Publications

Estrella, EH; Gilerson, A; Foster, R; Groetsch, P (2021). Spectral decomposition of remote sensing reflectance variance due to the spatial variability from ocean color and high-resolution satellite sensors. JOURNAL OF APPLIED REMOTE SENSING, 15(2), 24522.

Abstract
The variability of the remote sensing reflectance, R-rs, now routinely retrieved from ocean color (OC) and high spatial resolution sensors, is often used to characterize water variability due to changes in inherent optical properties of the water body. At the same time, R-rs is partially variable because of uncertainties in its retrieval in the process of atmospheric correction. Using data from SNPP-VIIRS and Landsat-8 OLI sensors, the contribution of the main components to the variance of R-rs due to its spatial variability is determined based on a model in which variances were considered proportional to the mean values of the corresponding components. It is shown that there is practically no spatial variability in the open ocean waters and water variability is proportional to the spatial resolution of the sensor in coastal waters. Variances due to surface effects, inaccuracies of aerosol models, and sunglint can contribute significantly to R-rs variance, which characterizes R-rs spatial variability, with variances due to the water variability itself often being significantly smaller. (C) The Authors. Published by SPIE under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License.

DOI:
10.1117/1.JRS.15.024522

ISSN:
1931-3195