Validation of atmospheric scattering functions used in atmospheric correction over the ocean

Abstract

A new approach has been developed to validate atmospheric correction (AC) over the ocean. The latter has been applied to the ground-segment data from the Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) on board the Environmental Satellite (Envisat) platform. An atmospheric validation database has been built up with a ground-based instrument, i.e. the Cimel radiometer from the Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET). The aim of this work is to assess the atmospheric scattering functions needed to perform AC of remotely sensed data. The inputs to this new methodology were provided by AERONET, after inversion of radiometric measurements (i.e. solar direct extinctions and sky diffuse radiances) to get the inherent optical properties (IOPs) of the aerosols. The successive orders (SOs) of scattering code have been used as the radiative transfer tool in this study. This new concept for the validation of AC has been illustrated with the MERIS level-2 data extracted from the Meris Matchup In-situ Database (MERMAID) over the Acqua Alta Oceanographic Tower (AAOT, Venice – Italy). Results indicate first, an overestimate of the MERIS aerosol optical thickness (AOT) at 865 nm, and second, a marine reflectance affected by a negative bias of about 13% at 412.5 nm. This yields to an overestimate of the MERIS algal-1 pigment index, which may exceed 50%, over AAOT. The same trend is also observed in the determination of the algal-2 pigment index.