Operational Validation of Space-based Albedo Products from Upscaled Tower-based Albedometer Measurements

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rui Song ◽  
Jan-Peter Muller
Keyword(s):  
High Resolution ◽  
Surface Albedo ◽  
Atmospheric Correction ◽  
Ground Level ◽  
Correction Method ◽  
Landsat 8 ◽  
Surface Reflectance ◽  
Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer ◽  
Land Surfaces ◽  
Sentinel 2

<p>Surface albedo is a fundamental radiative parameter which controls the Earth’s energy budget by determining the amount of solar radiation which is either absorbed by the surface or reflected back to atmosphere. Satellite observations have long been used to capture the temporal and spatial variations of surface albedo because of their repeated global coverage. In this work, a new method of upscaling surface albedo from ground level footprints of a few tens of metres to coarse satellite scales (≈1km) is reported [1]. Tower-mounted albedometer measurements are upscaled and used to validate global space-based albedo products, including Copernicus Global Land Service (CGLS) 1km albedo data (from Proba-V and previously form VEGETATION-2), MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) 500m albedo data, and Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) 1.1km albedo data. MODIS albedo retrievals show the closest agreement with tower measurements, followed by the MISR retrievals, and then followed by the CGLS retrievals. The upscaling method uses high-resolution surface reflectance retrievals (from Landsat-8, Sentinel-2) to fill the spatial gaps between the albedometer’s field-of-view (FoV) and coarse satellite scales. High-resolution surface albedo products are generated by combining high-resolution surface reflectance data and MODIS bi-directional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) climatology data. This upscaling framework also uses a novel Sensor Invariant Atmospheric Correction (SIAC) method [2] to improve the accuracy of upscaled tower albedo values. Total uncertainties of upscaled albedo products are estimated by considering uncertainties from both the tower albedometer raw measurements and SIAC atmospheric corrections. This surface albedo upscaling method can be used over both heterogenous and homogenous land surfaces, and has been examined at the SURFRAD, BSRN and FLUXNET tower sites.</p><p><strong>Keywords</strong>: surface albedo, upscale, CGLS, MODIS, MISR, SIAC</p><p>[1] Song, R.; Muller, J.-P.; Kharbouche, S.; Woodgate, W. Intercomparison of Surface Albedo Retrievals from MISR, MODIS, CGLS Using Tower and Upscaled Tower Measurements. Remote Sens. 2019, 11, 644, doi:10.3390/rs11060644.</p><p>[2] Yin, F., Lewis, P. E., Gomez-Dans, J., & Wu, Q. A sensor-invariant atmospheric correction method: application to Sentinel-2/MSI and Landsat 8/OLI. EarthArXiv 2019, https://doi.org/10.31223/osf.io/ps957.</p>

scholarly journals Validation of Space-Based Albedo Products from Upscaled Tower-Based Measurements Over Heterogeneous and Homogeneous Landscapes

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 833
Author(s):  
Rui Song ◽  
Jan-Peter Muller ◽  
Said Kharbouche ◽  
Feng Yin ◽  
William Woodgate ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Resolution ◽  
Surface Albedo ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Atmospheric Correction ◽  
Landsat 8 ◽  
Surface Reflectance ◽  
Hemispherical Reflectance ◽  
Land Surfaces ◽  
Sentinel 2

