206697

JOVE Final Report

Name: Stephen Schiller

Institution: South Dakota State Univ.

Date:12\20\97

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I. Research

Brief description of research results to date on your

project: (i00 words or less)

The focus of our JOVE research has been to develop a field instrmment that

provides high quality data for atmospheric corrections and in-flight calibration

of airborne and satellite remote sensinc imaging systems. The instrument package

is known as the Portable Ground-based Atmospheric Monitoring System or

PG_2_S. PG_S collects a comprehensive set of spectroscopic/radiometric

observations that describe the optical properties of the atmosphere and

reflectance of a target area on the earth's surface at the time of the aircraft

or satellite overpass. To date, the PG_.[S instrument system and control software

has been completed and used for data collection in several NASA field

experiments across the continental US and Puerto Rico.

Where do you see your JOVE research going after the initial JOVE Funding

Expires?

Our JOVE initiated research will continue to be very active in supporting

validation and calibration activities in remote sensing involving NASA, DOE,

DOD, NSF, and possibly commercial supported programs. Future effort will focus

on projects related to NASA's Mission to Planet Earth. This will include field

work using PGILMS and data analysis that evaluates sensor calibration and

atmospheric effects in images recorded by ASTER, MODIS, and MISR instruments

aboard the A_[-I platform.

Communication with NASA Colleague

(Please indicate the extent of your contact with your NASA colleague. Is the

communication producing qualitative results? Do you still consider the match to

be viable, and do you anticipate continuing your research collaboration after

formal JOVE funding expires)

The communication and overall interaction with Jeff Luvall on this project has

been excellent. We are in touch regularly and continue to collaborate in

research. Both of us have worked together in several field experiments and have

co-authored several papers. We anticipate that this relationship will continue

long into the future.

Refereed Journal Articles Published:

a copy of the full publicationl

(title, authors, journal, date, and attach

Milone, E.F., Wilson, W.J.F., Fry, D.J.I., Schiller, S.J. 1994,

"Studies of Large Amplitude Delta Scuti Variables II: DY Hercu_1_ _ " _ -" , Publications

of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 106, 1120.
"Studies of Large Amplitude Delta Scuti Variables II: DYHerculis", Publications

of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 106, 1120.

Milone, E.F., Stagg, C.R., Sugers, B.J.A., HcVean, J.R.,

Schiller, S.J., and Kallrath, J. 1995, "Observations and A_alysis

of the Contact Binary H235in the OpenCluster NGC752",

Astronomical Journal, 109, 359.

Schiller, S.J., Bridges, D., and Clifton, T., 1996, "NewPhotometric Light Curve

Measurementsof SSLacer_ae from the Harvard College Observatory Plate

Archives", in Origins, Evolution, and Destinies of Binary S:ars in Clusters,

E.F. Milone and J.-C. Mermilliod, eds., (Astron. Society of the Pacific: San

Francisco), pp. 141-143,1996.

Schiller, S.J., and E,F. Milone 1996, "Binaries in Clusters: Exploring Binary

and Cluster Evolution", in Origins, Evolution, and Desinies of Binary Stars in

Clusters, E.F. Milone and J.-C. Mermilliod, eds., (Astron. Society cf the

Pacific: San Francisco), pp. 120-130, 1996.

Schiller, S.J. 1996, "Cosmic Billiards", Astronomy Magazine, July Issue, 104,

pp.46-49.

Schiller, S.J. and Luva!l, J. 1996, "Evaluation of the Aerosol Scattering Phase

Function from PG_S Observations of Sky Path Radiance", in the proceedings of

IGARSS96: Remote Sensing for a Sustainable Future, Lincoln, Nebraska, pp.1286-

89.

Schiller, S.J., Luvall, J., and Justus, J. 1996, "Calibration of MODTP_3 with

PGAMS Observational Data for Atmospheric Corrections Applications", Proceedings

of SPIE, Vol. 2758, pp. 366-374

Refereed Journal Articles Submitted: (title, authors, journal, date submitted)

Other Publications Publisbed: (i.e. abstracts, technical memorandums)

Milone, E.F., Stagg, C.R. and Schiller, S.J. 1992, "Constraints on the Cessation

Of Eclipses in SS Lacertae and Their Implications for System Evolution", in IAU

Symposium No. 151 Evolutionary Processes in Interacting Binary Stars, August 5-

8, 1991, Cordoba, Argentina, pages 479-82.

Milone, E.F., McVean, J.R. Lu, W., Schiller, S.J. and Miller, G. 1994, "The

Binaries-in-Clusters Program in the Age of Imaging", IAU Symposium #161,

Astronomy from Wide-Field Imaging, August 23-27, 1993, Berlin, Germany.

Schiller, S.J., and Luvall, J. 1994, " A Portable Ground-based Atmospheric

Monitoring System (PGAMS) for the calibration and validation of atmospheric

correction algorithms applied to satellite images", Proc. SPIE, 2231, pages 191-

98.

Oral and Poster Papers Presented: (title, date, conference name, etc., include

co-authored presentations, and attach a copy of the abstract)
Proposals Awarded: (attach the signature page, title page, and table of

contents)

i. Agency providing funding: USGS $ amount:S75,590

Title of project/PI: Relative Radiometric Calibration of the

Landsat Archive / Dennis Helder and Stephen

Schiller

Period of Performance: 9/i/94 to 5/31/95

Primary Use of Funds: Release time salaries for PI's and student

support

2. Agency providing funding: French Centre S amount:S332,600

National d'Etudes Spatiales

(CENS)

Title of project/PI: Monitoring Seasonal Dynamics of North

__merican Grasslands Using VEGETATION

/David J. Meyer et al.

Period of Performance: 2/95 to 11/98

Primary Use of Funds: Purchase of satellite images and field

equipment

3. Agency Providing Funding: NSF/South Dakota $ amount:S944,109

EPSCoR

Title of project/PI: Comprehensive Investigation of the

Instrumental and Atmospheric Point-Spread

Function Affecting Ground-based, Airborne,

and Satellite Environmental Observations /

Dennis Helder, Stephen Schiller, Sung Shin

(SDSU)

Period of Performance: 6/95 to 6/98

Primary Use of Funds: Salaries, equipment, and student support.

The amount given above is the three year budget for our investigation alone that

has been approved by NSF.

Proposals Submitted:

i. Agency Submitted to:USDA $ amount $50,000

Title/PI: Carbon Isotope Measurements from Remotely Sensed

Reflectance Spectra/ Kevin Kephart and Stephen Schiller

Period of Performance:f0/95 to 10/97
Primary Use of Funds: Salary and student support

Status: Wasnot funded

2. Agency Submitted to: US Department of Energy $ amount: $600,00

Title/PI: An Advanced Portable Ground-Based Atmospheric Monitoring System(PG_[S)

for hyperspectral A_gu!ar Measurements of Shortwave Radiative Fluxes/ Stephen

Schiller and Jeff Luva!!

