Polarization impacts on the water-leaving radiance retrieval from above-water radiometric measurements

• DOI: 10.1364/ao.51.008324
• Publication Date: 2012-12-04T05:12:40Z
• Authors: Tristan Harmel; Alexander Gilerson; Alberto Tonizzo; Jacek Chowdhary; Alan Weidemann; Robert Arnone; Sam Ahmed
• Keywords: Radiometric dating; Radiometry; Radiometric Calibration

Above-water measurements of water-leaving radiance are widely used for water-quality monitoring and ocean-color satellite data validation. Reflected skylight in above-water radiometry needs to be accurately estimated prior derivation radiance. Up-to-date methods estimate reflection diffuse on rough sea surfaces based radiative transfer simulations sky measurements. But these neglect the polarization state incident skylight, which is generally highly polarized. In this paper, effects surface reflectance subsequent estimation investigated. We show that knowledge field significantly improves estimates, particular blue part spectrum where reflected dominant. A newly developed algorithm including described. Its application standard Aerosol Robotic Network-Ocean Color hyperspectral radiometric 1.5-year dataset acquired at Long Island Sound site demonstrates noticeable importance considering estimation. it shown, time series collocated coastal waters, azimuth range leading good-quality increased, estimates improved by more than 12% 413 nm. Full consideration expected improve quality utilized validation or potential vicarious calibration purposes.