Surface albedo is a fundamental radiative parameter as it controls the Earth’s energy budget and directly affects the Earth’s climate. Satellite observations have long been used to capture the temporal and spatial variations of surface albedo because of their continuous global coverage. However, space-based albedo products are often affected by errors in the atmospheric correction, multi-angular bi-directional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) modelling, as well as spectral conversions. To validate space-based albedo products, an in situ tower albedometer is often used to provide continuous “ground truth” measurements of surface albedo over an extended area. Since space-based albedo and tower-measured albedo are produced at different spatial scales, they can be directly compared only for specific homogeneous land surfaces. However, most land surfaces are inherently heterogeneous with surface properties that vary over a wide range of spatial scales. In this work, tower-measured albedo products, including both directional hemispherical reflectance (DHR) and bi-hemispherical reflectance (BHR), are upscaled to coarse satellite spatial resolutions using a new method. This strategy uses high-resolution satellite derived surface albedos to fill the gaps between the albedometer’s field-of-view (FoV) and coarse satellite scales. The high-resolution surface albedo is generated from a combination of surface reflectance retrieved from high-resolution Earth Observation (HR-EO) data and moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) BRDF climatology over a larger area. We implemented a recently developed atmospheric correction method, the Sensor Invariant Atmospheric Correction (SIAC), to retrieve surface reflectance from HR-EO (e.g., Sentinel-2 and Landsat-8) top-of-atmosphere (TOA) reflectance measurements. This SIAC processing provides an estimated uncertainty for the retrieved surface spectral reflectance at the HR-EO pixel level and shows excellent agreement with the standard Landsat 8 Surface Reflectance Code (LaSRC) in retrieving Landsat-8 surface reflectance. Atmospheric correction of Sentinel-2 data is vastly improved by SIAC when compared against the use of in situ AErosol RObotic NETwork (AERONET) data. Based on this, we can trace the uncertainty of tower-measured albedo during its propagation through high-resolution EO measurements up to coarse satellite scales. These upscaled albedo products can then be compared with space-based albedo products over heterogeneous land surfaces. In this study, both tower-measured albedo and upscaled albedo products are examined at Ground Based Observation for Validation (GbOV) stations (https://land.copernicus.eu/global/gbov/), and used to compare with satellite observations, including Copernicus Global Land Service (CGLS) based on ProbaV and VEGETATION 2 data, MODIS and multi-angle imaging spectroradiometer (MISR).

scholarly journals STAIR 2.0: A Generic and Automatic Algorithm to Fuse Modis, Landsat, and Sentinel-2 to Generate 10 m, Daily, and Cloud-/Gap-Free Surface Reflectance Product

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (19) ◽  
pp. 3209
Author(s):  
Yunan Luo ◽  
Kaiyu Guan ◽  
Jian Peng ◽  
Sibo Wang ◽  
Yizhi Huang
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
High Resolution ◽  
Satellite Data ◽  
Temporal Frequency ◽  
Fusion Product ◽  
High Temporal Resolution ◽  
Surface Reflectance ◽  
Land Surfaces ◽  
Fine Resolution ◽  
Sentinel 2

Remote sensing datasets with both high spatial and high temporal resolution are critical for monitoring and modeling the dynamics of land surfaces. However, no current satellite sensor could simultaneously achieve both high spatial resolution and high revisiting frequency. Therefore, the integration of different sources of satellite data to produce a fusion product has become a popular solution to address this challenge. Many methods have been proposed to generate synthetic images with rich spatial details and high temporal frequency by combining two types of satellite datasets—usually frequent coarse-resolution images (e.g., MODIS) and sparse fine-resolution images (e.g., Landsat). In this paper, we introduce STAIR 2.0, a new fusion method that extends the previous STAIR fusion framework, to fuse three types of satellite datasets, including MODIS, Landsat, and Sentinel-2. In STAIR 2.0, input images are first processed to impute missing-value pixels that are due to clouds or sensor mechanical issues using a gap-filling algorithm. The multiple refined time series are then integrated stepwisely, from coarse- to fine- and high-resolution, ultimately providing a synthetic daily, high-resolution surface reflectance observations. We applied STAIR 2.0 to generate a 10-m, daily, cloud-/gap-free time series that covers the 2017 growing season of Saunders County, Nebraska. Moreover, the framework is generic and can be extended to integrate more types of satellite data sources, further improving the quality of the fusion product.

scholarly journals Evaluation of Surface Reflectance Products Based on Optimized 6S Model Using Synchronous In Situ Measurements

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 83
Author(s):  
Xiaocheng Zhou ◽  
Xueping Liu ◽  
Xiaoqin Wang ◽  
Guojin He ◽  
Youshui Zhang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Remote Sensing ◽  
Atmospheric Correction ◽  
Solar Spectrum ◽  
In Situ Measurements ◽  
Landsat 8 ◽  
Surface Reflectance ◽  
Landsat 8 Oli ◽  
Auxiliary Data ◽  
Sentinel 2

