Atmospheric measurement analysis for the Radiometric Calibration Test Site (RadCaTS)

Jeffrey Czapla-Myers

doi:10.1117/12.2188254

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8 September 2015 Atmospheric measurement analysis for the Radiometric Calibration Test Site (RadCaTS)

Jeffrey Czapla-Myers

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Proceedings Volume 9607, Earth Observing Systems XX; 96070A (2015) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2188254
Event: SPIE Optical Engineering + Applications, 2015, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

The Radiometric Calibration Test Site (RadCaTS) was developed by the University of Arizona in the early 2000s to collect ground-based data in support of the calibration and validation of Earth-observing sensors. It uses the reflectance-based approach, which requires measurements of the atmosphere and surface reflectance. The measurements are used in MODTRAN to determine the at-sensor radiance for a given time and date. In the traditional reflectance-based approach, on-site personnel use an automated solar radiometer (ASR) to measure the atmospheric attenuation, but in the case of RadCaTS, an AERONET Cimel sun photometer is used to make atmospheric measurements. This work presents a comparison between the Cimel-derived atmospheric characteristics such as aerosol optical depth, the Angstrom exponent, and the columnar water vapor, to those derived using a traditional solar radiometer. The top-of-atmosphere radiance derived using the Cimel and ASR measurements are compared using Landsat 8 OLI bands as a test case for the period 2012–2014 to determine if any biases exist between the two methodologies.

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Jeffrey Czapla-Myers "Atmospheric measurement analysis for the Radiometric Calibration Test Site (RadCaTS)", Proc. SPIE 9607, Earth Observing Systems XX, 96070A (8 September 2015); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2188254

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