Period of Performance:f0/97 to I0/00

Primary Use of Funds: Equipment and Salary

Status: Was not funded.

3. Agency Submitted to: NASA's Office of Mission to Planet Earth

$ amount: $387,000

Title/PI: A Radiometer Network for the Areal Validation of EOS Products /

Stephen Schiller

Period of Performance: 10/97 to I0/00

Primary Use of Funds: Salary, Student Support, and Equipment

Status: Was not funded.

4. Agency Submitted to: DOD EPSCoR Program $ amount: $437,220

Title/PI: Validation of Atmospheric Remote Sensing Image Restoration and

Moisture Retrieval

Period of Performance: 4/98 to 4/01

Primary Use of Funds: Salary, Student Support, and Equipment

Status: In review process.

Are you utilizing the Internet or other network? If other, which?

Internet - for e-mail, data transfer, and remote log in to MSFC computers.

Please identify the data sets, if any, used in your research.

II. Education:

Assessment of Student Impact: Indicate the impact, if any, that the JOVE Program

has had on student enrollment and/or recruitment. Please provide before and

after numbers for science majors by discipline, course enrollment, etc.

The impact has been to greatly increase opportunities for research to be a part

of the undergraduate educational experience at SDSU for our majors. ,
Student ResearchAssistants (Please complete the attached

form for each student listed below.)

Undergraduate Assistants: ResearchArea: Major:

Corey Plender Instrument Control in Engineering Physics

RemoteSensing / Electrical Eng.

Tammy Clifton Stellar Astrophysics Physics

Presentations:

Title:The Disappearance of Eclipse Minima of the Binary

Star SS Lacertae

A/nerican Association of Physics Teachers / Society of

Physics Students, Regional Meeting, Sioux Falls, SD,

November 12, 1994.

National Conference of Undergraduate Research, Schnectady,

NY, April 20, 1995.

Publications:

Title:The Disappearance of Eclipse Minima of the Binary

Star SS Lacertae

National Conference of Undergraduate Research

Proceedings, 1995 (In Press).

Steve Fox

Cameron Havlik

Graduate Assistants:

Dallas Bridges

Weixing Shen

Zhaohui Wang

Remote Sensing Engineering Physics

/ Mathematic

Stellar Spectroscopy

Research Area:

Engineering Physics

/Electrical Eng.

Major:

Image Processing Engineering Physics

/ Electrical Eng.

Scattering of light Engineering Physics

In the Earth's Atmosphere

Reflectance Spectra of Engineering Physics

The Earth's Surface / Computer Science

III. Curriculum Development

New Curricula: (Please list any new majors, minors, or areas of concentration

which have been implemented as a result of your institution's participation in

JOVE. Indicate current student enrollments, and attach a copy of the new

curricula description from your institution's course catalogue.)
New Courses: (course title, department, student enrollments, attach copy of

course syllabus and catalog description)

Course title: Physics 598/698 Photonics

Department: Physics

Student enrollment: 8 - I0

Course was added in part because of increased student interest and research

involvement in optical measurement and instrumentation resulting from the JOVE

program at SDSU.

9_ended Courses or Auqmented Courses: (list new topics included, student

enrollments and attach a copy of the course syllabus)

_q

D

Reading or independent study courses: (course title, department, student

enrollments and attach a copy of the course syllabus)

[]

[]

IV. Outreach

Please indicate your outreach efforts in each of the categories below. List the

type of outreach effort (lecture, workshop, etc.), location, and estimated

number of attendees.

Students: (high school, middle, elementary, other)

Outreach Effort Location Estimated number

of Attendees

I. South Dakota

Space Day Exhibit

Pierre (April 1995) 1500

The members of the South Dakota Space Grant Consortium (SDSU, SD

School of Mines and Technology, and EROS Data Center) sponsored

Space Day to promote space related activities in South Dakota.

Teachers and students in schools across South Dakota were

invited. Our participation involved an exhibit of JOVE research

activities under the title of Astrophysics and Space Science

Laboratory, SDSU (see attached brochure). The exhibit included a
poster presentation of JOVEresearch and hands on computer

activities for displaying properties of binary stars and the

dynamicsof earth orbiting satellites. JOVEstudents, Tammy

Clifton and Steve Fox participated in manning the exhibit

2. Science Week

Lectures and

Demontrations

Hrookings Central

Elementry School

5O

Wasa presenter during "Science Week"at the Brookings Central Elementary School

in March 1994. Workedwith 3rd grade students for 4 days in two 45 min

sessions/day. Under the topic "Physics and the Conservation of Energy" numerous

demonstrations were conducted, manyof them hands-on. Someof the discussions

centered around space science related t:pics such as the propulsion of rockets

and energy from the sun.

3. South Dakota Augustana College 2000

SpaceDayExhibit Sioux Falls, SD

April 24, 1997

The membersof the South Dakota SpaceGrant Consortium (SDSU,SD

School of Mines and Technology, and EROSData Center) sponsored

SpaceDay to promote s_as_ related activities in South Dakota.

Teachers and students in schools across South Dakota were

Invited and several thousand students attended from K-12. Our participation

involved an exhibit of JOVEresearch activities dealing with the measurementsof

solar radiation in the Earth's atmosphere. Field equipment used to make

measurementswere displayed and demonstrated.

Teachers: (high school, middle, elementary, other)

Outreach Effort Location Estimated number

of Attendees

I. South Dakota Pierre 1500

SpaceDay 95

(see above)

2. South Dakota Sioux Falls 2000

Space Day 97

3,

Public: (civic, professional organizations, etc.)

Outreach Effort Location Estimated number

of Attendees

l.Professional Workshop EROS Data Center 30
Presentation of a workshop at EROSData Center, August 15-

17,1994, by Dennis Helder, WayneBonzyk, and myself dealing with

calibration of remote sensing systems. Approximately 30

participants included leading scientists in this field from

across the US and Canada.I lead out in the discussion topic

"Calibration and Cross-Calibration of GroundEquipment" and

demonstrated the PG_MSequipment.

2.

3.

V. Summer Programs: (describe program, location, da:e(s), #

of attendees, length of program, etc.)

For students:

For teachers:

VI. "Roadblocks" to Progress/Suggestions

VII. How could the program be changed to make it more effective

Make it possible for mentors to attend the annual Jove conferences.

VII. Overall, what has been your institution's greatest benefit from

participating in JOVE.