Surface reflectance (SR) estimation is the most essential preprocessing step for multi-sensor remote sensing inversion of geophysical parameters. Therefore, accurate and stable atmospheric correction is particularly important, which is the premise and basis of the quantitative application of remote sensing. It can also be used to directly compare different images and sensors. The Landsat-8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) and Sentinel-2 Multi-Spectral Instrument (MSI) surface reflectance products are publicly available and demonstrate high accuracy. However, there is not enough validation using synchronous spectral measurements over China’s land surface. In this study, we utilized Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) atmospheric products reconstructed by Categorical Boosting (CatBoost) and 30 m ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model (ASTER GDEM) data to adjust the relevant parameters to optimize the Second Simulation of Satellite Signal in the Solar Spectrum (6S) model. The accuracy of surface reflectance products obtained from the optimized 6S model was compared with that of the original 6S model and the most commonly used Fast Line-of-sight Atmospheric Analysis of Spectral Hypercubes (FLAASH) model. Surface reflectance products were validated and evaluated with synchronous in situ measurements from 16 sites located in five provinces of China: Fujian, Gansu, Jiangxi, Hunan, and Guangdong. Through the indirect and direct validation across two sensors and three methods, it provides evidence that the synchronous measurements have the higher and more reliable validation accuracy. The results of the validation indicated that, for Landsat-8 OLI and Sentinel-2 MSI SR products, the overall root mean square error (RMSE) calculated results of optimized 6S, original 6S and FLAASH across all spectral bands were 0.0295, 0.0378, 0.0345, and 0.0313, 0.0450, 0.0380, respectively. R2 values reached 0.9513, 0.9254, 0.9316 and 0.9377, 0.8822, 0.9122 respectively. Compared with the original 6S model and FLAASH model, the mean percent absolute error (MPAE) of the optimized 6S model was reduced by 32.20% and 15.86% for Landsat-8 OLI, respectively. On the other, for the Sentinel-2 MSI SR product, the MPAE value was reduced by 33.56% and 33.32%. For the two kinds of data, the accuracy of each band was improved to varying extents by the optimized 6S model with the auxiliary data. These findings support the hypothesis that reliable auxiliary data are helpful in reducing the influence of the atmosphere on images and restoring reality as much as is feasible.

A Framework of Generating 10-m Spectral Surface Albedo Products from Sentinel-2 and MODIS data

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rui Song ◽  
Jan-Peter Muller ◽  
Alistair Francis
Keyword(s):  
Machine Learning ◽  
Deep Learning ◽  
High Resolution ◽  
Surface Albedo ◽  
Atmospheric Correction ◽  
Cloud Detection ◽  
Endmember Extraction ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Sentinel 2

<p><strong>Abstract: </strong>Surface albedo is a fundamental radiative parameter as it controls the Earth’s surface energy budget and directly affects the Earth’s climate. A new method is proposed of generating 10-m high-resolution spectral surface albedo from Sentinel-2 L1C top-of-atmosphere (TOA) reflectance and MODIS bi-directional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) data. This high-resolution spectral surface albedo generation system will be described and consists of 5 parts: 1) retrieval of Sentinel-2 spectral surface reflectance using the Sensor Invariant Atmospheric Correction (SIAC) algorithm; 2) generation of Sentinel-2 cloud mask using machine learning; 3) extraction of pure pixels and their corresponding abundance values from 20-m Sentinel-2 data using an Endmember Extraction Algorithm; 4) inversion of high-resolution albedo from MODIS_albedo/Sentinel2_BRF ratio matrix; and 5) downscaling retrieved 20-m spectral and broadband albedo to 10-m. The SIAC algorithm is developed by [1], and has demonstrated to vastly improve the accuracy of Sentinel-2 atmospheric correction when compared against the use of in situ AERONET data. The machine learning cloud detection approach CloudFCN [2] is based on a Fully Convolutional Network architecture, and has become a standard Deep Learning approach to image segmentation. The CloudFCN exhibits state-of-the-art performance in picking up cloud pixels which is comparable to other methods in terms of performance, high speed, and robustness to many different terrains and sensor types. The endmember extraction uses N-FINDR along with Automatic Target Generation Process to identify the pure pixels from Sentinel-2 spectral data. The extracted pure pixels are used to relate the albedo-to-reflectance matrix with the abundance values of different pure pixels. The high-resolution albedo values are finally retrieved by solving this over-parameterised matrix. This framework also produces a MODIS BRDF prior based on 20-years of MCD43A1 and VNP43A1 daily BRDF data. This BRDF prior is produced on a daily basis, and will be used to temporally interpolate the high-resolution albedo values over pixels that are covered by clouds. The produced high-resolution albedo data will be validated over different tower sites where long-time series of in situ albedo products have been produced [3].</p><p>Keywords: high-resolution, surface albedo, Sentinel-2, SIAC, machine learning, endmember</p><p>[1] Yin, F.; Lewis, P.E.; Gomez-Dans, J.; Wu, Q. A sensor-invariant atmospheric correction method: Application to Sentinel-2/MSI and Landsat 8/OLI. EarthArXiv, 21 Feb. 2019 web, doi:10.31223/osf.io/ps957.</p><p>[2] Francis, A.; Sidiropoulos, P.; Muller, J.-P. CloudFCN: Accurate and Robust Cloud Detection for Satellite Imagery with Deep Learning. Remote Sens. 2019, 11, 2312. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs11192312.</p><p>[3] Song, R.; Muller, J.-P.; Kharbouche, S.; Yin, F.; Woodgate, W.; Kitchen, M.; Roland, M.; Arriga, N.; Meyer, W.; Koerber, G.; Bonal, D.; Burban, B.; Knohl, A.; Siebicke, L.; Buysse, P.; Loubet, B.; Leonardo, M.; Lerebourg, C.; Gobron, N. Validation of Space-Based Albedo Products from Upscaled Tower-Based Measurements Over Heterogeneous and Homogeneous Landscapes. Remote Sens. 2020, 12, 833. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12050833.</p>

