Atmospheric correction over the ocean for hyperspectral radiometers using multi-angle polarimetric retrievals

Abstract

We developed a fast and accurate polynomial based atmospheric correction (POLYAC) algorithm for hyperspectral radiometric measurements, which parameterizes the atmospheric path radiances using aerosol properties retrieved from co-located multi-wavelength multi-angle polarimeter (MAP) measurements. This algorithm has been applied to co-located spectrometer for planetary exploration (SPEX) airborne and research scanning polarimeter (RSP) measurements, where SPEX airborne was used as a proxy of hyperspectral radiometers, and RSP as the MAP. The hyperspectral remote sensing reflectance obtained from POLYAC is accurate when compared to Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET), and Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) ocean color products. POLYAC provides a robust alternative atmospheric correction algorithm for hyperspectral or multi-spectral radiometric measurements for scenes involving coastal oceans and/or absorbing aerosols, where traditional atmospheric correction algorithms are less reliable.