The greatest benefit is the administrative and funding infrastructure that

the JOVE program sets up between NASA and the JOVE participant's home

institution to conduct a meaningful research program that includes significant

student participation.

IX. Please list all subject inventions as a result of this award or provide a

statement that there were none.

VII. Other Activities

Collected PGAMS data in Sept. 1994 supporting the Research

Project "Analysis of Urban Heat Island Development over

Huntsville, Alabama Using Remote Sensing Data". The PI's are Dale

Quattrochi and Jeff Luvall of MSFC with funding from the MSFC Director's

Discretionary Fund. The PG._!S data is being used for atmospheric corrections and

sensor calibration. The project had a unique component that involved hundreds of

K-12 students through out the Huntsville area in collecting and analyzing data
for the study. This work continued with a study of the city of Atlanta in 1996

and 1997.

A major effort was made to expand our application of the PGAMS system by

developing a strong collaboration effort with Remote Sensing Group at the

University of Arizona under the direction of Phil Slater. The Remote Sensing

Group has the major responsibility of characterizing and monitoring radiometric

calibration of several sensors to be flown on EOS platforms and currently

performs ground-based in-flight calibration of the SPOT and Landsat 5 remote

sensing systems. The PG_4S system was transported to White Sands, New Mexico,

where we conducted a joint field campaign for Spot and Landsat radiometric

calibration in April, 1995. The capabilities of the PGAMS atmospheric and

surface measurements will be compared to the measurements obtained by the Remote

Sensing Group for quality of measurements and future potential of PGAMS as a

principle field instrument in support of the EOS mission. This activity

continued with field campaigns at Lunar Lake, Nevada in June of 1996 and 1997 to

develop techniques for absolute vicarious calibration of the EOS sensor MODIS,

MISER and ASTER.
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Calibration of MODTRAN3 with PGAMS Observational Data

for Atmospheric Correction Applications

Stephen Schiller

Physics Department, South Dakota State University

Brookings, SD 57007

Jeff Luvall and Jere Justus

Global Hydrology & Climate Center

NASA, Marshall Space Flight Center

977 Explorer Blvd., Huntsville, AL 35806

ABSTRACT

The Portable Ground-based Atmospheric Monitoring System (PGAMS) is a

spectroradiometer system that provides a set of in situ solar and hemispherical sky

irradiance, path radiance, and surface reflectance measurements. The observations

provide input parameters for the calibration of atmospheric algorithms applied to

multispectral and hyperspectral images in the visible and near infrared spectrum.

Presented in this paper are the results of comparing hyperspectral surface radiances

calculated using MODTRAN3 with PGAMS field measurements for a blue tarp and grass

surface targets. Good agreement was obtained by constraining MODTRAN3 to only a

rural atmospheric model with a calibrated visibility and surface reflectance from PGAMS

observations. This was accomplished even though the sky conditions were unsteady as

indicated by a varying aerosol extinction. Average absolute differences of 11.3 and 7.4

percent over the wavelength range from 400 to 1000 nm were obtained for the grass and

blue tarp surfaces respectively. However, transformation to at-sensor radiances require

additional constraints on the single-scattering albedo and scattering phase function so that

they exhibit the specific real-time aerosol properties rather than a seasonal average model.

1. INTRODUCTION

Real-time monitoring of the optical properties of the atmosphere from the Earth's surface

will be an important part of the coming Mission to Planet Earth. Atmospheric corrections

over land and in-flight absolute calibration of EQS sensors will be the main beneficiaries

of such a monitoring program.

,366 f SPIE Vol, 2758 0-8194-213 9-1/96/55.00
The objective is to the provide accurate quantitative data for remote sensing investigations

using satellite and airbome remote sensing images. This is best accomplished when direct

observations are obtained that characterize the optical properties of the atmosphere at the

time and place a remote sensing image is acquired. In turn, these are used to constrain

a radiative transfer code. The resulting calculations make it possible to convert radiances

measured at the sensor to surface reflectance and upwelling radiance or to predict

at-sensor radiances for vicarious calibration using the measured surface reflectance of a

calibration target. Our objective is to develop this capability with hyperspectral resolution.

The purpose of this paper is to present initial results working with ground truth data

collected with the Portable Ground-based Atmospheric Monitoring System (PGAMS) I.

PGAMS observations of atmospheric transmission and surface reflectance are used to

calibrate MODTRAN3 z3 and predict upwelling radiances from a blue nylon tarp and grass

targets. The resulting synthetic radiance spectra are compared to direct at-surface

measurements obtained with PGAMS. This was done is to evaluate the ability of

MODTRAN3 to model observed atmospheric optical conditions and to predict at-sensor

radiances.

Of particular interest is the ability of PGAMS to obtain sufficient observations for

atmospheric correction in a real world atmosphere. Generally, atmospheric corrections

techniques are validated at high altitude sites under very clear cloudless sky conditions.

However, most quantitative investigations by the users of remote sensing data will not be

situated in such an ideal environment. The need is to develop a capability for atmospheric

correction under non-ideal sky conditions. The data set used in this study was obtained in

a clear but unstable atmosphere at Huntsville, Alabama.

2. DESCRIPTION OF EXPERIMENT

2.1. Instrum, entation

All the measurements of atmospheric optical properties for this investigation were obtained

with the PGAMS field instrument. Calibrated irradiance, radiance, and reflectance

observations are recorded using a single diode-array field spectrometer 4 (Personal

Spectrometer 2) providing radiometric measurements in 512 channels over the wavelength

range of 350 to 1050 nrn in 1.4 nm steps. An alt-alt tracking system controls the altitude

and azimuth pointing of the spectrometer's 1 degree field-of-view (FOb0 foreoptics with an

angular resolution of 20 arcseconds. Additional foreoptics can provide 5°, 10 °, 18 °, and

1800 FOV input through a fiber optic feed. An additional 10-channel sunphotometer is

typically run to record continuous observations of the direct normal solar flux but it did not

provide any data for this report due to computer problems. Overall, the PGAMS instrument

was used to obtain hyperspectral measurements of:

5PIE Vol. 2758/367
1) Direct solar irradiance,

2) Diffuse sky irradiance,

3) Diffuse to global ratio,

4) Sky path radiance as a function of altitude and azimuth including almucantar

scans and hemispherical sky radiance maps, and

5) Surface reflectance observations when detached from the alt-alt mounting.

All of these observations were recorded with the same spectroradiometer detector for the

purpose of reducing the difficulties inherent when comparing data measured by

independent detectors.

