Publications

Wang, MH; Shi, W (2012). Sensor Noise Effects of the SWIR Bands on MODIS-Derived Ocean Color Products. IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON GEOSCIENCE AND REMOTE SENSING, 50(9), 3280-3292.

Abstract
The results of this study demonstrate the effects of sensor noise in the shortwave infrared (SWIR) bands on the satellite-derived ocean color products, in particular, normalized water-leaving radiance spectra data. A simple radiance smoothing technique is used for reducing sensor noise equivalent radiance NE Delta L(lambda) (or increasing the sensor signal-to-noise ratio) values for the SWIR radiances measured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Aqua satellite. Specifically, a simple 5 x 5 box running mean approach for MODIS-Aqua-measured SWIR radiances has been proposed. We show that the noise errors in MODIS-Aqua-derived ocean color products using the SWIR-based atmospheric correction algorithm are mainly from large noise errors in the MODIS-Aqua-measured SWIR radiances due to their significantly larger sensor NE Delta L(lambda) values. Using the proposed SWIR radiance smoothing method, SWIR-derived ocean color products can be improved with considerably reduced product noise. In addition, a practical method in estimation of the MODIS-Aqua SWIR NE Delta L(lambda) values has been developed. We show that, for future ocean color satellite sensors, it will require NE Delta L(lambda) values of less than similar to 5 x 10(-4) and similar to 9 x 10(-5) mW . cm(-2) . mu m(-1) . sr(-1) for SWIR bands at 1240 and 2130 nm, respectively.

DOI:
0196-2892

ISSN:
10.1109/TGRS.2012.2183376