Retrieval of Reflection Coefficients of the Earth's Surface from MODIS Satellite Measurements Considering Radiation Polarization

摘要

An algorithm is considered for retrieving the reflection coefficients of the Earth's surface taking into account radiation polarization. The algorithm was tested for five MODIS channels in three areas: south of Tomsk region, Moscow region, and Irkutsk region. Test points at the center of coniferous forest massifs in the summer season were used to estimate the error of the algorithm. Results from our algorithm with and without accounting for polarization, from the MOD09 algorithm, and results without atmospheric correction were compared with measurements taken as reference. The comparison shows that the average values obtained by our algorithm taking into account polarization are closer to the reference data than those obtained using the MOD09 NASA algorithm in MODIS channels 1 (0.620-0.670 mu m), 3 (0.459-0.479 mu m), and 4 (0.545-0.565 mu m), and the difference on the same order of magnitude is observed in MODIS channel 2 (0.841-0.876 mu m). In MODIS channel 8 (0.405-0.420 mu m), one algorithm is preferable in some situations and the other otherwise.