2.2. Field Campaign

Spectroradiometric observations were collected using PGAMS in support of a field

campaign dealing with the analysis of urban heat island development around Huntsville,

Alabama on September 7, 1994. The objective was to provide atmospheric correction and

in-flight calibration for image data obtained with the Airborne ThermalNisible Land

Application Sensor (ATLAS). Application of the PGAMS data to the calibration of ATLAS

imagery will be presented in a future publication.

This presentation concentrates on the radiative transfer properties of the atmosphere and

two surfaces used as calibration targets. The surfaces were a 60 by 80 foot blue tarp and

a 100 by 160 foot surface of grass covered soil. PGAMS observations of reflectance and

upwelling radiance were recorded for both. The following radiative transfer analysis was

conducted for the solar geometry and atmospheric conditions at the mid-time the surface

measurements for each target were recorded.

3. USING PGAMS OBSERVATIONS TO CALIBRATE RADIATIVE TRANSFER

CALCULATIONS

3.1. Atmospheric Conditions

The atmospheric conditions on Sept. 7, 1994 were far from ideal. It reflects the difficulties

that are typical with real world field campaigns conducted in rural and urban environments.

Though the skies were cloud free throughout the day, erratic temporal variations in the

aerosol transmittance significantly affected the magnitude of the direct solar irradiance

reaching the earth's surface. Thus, the following radiative transfer modeling will be done

so as to be specific to the atmospheric conditions at the mid-time the reflectance spectra

were recorded for the grass and blue tarp targets. Figure 1 shows the temporal variability

of the direct solar irradiance measured with PGAMS at a wavelength of 500 nm. Significant

variations in aerosol extinction are present and will be the dominant source of error in the

atmosphere model calculations.

368 5PIE Vol. 2758
t J I l |

14 15 18 20 22

Universal T_me (hours)

Figure 1. Temporal variations in direct normal solar irradiance on Sept. 7, 1994 recorded

at 500 nm. Units are instrumental raw digital numbers.

3.2. Measurements of target spectral reflectance.

The upwelling radiance and spectral reflectance of the grass and blue tarp targets were

measured with the PS2 using an 18° FOV foreoptic about 2 meters above the surface. The

view geometry was nadir and normal to the target surface. Several hundred spectra were

averaged together that were uniformly sampled over the surface area. It took 6 minutes

and 4 minutes respectively to sample each surface at median times of 19.02 and 19.11

hours UT. The solar zenith angle at mid-sample time was 33.820 and 34.97 ° respectively.

The resulting average reflectance spectra are shown in Figure 2 detemqined with reference

to a calibrated spectralon panel.

3.3. Calibrating MODTRAN3 to fit the observed transmittance spectrum

The process of calibrating MODTRAN3 to model the observed atmospheric conditions will

be based principally on determining the correct surface range or visibility (VlS) of the

aerosol boundary layer. Using the exoatmosphere solar irradiance from standard Langley

plot calibration of the PGAMS spectrometer, the aerosol extinction coefficients and the

MODTRAN visibility parameter can be estimated from individual solar irradiance spectra.

The atmospheric transmittance spectrum corresponding to the median time of the blue tsrp

and grass reflectance observations was determined from linear interpolation of solar

irradiance spectra recorded at 18.748 and 19.364 hours UT. With some fine tuning of the

visibility parameter, a match between the observed PGAMS and synthetic MODTRAN

spectrum was evaluated for the time of the grass and blue tarp reflectance observations.

The comparison is made only for channels where water vapor absorption is negligible. In

5PIE Vol. 2758 / 369
this way, a visibility of 37.1 km and 41.0 km were determined for 19.02 and 19.11 hours

UT respectively. The resulting fit of the PGAMS and MODTRAN3 spectra for the mid-time

of the grass reflectance observations is shown in Figure 3. The 1976 standard atmosphere

with a spring-summer rural aerosol was selected for the MODTRAN3 calculation.

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measured with PGAMS.

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MODTRAN3

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400 600 800 1000

Wavelength (nm)

Figure 3. MODTRAN3 transmittance spectrum for VIS = 37.1 km compared to PGAMS

measured transmittance at 19.02 hours UT. '

.:.370/5PIE Vol. 2758
4. SURFACE RADIANCE: COMPARISON BETWEEN

OBSERVATION AND MODEL

MODTRAN3 was set up to duplicate the same view geometry as seen by the PS2 when

it recorded the radiance and reflectance from above the grass and blue tarp targets. The

model was calibrated with the visibility, solar zenith angle, and spectral surface reflectance

for each target and time of observation. The two-stream multiple scattering mode was also

used. The resulting synthetic spectra of the upwelling radiance is shown for the two

surfaces in Figures 4 and 5. Direct comparison is made with the PGAMS observations. The

PGAMS measurements of the upwelling radiance were transformed from instrumental to

absolute units using coefficients derived from calibration lamp measurements. The

absolute radiance calibration was conducted with a LI-COR Optical Radiation Calibrator

providing an accuracy of better than +/- 5% using a NIST seccnd_,r 7 standard lamp.

The agreement between the observed and synthetic surface radiance spectra reflects an

average absolute difference of 11.3 and 7.4 percent between 400 and 1000 nm for the

grass and blue tarp targets respectively. This comparison is very good considering the

unstable sky conditions. The largest systematic difference is in the near infrared where the

aerosol properties begin to dominate the e_inction and scattering processes. It results

from the likelihood that the aerosol model used in MODTRAN3 does not adequately

represent the actual aerosols present in the atmosphere. Further analysis will be

conducted using the constant altitude scans of sky path radiance and diffuse to global ratio

to evaluate a single-scattering albedo and scattering phase function that is a better

representation of the actual aerosol properties.

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Figure 4. PGAMS measured upwelling radiance from the grass target area compared to

the predicted MODTRAN3 radiance.

5PIE Vol. 2758/371
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Figure 5. PGAMS measured upwelling radiance from the blue tarp target compared to the

predicted MODTRAN3 radiance

Based on the results presented in Figures 4 and 5, one recognizes that MODTRAN3 is

modeling the radiative transfer processes that propagate the solar radiation from the top

of the atmosphere to the ground and than scattered off the target surface with good

success. As a result, one would expect the same model to also propagate the surface

radiance to the overflying sensor with similar accuracy. However, the transmitted surface

radiance will not be the only component contributing to the observed at-sensor radiance.

Single and multiple scattering by aerosols will introduce a large path radiance component

to the at-sensor signal. Thus, the problem of using only a seasonal average aerosol model

provided in MODTRAN3 may introduce significant error in the predicted path radiance

component of the at-sensor radiance. The next section of this paper looks into this

concern.

