Pm. Teillet et al., A generalized approach to the vicarious calibration of multiple Earth observation sensors using hyperspectral data, REMOT SEN E, 77(3), 2001, pp. 304-327
The paper describes a new methodology that uses spatially extensive hypersp
ectral imagery as reference data to carry out vicarious radiometric calibra
tions for multiple satellite sensors. The methodology has been validated us
ing data from a campaign at the Railroad Valley playa test site in Nevada i
n June 1998. The proof of concept has been further tested based on data acq
uisition campaigns at the Newell County rangeland test site in Alberta in A
ugust and October 1998. The rangeland test site in the Newell County region
of Alberta is tested for its suitability as a calibration test site for sa
tellite sensor systems. All three campaigns included ground-based measureme
nts, satellite imagery and airborne hyperspectral data. The airborne hypers
pectral sensor data were acquired using the Airborne Visible and Infrared I
maging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) at Railroad Valley and the Compact Airborne Sp
ectrographic Imager (casi) in all three campaigns. This paper describes the
formulation and implementation of the new methodology, and radiometric cal
ibration monitoring results obtained for five different sensors: NOAA-14 AV
HRR, OrbView-2 SeaWiFS, SPOT-4 VGT, SPOT-1/2 HRV, and Landsat-5 TM. The res
ults indicate that the nominal on-orbit radiometric calibrations of all the
satellite sensors fit within their predicted uncertainties. The combinatio
n of both lower-reflectance and higher-reflectance test sites is shown to i
mprove the quality of the calibration monitoring results. In particular, th
e combined QUASAR monitoring results obtained from the three airborne data
acquisition days at the two test sites, encompassing five satellite sensors
and a total of 40 spectral band cases, yield a correlation between QUASAR-
based and nominal TOA radiances characterized by y = 1.026x - 1.26, and r(2
)=0.990. Temporal extensions of QUASAR data sets to calibrate satellite sen
sors imaging the test site one or more days away from the airborne data acq
uisition day yield mixed results. Crown Copyright (C) 2001 Published by Els
evier Science Inc, All rights reserved.