scholarly journals EVALUATING THE IMPACT OF LASRC AND SEN2COR ATMOSPHERIC CORRECTION ALGORITHMS ON LANDSAT-8/OLI AND SENTINEL-2/MSI DATA OVER AERONET STATIONS IN BRAZILIAN TERRITORY

2021 ◽  
Vol V-3-2021 ◽  
pp. 271-277
Author(s):  
R. F. B. Marujo ◽  
J. G. Fronza ◽  
A. R. Soares ◽  
G. R. Queiroz ◽  
K. R. Ferreira
Keyword(s):  
Atmospheric Correction ◽  
Open Data ◽  
Image Data ◽  
Data Cube ◽  
Landsat 8 ◽  
Surface Reflectance ◽  
Landsat 8 Oli ◽  
Continental Scale ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Sentinel 2

Abstract. Accurate and consistent Surface Reflectance estimation from optical remote sensor observations is directly dependant on the used atmospheric correction processor and the differences caused by it may have implications on further processes, e.g. classification. Brazil is a continental scale country with different biomes. Recently, new initiatives, as the Brazil Data Cube Project, are emerging and using free and open data policy data, more specifically medium spatial resolution sensor images, to create image data cubes and classify the Brazilian territory crops. For this reason, the purpose of this study is to verify, on Landsat-8 and Sentinel-2 images for the Brazilian territory, the suitability of the atmospheric correction processors maintained by their image providers, LaSRC from USGS and Sen2cor from ESA, respectively. To achieve this, we tested the surface reflectance products from Landsat-8 processed through LaSRC and Sentinel-2 processed through LaSRC and Sen2cor comparing to a reference dataset computed by ARCSI and AERONET. The obtained results point that Landsat-8/OLI images atmospherically corrected using the LaSRC corrector are consistent to the surface reflectance reference and other atmospheric correction processors studies, while for Sentinel-2/MSI images, Sen2cor performed best. Although corrections over Sentinel-2/MSI data weren’t as consistent as in Landsat-8/OLI corrections, in comparison to the surface reflectance references, most of the spectral bands achieved acceptable APU results.

scholarly journals Effect of Atmospheric Corrections on NDVI: Intercomparability of Landsat 8, Sentinel-2, and UAV Sensors

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (18) ◽  
pp. 3550
Author(s):  
David Moravec ◽  
Jan Komárek ◽  
Serafín López-Cuervo Medina ◽  
Iñigo Molina
Keyword(s):  
Satellite Imagery ◽  
Vegetation Index ◽  
Atmospheric Correction ◽  
Correction Method ◽  
Landsat 8 ◽  
Substantial Impact ◽  
Corrected Image ◽  
Normalised Difference Vegetation Index ◽  
Urban Rural ◽  
Sentinel 2

Sentinel-2 and Landsat 8 satellites constitute an unprecedented source of freely accessible satellite imagery. To produce precise outputs from the satellite data, however, proper use of atmospheric correction methods is crucial. In this work, we tested the performance of six different atmospheric correction methods (QUAC, FLAASH, DOS, ACOLITE, 6S, and Sen2Cor), together with atmospheric correction given by providers, non-corrected image, and images acquired using an unmanned aerial vehicle while working with the normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI) as the most widely used index. We tested their performance across urban, rural, and vegetated land cover types. Our results show a substantial impact from the choice of the atmospheric correction method on the resulting NDVI. Moreover, we demonstrate that proper use of atmospheric correction methods can increase the intercomparability between data from Landsat 8 and Sentinel-2 satellite imagery.