5. EVALUATING THE PATH RADIANCE CONTRIBUTION

TO AT-SENSOR RADIANCE CALCULATIONS

The calibrated MODTRAN3 atmosphere can be used to calculate the surface radiance

reaching the altitude of a remote sensing system (L,o,_). However, the total radiance

detected by the sensor (L_) will also include the path radiance produced by solar radiation

scattered into the sensor's field-of-view by the atmospl_ere (L_,=). These three quantities

are related simply by the equation:

Lsen = Latin + Lsur_
Therefore, the model atmosphere that has been used to calculate surface radiance must

also be able to provide accurate predictions of path radiance. The ability to do this is

suspect because path radiance is most dependent on the assumed aerosol model. At this

point the aerosol model has been based only on the seasonal average rural aerosol model

provided with MODTRAN3. Comparison of observed path radiance with model predictions

will be useful at this point. The view geometry of the MODTRAN3 atmosphere

corresponding to the time of the blue tarp observation (19.11 hours UT) was changed to

produce a radiance spectrum in the zenith direction. The MIE scattering parameter was

used in this calculation. The resulting spectrum is compared with the corresponding

PGAMS observation in Figure 6. The systematic difference in the two spectra indicate that

the model aerosol used does not agree well with the actual atmospheric aerosol properties.

Aerosol properties such as single scattering albedo and single scattering phase function

that better represents the genuine Sept. 7, 1996 atmospheric aerosols must be evaluated

from sky path radiance observations if improved at-sensor radiances are to be predicted

from the MODTRAN3 model.

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Figure 6. Comparison of the sky path radiance in the zenith direction between an observed

PGAMS spectrum (1 o FOV) and a MODTRAN3 spectrum calibrated to the visibility and

solar geometry at occurring at 19.11 hours UT.

6. CONCLUSION

Presented in this paper are the results of comparing hyperspectral surface radiances

calculated using MODTRAN3 with PGAMS field measurements for a blue tarp and a grass

surface target. Very good agreement is obtained by constraining a rural atmospheric model

with a calibrated visibility and surface reflectance from PGAMS observations. Reliable

5PIE Vol. 2758 1373
transformation to at-sensor radiances require additional constraints to reflect the actual

real-time aerosol properties such as the single scattering albedo and the scattering phase

function. Comparison of MODTRAN3 predicted at-sensor radiances with actual radiances

observed from the Airborne ThermalNisible Land Application Sensor (ATLAS) will be

presented in a future publication.

7. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Acknowledgment is made of support for this research by the NASA/University JOint

VEnture (JOVE) in Space Research and the South Dakota Space Grant Consortium.

Additional support was provided by the National Science Foundation under Grant

#OSR-9452894 and by the South Dakota Future Fund. Acknowledgment is also made

for supporting the development of PGAMS by the Marshall Space Flight Center

Director's Discretionary Fund.

8. REFERENCES

1. Schiller, S. and J. Luvall, "A portable ground-based atmospheric monitoring

system (PGAMS) for the calibration and validation of atmospheric correction algorithms

applied to satellite images", SPIE, vol. 2231, pp 191-198, 1994.

2. Berk, A., L.S. Berstein, and D.C. Robertson, "MODTRAN: A moderate resolution

model for LOWTRAN 7", Final report, GL-TR-0122, AFGL, Hanscomb AFB, MA, 42 pp.,

1989.

3. Anderson, G.P., J.H. Chetwynd, J.-M. Theriault, P. Acharya, A. Berk, D.C.

Robertson, F.X. Kneizys, M.L. Hoke, L.W. Abreu, and E.P. Shettle, "MODTRAN2:

Suitability for Remote Sensing", Proc. Workshop on Atmospheric Correction of Landsat

Imagery, Publ. by Geodynamics Corporation, pp. 65-69, 1993.

4. Markham, B.L., D.L. Williams, J.R. Schafer, F. Wood, and M.S. Kim,"Radiometric

Characterization of Diode-Array Field Spectrometers", Remote Sens. Environ., vol. 51, pp.

317-330, 1994.

374/SPIE Vol. 2758
Evaluation of the Aerosol Scattering Phase Function

from PGAMS Observation of Sky Path Radiance

Stephen Schiller

South Dakota State University

Physics Department, Brookings, SD 57007

7:605-688-5859/F:605-688-5878/Schilles@mg.sdstate.edu

Jeffery Luvall

Global Hydrology & Climate Center

NASA, Marshal! Space Flight Center

977 Explorer Blvd., Huntsville, AL 35806

P:205-922-5886/F:205-922-5723/jluvall@msfc.nasa.gov

Abstract -- A knowledge of the spectral and geometrical

distribution of sky path radiance at the time a remote sensing

image of the earth's surface is acquired can greatly improve the

application of atmospheric correction and vicarious calibration

techniques. The focus of this investigation is to evaluate the

sensitivity of the radiance exiting the bottom and top of the

atmosphere to the representation of the aerosol single-scattering

phase function for these applications. Hyperspectral almucantar

sky path radiance measurements obtained with the Portable

Ground-based Atmospheric Monitoring System (PGAMS) are

compared to synthetic spectra generated by MODTRAN3.

INTRODUCTION

The objective in applying atmospheric corrections to remote

sensing images is to transform at-sensor radiance to surface

radiance and reflectance. The results of the transformation

depend largely on the ability to estimate the radiance

contribution produced by solar radiation scattered into the

sensor's field of view by atmospheric aerosols. The accuracy

one can achieve in estimating this path radiance component

depends on the representation used for the aerosol single

scattering phase function [1].

Typically the approach to developing a single scattering phase

function is based upon seasonal average aerosol properties.

Using these properties to define a particle size distribution and

complex index of refraction, the phase function may be

constructed by Mie theory [2]. Another effective tactic is

achieved by adopting an asymmetry factor and employing the

Henyey-Greenstein phase function [3]. Once generated, the

single sca_'tering ph_e function can be used in radiative transfer

calculations to estimate the at-sensor path radiance contribution

needed for atmospheric corrections routines.

The Moderate Resolution Atmospheric Radiance and

Transmittance Model MODTRAN3 [4] encompasses both of

these approaches in generating the aerosol single-scattering

phase function and provides a very flexible and powerful

platform for sky path radiance calculations. The capacity to deal

with the complex problems of multiple scattering makes this

code an excellent tool for generating synthetic spectra that can

be compared to field observations. In this investigation,

comparison will be made to hyperspectral observations

obtained with the Portable Ground-based Atmospheric

Monitoring System (PGAMS) [5]. The aim of this present work

is to evaluate the sensitivity of the adopted aerosol singlescattering phase function in reproducing sky path radiance

spectra obtained at different scattering angles.

