In this Letter, we present the automated observation radiometric calibration (AORC) approach for vicarious calibration to determine the surface reflectance for any arbitrary test site in the absence of ground personnel. It has successfully operated at Dunhuang test site for 4 months, with a suite of instruments including an automated test-site radiometer, a precision solar radiometer, and a visible and short-wave infrared hyper-spectral irradiance meter. The predicted top-of- atmosphere (TOA) radiance are in good agreement with those obtained from the on-board calibration system of Terra Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS), the average percent difference less than 3.10% in nine bands except 5.14% in band 5. It enable us to improve the calibration frequency, currently once a year in situ, to 1~2 times every month and maintain radiometric accuracy on par with manned field campaigns which making it possible to establish long-term trends in sensor performance.
In order to reduce the calibration uncertainty of the reflectance-based method brought by the assumption of the aerosol model, the irradiance-based method, known as improved reflectance-based method, was proposed. The irradiance-based method is described in this paper. The radiometric calibration field campaign was performed at Dunhuang test site on 27 August, 2014. A hyperspectral irradiance meter (HSIM) developed by Anhui Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics (AIOFM) was used to measure the diffuse-to-global spectral irradiance ratio. The irradiance-based method and the reflectance-based method were performed to calibrate the first four bands of Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). The results of two methods were compared with result of MODIS on-board calibrator. The comparison shows that the result of irradiance-based method has a good consistency with on-board calibration and reflectance-based method results. The difference of calibration coefficients between irradiance-based and on-board method was less than 1.4%. Due to the limitations of the irradiance-based method, a clear sky and stable atmospheric condition is required for the entire half of the calibration day to provide the data necessary for the extrapolation of diffuse-to-global ratio in viewing direction. A study on the effects of aerosol mode assumption on the final apparent reflectance was performed on both the irradiance-based method and the reflectance-based method by selecting different aerosol modes to predict the apparent reflectance. The results show that aerosol mode assumption has a great effect on the reflectance-based method, however slight effect on the irradiance-based method.
Automated filed vicarious calibration is becoming a growing trend for satellite remote sensor, which require a solar radiometer have to automatic measure reliable data for a long time whatever the weather conditions and transfer measurement data to the user office. An automated precision solar radiometer has been developed. It is used in measuring the solar spectral irradiance received at the Earth surface. The instrument consists of 8 parallel separate silicon-photodiode-based channels with narrow band-pass filters from the visible to near-IR regions. Each channel has a 2.0° full-angle Filed of View (FOV). The detectors and filters are temperature stabilized using a Thermal Energy Converter at 30±0.2°. The instrument is pointed toward the sun via an auto-tracking system that actively tracks the sun within a ±0.1°. It collects data automatically and communicates with user terminal through BDS (China’s BeiDou Navigation Satellite System) while records data as a redundant in internal memory, including working state and error. The solar radiometer is automated in the sense that it requires no supervision throughout the whole process of working. It calculates start-time and stop-time every day matched with the time of sunrise and sunset, and stop working once the precipitation. Calibrated via Langley curves and simultaneous observed with CE318, the different of Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) is within 5%. The solar radiometer had run in all kinds of harsh weather condition in Gobi in Dunhuang and obtain the AODs nearly eight months continuously. This paper presents instrument design analysis, atmospheric optical depth retrievals as well as the experiment result.
Test site vicarious calibration provides an absolute radiometric calibration for sensors. Surface reflectance is a critical parameter to be measured during a vicarious calibration field campaign. In order to realize long-term high precision observations of surface spectral reflectance in solar reflective bands, Automated Self-Calibration Spectra-Radiometer (ASCSR) was developed. ASCSR measures the global irradiance and the ground reflected radiance respectively with high spectral resolution from 400nm-2400 nm, the ratio of the two measurements is the surface reflectance. The degradation influences of instrument sensors and optical elements are removed by ratio-measurements and self-calibration. In the past two years ASCSR deployed in Dunhuang test site for continuous spectral reflectance measurements over 4 weeks. The measurements result of ASCSR is compared with traditional measurements which used SVC spectra-radiometer.
In order to realize unmanned vicarious calibration, Automated Test-site Radiometer (ATR) was developed for surface reflectance measurements. ATR samples the spectrum from 400nm-1600 nm with 8 interference filters coupled with silicon and InGaAs detectors. The field of view each channel is 10 ° with parallel optical axis. One SWIR channel lies in the center and the other seven VNIR channels are on the circle of 4.8cm diameters which guarantee each channel to view nearly the same section of ground. The optical head as a whole is temperature controlled utilizing a TE cooler for greater stability and lower noise. ATR is powered by a solar panel and transmit its data through a BDS (China’s BeiDou Navigation Satellite System) terminator for long-term measurements without personnel in site. ATR deployed in Dunhuang test site with ground field about 30-cm-diameter area for multi-spectral reflectance measurements. Other instruments at the site include a Cimel sunphotometer and a diffuser-to-globe irradiance meter for atmosphere observations. The methodology for band-averaged reflectance retrieval and hyperspectral reflectance fitting process are described. Then the hyperspectral reflectance and atmospheric parameters are put into 6s code to predict TOA radiance which compare with MODIS radiance.
Access to the requested content is limited to institutions that have purchased or subscribe to SPIE eBooks.
You are receiving this notice because your organization may not have SPIE eBooks access.*
*Shibboleth/Open Athens users─please
sign in
to access your institution's subscriptions.
To obtain this item, you may purchase the complete book in print or electronic format on
SPIE.org.
INSTITUTIONAL Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.
PERSONAL Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.