~ 900 cm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">-1</sup> ) and CO <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> warm brightness temperature channels (700 ~ 750 cm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">-1</sup> ), 0.1 K at ozone channels (980 ~ 1080 cm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">-1</sup> ), and more than 2 K at CO <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> cool brightness temperature channels (650 ~ 700 cm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">-1</sup> ). The main reason of remaining errors is attributed to a calibration error in the TANSO-FTS Level 1B product version under evaluation.

THE EUROSDR PROJECT "RADIOMETRIC ASPECTS OF DIGITAL PHOTOGRAMMETRIC IMAGES" – RESULTS OF THE EMPIRICAL PHASE

Abstract. This article presents the empirical research carried out in the context of the multi-site EuroSDR project "Radiometric aspects of digital photogrammetric images" and provides highlights of the results. The investigations have considered the vicarious radiometric and spatial resolution validation and calibration of the sensor system, radiometric processing of the image blocks either by performing relative radiometric block equalization or into absolutely reflectance calibrated products, and finally aspects of practical applications on NDVI layer generation and tree species classification. The data sets were provided by Leica Geosystems ADS40 and Intergraph DMC and the participants represented stakeholders in National Mapping Authorities, software development and research. The investigations proved the stability and quality of evaluated imaging systems with respect to radiometry and optical system. The first new-generation methods for reflectance calibration and equalization of photogrammetric image block data provided promising accuracy and were also functional from the productivity and usability points of view. The reflectance calibration methods provided up to 5% accuracy without any ground reference. Application oriented results indicated that automatic interpretation methods will benefit from the optimal use of radiometrically accurate multi-view photogrammetric imagery.

PRELIMINARY RESULTS OF THE COMPARISON OF SATELLITE IMAGERS USING TUZ GÖLÜ AS A REFERENCE STANDARD

Abstract. Earth surfaces, such as deserts, salt lakes, and playas, have been widely used in the vicarious radiometric calibration of optical earth observation satellites. In 2009, the Infrared and Visible Optical Sensors (IVOS) sub-group of the Committee of Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS) Working Group on Calibration and Validation (WGCV) designated eight LANDNET reference sites to focus international efforts, facilitate traceability and enable the establishment of measurement "best practices." With support from the European Space Agency (ESA), one of the LANDNET sites, the Tuz Gölü salt lake located in central Turkey, was selected to host a cross-comparison of measurement instrumentation and methodologies conducted by 11 different ground teams across the globe. This paper provides an overview of the preliminary results of the cross-comparison of the ground-based spectral measurements made during the CEOS Land Comparison 13-27 August, 2010 with the simultaneous satellite image data acquisitions of the same site.