Atmospheric Correction of MERIS over Turbid Waters Using Aerosol Information from MODIS

In this paper we demonstrate an approach to correct atmospheric effects of Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) imagery over turbid waters by combining with aerosol information retrieved from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) SWIR algorithm. This MERIS /MODIS combining (MMC) atmospheric correction approach has been tested and applied in Bohai Sea using MODIS/aqua and MERIS full resolution images acquired on September 22 2005 and August 28 2005. In-situ data collected on the same day in Bohai Sea have been used to validate the performance of MMC method. We then perform atmospheric correction using MMC method and compare the results with the outputs of MERIS standard atmospheric correction algorithm and in-phase investigation data. Results show that comparing to BEAM processor, MMC can be an optional way for atmospheric correction of MERIS data over turbid waters. In addition, Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) retrieved from MMC method is more reasonable than those derived from BEAM. A good match between retrieved water-leaving reflectance of MMC and in-situ measurements was found over turbid waters. Significant improvement of accuracy is found in 550-750nm window, where the most sensitive bands for suspended sediment concentration retrieval are located.