OBSERVATIONS

The sky path radiance observations were collected using

PGAMS in support of a field campaign dealing with the

analysis of urban heat island development over Huntsville,

Alabama on September 7, 1994. PGAMS obtains radiometric

measurements using a Personal Spectrometer (PS) 2 diodearray field spectrometer built by Analytical Spectral Devices

[6]. This instrument covers a range of 350 nm to 1050 rim,

sampling in 1.4 nm steps, producing a linear response over a

dynamic range greater than 3000:1.

A I° field-of-view end-receptor is mounted on an alt-alt

tracking system furnishing input to the spectrometer through

a fiber optic bundle. Once set up in the field, the tracking

system is calibrated to provide altitude and azimuth pointing

of the end-receptor to an absolute accuracy, over the

hemisphere of the sky, of better than 1°. Radiometric

calibration of the end- receptor/spectrograph combination is

made using a LI-COR optical radiation calibration unit. A

NIST secondary standard tamp is used for absolute radiance

calibration delivering an accuracy of better than 5% over the

wavelength range of the spectrometer.

For this investigation, PGAMS recorded both direct solar

irradiance and sky path radiance observations. The direct solar

irradiance data was used in standard Langley plot analysis to

monitor atmospheric transmittance and aerosol optical depth

0-7803-3068-4t9655.00© 1996 IEEE 1286
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o

_2

8 o

o

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S(ewar(_ Observatory, Apnl 2S. lCJgS

• 450 nrn

c _50 nm

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0,

"C ,,

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I 8

i

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o

+

0

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MSFC. Sept 7. 1994

• 450 nrn

o 550 nm

780 nm

o % ,

°•

%.'.,

": % ". ..............

* C'

0 20 ,=0 60 80 1_0 120 140 0 20 40 60 80 tOO t20

Scaeteong Angle _Cegrees) Sc.-at{erlng Angle (Oegreesj

140

Fig. l. Almucantar scans recorded at Steward Obse_,atory, Arizona and Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama. The

scans were made at the sun's altitude of 15° and 27 ° respectively. Only the data for 3 of the 512 PGAMS channels are shown.

over visible and near-infrared wavelengths unaffected by the

water vapor bands. The sky path radiance observations

consisted of constant altitude scans with 5 degree azimuth steps

over a full 360 degree azimuth circle. This resulted in a constant

air mass data set in which the dominant radiance variation is

due to changes in the "atmospheric" scattering phase function,

the integrated scattering phase function from Rayleigh and

aerosol single and multiple scattering processes. Fig. 1 presents

scans obtained at the sun's altitude at two sites with si_ificamly

different aerosol loading. Note that a 360 ° azimuth scan records

the phase function twice. Differences reflect variations in sky

conditions and changes in the optical depth of the sun during

the observation interval.

ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

Synthetic spectra were generated using MODTRAN3 for the

purpose of trying to reproduce the observed "a.n-nospheric"

phase function and path radiance spectra focusing on the effects

of the selected aerosol single scattering phase function. The

data set recorded at MSFC, Huntsville, Alabama was employed.

Calibration of MODTRAN3 to reflect the actual atmospheric

conditions was done by using observations of direct solar

irradiance obtained just a few minutes before the constant

altitude scan. The sun photometry provided dh'ect measurement

of atmospheric transmittance. This was replicated with

MODTRAN3 by selecting a sprin_summer rural aerosol model

and adjusting the visibility until the difference between the

observed and synthetic spectra was minimized for wavelengths

outside atmospheric water bands. The resulting fit is presented

ha Fig. 2. The MODTRAN spectrum is based on a solar zenith

angle of 62.1 ° and a visibilib' of 48.0 km using the 1976

standard atmosphere. The excellent agreement may lead one to

expect that accurate path radiance spectra would also result

from this model.

?ath radiance spectra were calculated with MODTRAN3 to

generate an amaospheric scattering phase function for

comparison. The initial results employed the aerosol singlescattering phase function based on Mie theory calculations.

Because PGAIvIS was set up at a site dominated by large grassy

fields, the vegetation a grass surface albedo was selected along

with the 2 stream multiple scattering option• The slant path and

solar zenith angles were set at 63° to match the observations and

the path radiance was calculated over a range of azimuthal

angles between 2° and 180'. The resulting phase function is

presented ha Fig 3 for wavelengths of 450 rim, 550 run, and 780

nm. Good ageement is revealed at small scattering angles but

in the back scattering realm large systematic differences are

revealed•

Making use of the Henyey-Greenstein phase function instead

of the fixed MIE scattering rural aerosol model can

significantly improve the fit at large scattering angles by

adjusting the asymmetry factor. Fig 3. shows the resulting phase

function based on asymmetry factors of 0.70, 0.68, and 0•72 at

the wavelengths of 450 nm, 550 rim, and 780 nm respectively.

Corresponding surface albedos of 0.06, 0.09, and 0•20 were.
-- _rAA_

+

0

400 5C0 8C0 1G_O

V',,avereng r_!_m)

Fig. 2. MODTRAN3 fit to PGAMS transmittance spectra based

on a solar zenith angle of 62.1 ° and a visibilit;:, of 48.0 kin.

also utilized.

The improvements made at large scattering angles from the

adjustments to the MODTRAN3 model based on fitting the

observed phase function is shown in Fig. 4. This is a PGAMS

path radiance spectrum recorded at a scattering angle of 120°

along with the corresponding MODTRAN3 Mie and HenyeyGreenstein calculations. Even with hyperspectral sun

photometry the Mie bottom of the atmosphere calculations are

in error by 20 to 30%. Significantly less error is obtained with

the adjusted Henyey-Greenstein calculations when the observed

atmospheric phase function is also considered. This

improvement in bottom of the atmosphere radiance calculations

should also be reflect in the calculation of the top of the

atmosphere radiances and the application of atmospheric

corrections in remote sensing.

CONCLUSION

MODTRAN3 is a highly sophisticated radiative transfer code

that is representative of the most effective models used for

atmospheric correction and vicarious calibration applications in

remote sensing. The results of this investigation reveal, even

with such powerful codes, that path radiance spectra over a

range of scattering angles from in situ observations are critical

in accurately calculating radiances exiting the bottom and top

of the atmosphere. This originates primarily from the sensitivity

of the exiting radiances to the selected aerosol single-scattering

phase function which can vary greatly, on a given day, from the

seasonal average.

