Evaluating radiometric calibration of ASTER VNIR band with Terra MODIS, Landsat 7 ETM+, and Landsat 8 OLI

On-orbit radiometric calibration of Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) visible and near-infrared (VNIR) band involves vicarious calibration using reflectance-based method, onboard lamp calibration, and cross-calibration with Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) onboard Terra. The ASTER calibration was evaluated with reference to MODIS using an improved cross-calibration algorithm in the previous study (Obata et al., Sensors, 2017). In the present study, the evaluation is expanded by using other sensors that are highly calibrated, including the Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) and Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI). The objective of the present study is to evaluate radiometric calibration of ASTER VNIR band using MODIS, ETM+, and OLI counterparts over Railroad Valley Playa for the period from 2000 to 2018. Results indicate that ASTER bands 1 and 2 are in average 4.2-4.5% and 1.8-3.3% greater than MODIS/ETM+ and that ASTER band 3N agrees well with MODIS/ETM+. The behavior of ASTER surface reflectances along time shows similar trend to that of OLI. The number of sample data for ASTER and OLI comparison should be, however, increased for accurate analysis of statistics. Nevertheless, insights obtained by cross-comparisons provide beneficial information for evaluating ASTER radiometric calibration. The consistency among radiometric calibrations of multiple sensors is of significance importance in the context of data continuity and sensor fusion studies.