On-orbit assessment of the polarization response of COCTS onboardHY-1B satellite

摘要

Polarization response could significant affect the accuracy of the radiance measured by the ocean color remote sensors, and it should be corrected before the atmospheric correction processing. For the Chinese Ocean Color and Temperature Scanner (COCTS) onboard the HY-1B satellite which was launched on 11 Apr., 2007, the design goal of the polarization response degree is less than 5% for the scanning angle less than 20°. However, the polarization response coefficients of Hy-IB/COCTS have not yet been completely measured pre-launched, which should be estimated by the on-orbit assessment method. In this paper, we have developed an on-bit assessment method of the polarization response coefficient for satellite ocean color remote sensor. First, the principle of the polarization response of the satellite ocean color sensor is introduced. Then, we provide the on-orbit assessment method of the polarization response for the satellite ocean color sensor. The method has been applied to the Aqua/MODIS to validate its applicability, and the derived polarization response coefficients consist well with the pre-launched measured values. Finally, we apply the method to the HY-IB/COCTS, and the results show that HY-IB/COCTS has large polarization response for the 412nm and 490nm bands with the maximum polarization response degree more than 30%, and the polarization responses at 443nm, 520nm and 565nm are relative small with the degree all less than 15%. The mean values of the polarization response degree are 17.2%, 9.4%, 23.2%, 7.7% and 4.7% for the first five bands of HY-IB/COCTS, respectively.