• 450 nm

0 550 nm

÷ 780 nrn

.... Mie

-- H-G

o

8

o

c_

o-_ .j

0 20 4(] 60 80 IC0 120 14Q

Scatter;ng Angle (Ce_rees)

Fig. 3. PGAMS observed "atmospheric" scattering phase

function compared to MODTRAN3 path radiance calculations

for Mie and adjusted Henyey-Greenstein phase functions.

g

o

I '

II. )

' L. •

(.;,,

PGAMS Obs,

MOOTRAN. Mie

MCDTRAN. H-G

600 700 I_00 goo 1000

Wavelength (rim)

Fig. 4 PGAMS Sky path radiance spectra compared to

MODTRAN3 spectra based on the Mie calculated singlescattering phase function for rural aerosols and the adjusted

Henyey-Greenstein phase function (see text). The scattering

angle is 120°

1288

.............. -- =-- , II II I J-_J-_---_-----
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

S..S.would liketoacknowledge supportprovidedby the

NASA/University JOint VEnture (JOVE) in Space Research

and the South Dakota Space Grant Consortium. Additional

s=_on was provided by the Natio:_al Scier, ce Foundation

under Grant #OSR-9452894 and by the South Dakota Future

Fund.. Acknowledgment is also made by J.L. and S.S. for

supporting the development of PGAMS by the Marshall

Space Flight Center Director's Discretionary Fund.

REFERENCES

[1] M.A. Box and C. Sendm,"Sensitivity of Exiting Radiances

to Details of the Scattering Phase Function," J. Quant.

Spec_osc. Radiat. Transfer, voI. 54, pp. 695-703, 1995.

[2] K.N. Liou, An Introduction to Atmospheric Radiation,

Academic Press, New York, 1980.

[3] L.G. Henyey and J.L. Greenstein, "Diffuse Radiation in the

Galaxy," Astrophys. J., vol.93, pp. 70-83, 1941.

[4] G.P. Anderson, et al., "MODTRAN3: Suitability' as a FluxDivergence Code", Proceedings of the Fourth Atmospheric

Radiation Measurement (ARM) Science Team Nleeting,

Charleston, South Carolina, CONF-940277, pp. 75-80, April

1995.

[5] S. Schiller, and J. Luvall, "A portable ground-based

atmospheric monitoring system (PGAMS) for the calibration

and validation of atmospheric correction algorithms applied to

satellite images,"SPIE, vol. 2231, pp. 191-198, 1994.

[6] B.L. Markham, D.L. Williams, J.R. Schafer, F. Wood, and

M.S. Kim,"Radiometric Characterization of Diode-Array Field

Spectroradiometers," Remote Sens. Environ., vol. 51, pp. 317-

330, 1995.

1289

_.. ................
Dennis Helder South Dakota State University Nov 21, 1997

I. Research

Brief summary of research results to date on your proiect:

My initial research project involved developing quality metrics for satellite image data that had been

compressed. However, after about a year into the program, it became clear that more progress could be

made and support found by addressing satellite radiometry issues, specifically those presented by the

Landsat 7 project. As a result of this change in focus, most of my work has been conducted in conjunction

with Dr. John Barker, Code 925, Goddard Space Flight Center. We have been characterizing the Landsat

4 and 5 Thematic Mappers radiometric properties at three time intervals: within and orbit: over an

outgassing cycle (30-90 days); and over the lifetime of the instruments. We have discovered that the

sensor response varies with temperature even within an orbit. This is thought to be due to temperature

change of the primary focal plane, and is not observed with detectors in the cold focal plane. Within an

outgassing cycle, the only detectable changes occur in the cold focal plane. The response of these

detectors is due to build-up of ice or other foreign material on the dewar face. Over the lifetime of the

instrument several changes have been observed and are still under investigation. An initial decay in

detector response occurred during the first year of orbit which is thought to be due to outgassing of the

spectral filters. After this point in time, two of three calibration lamps exhibit catastrophe changes in

their radiance levels. Additionally, there are long term changes (both increases and decreases) in detector

response that are possibly due to lamp changes, detector changes, or both. These issues remain to be

sorted out and hopefully some preliminary results can be reported in the few months.

In addition to this project, we have been working on another project to determine the impact that

radiometric and geometric calibration has on typical applications of satellite image data. This project

began a few months ago and we have concentrated on developing algorithms and acquiring appropriate

test data sets. To assess the impact of radiometry on image applications we have developed a process to

produce nearly 'perfect" data from Landsat 5 images based on the Landsat 7 hnage Assessment System.

From these data sets, we have developed techniques to precisely degrade the imagery with a known

radiometric error. We are currently in the process of assessing the initial impact of these degradations on

image classification applications. We have noted the nearly 'perfect" data produces significantly better

clustering results in the classification process.

A third, and entirely unrelated, research project to develop ethanol as an alternative fuel for general

aviation aircraft has been sponsored without NASA support but certainly falls within NASA's general

areas of interest. Pursuant to this project we have developed a new form of ethanol-based fuel that

overcomes pure ethanol's deficiencies in mixture balance and cold starting capability. This fuel has been

used successfully in a carburated aircraft that is undergoing flight testing with the FAA for acquisition of

a supplemental type certificate.

Where do you see your JOVE Research going after the initial JOVE funding expires?

Fortunately, I have developed a line of support through the Landsat Project Science Office (Dr. Darrel

Williams) at Goddard Space Flight Center. Additionally, I have a proposal funded as a co-investigator on

the Landsat 7 Science Team. I believe these opportunities will continue for the next several years.

Communication with NASA Colleague

Initially, I was working with Mr. Les Thompson, Code 975, at Goddard Space Flight Center. After about

a year of interaction, it became apparent that a greater opportunity was available through working with

Dr. John Barker, Code 925, Goddard Space Flight Center. Dr. Barker and I communicate on a regular

basis in a very productive manner. His experience and insight into the operation of Landsat sensors has

been tremendously beneficial in guiding my research into the radiometric of these instruments. I believe

the match has been beneficial to both of us and I suspect we will continue collaborating for the next

several years.
Refereed Journal Articles Published:

LANDSAT TM MEMORY EFFECT CHARACTERIZATION AND CORRECTION,

Dennis Helder Wayne Boncyk Ron Morfitt

South Dakota State University EROS Data Center EROS Data Center

invited paper, Canadian Journal of Remote Sensing, accepted for publication in the January, 1998 issue

Refereed Journal Articles Submitted

AN ADAPTIVE DEBANDING FILTER FOR THEMATIC MAPPER IMAGES,

Dennis Helder Joy Hood Daniel Krause

South Dakota State University EROS Data Center North Dakota State University

IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, in review

Oral and Poster Papers Presented:

A Radiometric Calibration Archive for Landsat TM, D.L. Helder, Algorithms for Multispectral and

Hyperspectral Imagery II, Volume 2758, pp. 273-284, SPLE, April 9-11, 1996, Orlando, FL.

