Out-of-band response for the coastal zone imager (CZI) onboard China’s ocean color satellite HY-1C: Effect on the observation just above the sea surface

Abstract

The out-of-band (OOB) response is one of the key specifications for satellite optical sensors, which has important influences on quantitative remote sensing retrieval. In this paper, the effect of OOB response on the radiometric measurements made just above the sea surface is evaluated for the three broad visible bands (i.e., blue, green, and red) of the Coastal Zone Imager (CZI) onboard China’s ocean satellite HY-1C to be launched in September 2018. For the turbid coastal (Case 2) waters whose optical properties are mainly dominated by suspended sediment and colored dissolved organic material, the OOB effect can be neglected (<2%) for all three CZI visible bands. For the phytoplankton-dominated (Case 1) waters which are mainly distributed in the clear open ocean, a significant (>2%) OOB effect was found in the green band over oligotrophic waters (chlorophyll a concentration ≤~0.1 mg/m3), and accordingly a model based on the CZI blue-green band ratio is proposed to correct this effect. The OOB influence on the CZI ocean color retrieval is discussed. This research highlights the importance of the comprehensive pre-launch radiometric characterization and the OOB effect correction for the broad band space-borne sensor, in order to achieve a high-quality quantitative ocean product.