Correction of cirrus effects in Sentinel-2 type of imagery

• Published in: International journal of remote sensing 2010-01, Vol.32 (10), p.2931-2941
• Main Authors: Richter, Rudolf, Wang, Xingjuan, Bachmann, Martin, Schläpfer, Daniel
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Angle of reflection; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Applied geophysics; Biological and medical sciences; Channels; Earth sciences; Earth, ocean, space; Exact sciences and technology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; General aspects. Techniques; image analysis; Imaging spectrometers; Internal geophysics; moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer; Parallax; Reflectance; Reflectivity; Retrieval; Teledetection and vegetation maps; water vapor
• ISSN: 1366-5901; 0143-1161; 1366-5901
• DOI: 10.1080/01431161.2010.520346

Optical satellite images are often contaminated with cirrus clouds. Thin cirrus can be detected with a channel at 1.38 μm, and an established cirrus removal method exists for visible/near-infrared (VNIR) channels in atmospheric window regions, which was demonstrated with Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS) data. This contribution addresses open issues of cirrus correction for Sentinel-2 type of instruments, that is, future spaceborne sensors such as Sentinel-2 or similar instruments. These issues are (i) an extension of the existing technique to account for cirrus during the water vapour retrieval (channel at 0.94 μm) and surface reflectance calculation to avoid reflectance artefacts at 0.94 μm, (ii) a discussion of options concerning cirrus removal in the short-wave infrared (SWIR, channels at 1.6 and 2.2 μm) region and (iii) an analysis of channel parallax (view angle) requirements to achieve a high-quality cirrus removal.