scholarly journals iCOR Atmospheric Correction on Sentinel-3/OLCI over Land: Intercomparison with AERONET, RadCalNet, and SYN Level-2

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 654
Author(s):  
Erwin Wolters ◽  
Carolien Toté ◽  
Sindy Sterckx ◽  
Stefan Adriaensen ◽  
Claire Henocq ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Optical Thickness ◽  
Vegetation Indices ◽  
Atmospheric Correction ◽  
Negative Bias ◽  
Surface Reflectance ◽  
Temporal Consistency ◽  
Correction Algorithm ◽  
Land Surfaces ◽  
Relative Differences ◽  
Level 2

To validate the iCOR atmospheric correction algorithm applied to the Sentinel-3 Ocean and Land Color Instrument (OLCI), Top-of-Atmosphere (TOA) observations over land, globally retrieved Aerosol Optical Thickness (AOT), Top-of-Canopy (TOC) reflectance, and Vegetation Indices (VIs) were intercompared with (i) AERONET AOT and AERONET-based TOC reflectance simulations, (ii) RadCalNet surface reflectance observations, and (iii) SYN Level 2 (L2) AOT, TOC reflectance, and VIs. The results reveal that, overall, iCOR’s statistical and temporal consistency is high. iCOR AOT retrievals overestimate relative to AERONET, but less than SYN L2. iCOR and SYN L2 TOC reflectances exhibit a negative bias of ~−0.01 and −0.02, respectively, in the Blue bands compared to the simulations. This diminishes for RED and NIR, except for a +0.02 bias for SYN L2 in the NIR. The intercomparison with RadCalNet shows relative differences < ±6%, except for bands Oa02 (Blue) and Oa21 (NIR), which is likely related to the reported OLCI “excess of brightness”. The intercomparison between iCOR and SYN L2 showed R2 = 0.80–0.93 and R2 = 0.92–0.96 for TOC reflectance and VIs, respectively. iCOR’s higher temporal smoothness compared to SYN L2 does not propagate into a significantly higher smoothness for TOC reflectance and VIs. Altogether, we conclude that iCOR is well suitable to retrieve statistically and temporally consistent AOT, TOC reflectance, and VIs over land surfaces from Sentinel-3/OLCI observations.

scholarly journals Assessing an Atmospheric Correction Algorithm for Time Series of Satellite-Based Water-Leaving Reflectance Using Match-Up Sites in Australian Coastal Waters

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (10) ◽  
pp. 1927
Author(s):  
Fuqin Li ◽  
David Jupp ◽  
Thomas Schroeder ◽  
Stephen Sagar ◽  
Joshua Sixsmith ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Coastal Waters ◽  
Atmospheric Correction ◽  
Correction Method ◽  
In Situ Measurements ◽  
Landsat 8 ◽  
Correction Algorithm ◽  
Simple Method ◽  
North East ◽  
The Impact

An atmospheric correction algorithm for medium-resolution satellite data over general water surfaces (open/coastal, estuarine and inland waters) has been assessed in Australian coastal waters. In situ measurements at four match-up sites were used with 21 Landsat 8 images acquired between 2014 and 2017. Three aerosol sources (AERONET, MODIS ocean aerosol and climatology) were used to test the impact of the selection of aerosol optical depth (AOD) and Ångström coefficient on the retrieved accuracy. The initial results showed that the satellite-derived water-leaving reflectance can have good agreement with the in situ measurements, provided that the sun glint is handled effectively. Although the AERONET aerosol data performed best, the contemporary satellite-derived aerosol information from MODIS or an aerosol climatology could also be as effective, and should be assessed with further in situ measurements. Two sun glint correction strategies were assessed for their ability to remove the glint bias. The most successful one used the average of two shortwave infrared (SWIR) bands to represent sun glint and subtracted it from each band. Using this sun glint correction method, the mean all-band error of the retrieved water-leaving reflectance at the Lucinda Jetty Coastal Observatory (LJCO) in north east Australia was close to 4% and unbiased over 14 acquisitions. A persistent bias in the other strategy was likely due to the sky radiance being non-uniform for the selected images. In regard to future options for an operational sun glint correction, the simple method may be sufficient for clear skies until a physically based method has been established.

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