Short Term Calibration ofLandsat TM: Recent Findings and Suggested Techniques, D.L. Helder, W.

Boncyk, J.L. Barker and B.L. Markham, IGARSS '96, May 27-31, 1996, Lincoln, NB, pp. 1276-1278.

Artifact Corrrection and Absolute Radiometric Calibration Techniques Employed in the Landsat 7 Image

Assessment System, Boncyk, W.C., B.L. Markham, J.L. Barker, D.L. Helder, IGARSS '96, May 27-31,

1996, Lincoln, NB, pp1270-1272.

Landsat-7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus In-Flight Radiometric Calibration, Marldlam, B.L, J.L.

Barker, W.C. Boncyk, E. Kaita, D.L. Helder, IGARSS '96, May 27-31, 1996, Lincoln, NB, pp. 1273-

1275.

Independent Grant Activity

"Landsat TM Calibration Study", NASA, November 1996 - 1999, NAG5-3540, $182,502

"Characterization of Landsat 7 Geometry and Radiometry for Land Cover Analyses", NASA, November

1996-1999, NAG5-3445, $241,224

"Imaging and Modeling of Coupled Environmental Processes," NSF EPSCoR, 1995-8, $944,109

"Certification and Operational Development of an Ethanol Powered Aircraft", SD Corn Utilization

Council, July l, 1996 -- July 1, 1999, $159,416

for all three projects the primary use of funds is to provide release time for me and student support...

Are you utilizing; the Internet or other network?

Internet usage occurs on a daily basis with e-mail, ftp, and web-browsers.

Please identify the data sets, if any used in your research.

Extensive usage has been nmde of Landsat 4,5 Thematic Mapper data, over 600 scenes. ASAS data has

also been used, including one overflight of our target at Brookings, SD, last August, 1997.

II. Education

Assessment of Student Impact ......

Attached to this report are enrollment numbers for the SDSU College of Engineering from 1989 to the

present. JOVE investigators are in the Engineering Physics (Steve Schiller) and Electrical Engineering

(Dennis Helder) departments. The changes noted in the attachment are more likely due to nationwide

trends in engineering enrollment than any other single factor.
StudentResearchAssistants

UnderKraduates Assistants

Brian Enga

Terrance Boon

Melanie Erickson

Adam Fausch

Rick Vreeland

Graduate Assistants:

Kun Yang

Research Area

Data compression

Computer support

Satellite Radiometry

Satellite Radiometry

Satellite Radiometry

Data Compression

Ma_Maigz

EE

EE

EE

EE

EE

EE

III. Curriculum Development

New Curricula -- none

New Courses:

EE 693 Special Topics in Advance Digital Image Processing

Amended or Augmented Courses:

EE 475/575 Digital Image Processing

IV. Outreach

DeSmet High School Career Day (1993-97) DeSmet, SD

discussion of engineering as a career choice

South Dakota Space Day 1995-97 Rapid City, Pierre, Sioux Falls

50 each year

2000 each year

V. Summer Programs:

VI. "Roadblocks to Progress

The most critical aspect of the program is to select the correct NASA mentor. If you can find someone

who is not 'too busy' and can see the advantages of leveraging program resources with a JOVE

association, your chances for success are greatly increased. So, perhaps an area for improvement (or

roadblock removing) would be to spend some time and effort up front finding that optimal mentor to work

with. Would it be possible for the JOVE faculty member to spend some time at a NASA center before the

summer experience to insure that the right mentor is selected? Also, is it possible to better educate

potential NASA mentors of the benefits of using a JOVE person in their programs? If the long term (3+

years) potential can be demonstrated to NASA personnel, I think the potential for a successful JOVE

experience, along with follow-on funding/interaction, will be enhanced.

VII. How could the progrmn be changed to make it more effective?

See above.

VIII. Overall, what has been your institution's greatest benefit from participating in JOVE?

The institution has benefited greatly by increased ties with NASA. This has allowed a significant increase

in research grants (Landsat 7 Science team), outreach programs (Space Grant), and faculty opportunities

(Summer Fellowships)
IX. Pleaselistallsubjectinventionsasaresultofthisawardorprovideastatement thattherewerenone.

NONE.
March 14, 1996 

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Do you plan to obtain an advanced"tlegree? If so, where will you obtain it from? _.L<n~e.";:"S~)_-ip~o .... ,q.OQu.i .-I.h~/TT'--:.P ..... u..L..Llcd ......... u~(' __ _ 

Has the JOVE program affected your tutu re plans? If so how? _--J.'i ..... e .... s .... _--,-i ..:.t_--Lh~gl.li'~_""'9+-'-' lI,,-e"-''''~ __ tl7<..1.L.,;t~ __ 

o rl ; n $ ::9 b ~ '" r,.) r b r fi f lei Q " .r: (l1 n~ , Pta< ,.. '>$ " 08 ' 

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Short Term Calibration of Landsat TM: Recent Findings and Suggested Techniques

Dennis Helder

South Dakota State University

PO Box 2220, Brookings, SD 57007

605-688-4184/605-688-5880(fax)/h elderd @m g.sdstate.ed u

John L. Barker

NASA/GSFC Code 925

Greenbelt, MD 20771

Wayne C. Boncyk

EROS Data Center

Sioux Falls, SD 57198

Brian L. Markham

NASA/GSFC Code 923

Greenbelt, MD 20771

Abstract -- Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) data has traditionally

been radiometrically calibrated on an individual scene basis.

While this may be adequate for many applications, particularly

single date applications, there are many cases where more

advanced techniques are necessary. With emphasis today on

global change, multi-temporal analysis is common place. Thus,

forms of radiometric calibration are required that discriminate

temporal change from changes in instrument response. To

address this issue, a project is underway to evaluate TM

calibration at several different time scales: short term,

intermediate term, and lifetime. This paper will present some of

the short term results. Short term is defined as within a single

orbit. Continuous swaths of night data have been collected and

the individual scenes, along with calibration files, stitched

together. Analysis of the calibration files has revealed a number

of interesting characteristics about detector gain and bias as well

as instrument anomalies such as memory effect and scan

correlated shift. Detector bias is a rapidly varying parameter that

requires evaluation and correction as frequently as every scan.

Detector gain varies significantly within an orbit in the primary

focal plane in a predictable manner. Scan correlated shift has

been accurately quantified and its effects may easily be {emoved

from the data. Memory effect is in the process of being

characterized and an algorithm is being developed to remove it.

Line droop has been shown to simply be due to memory effect.

Results from these investigations are being used in the

development ofradiometric correction algorittuns for the Landsat

7 Image Assessment System.

TM CALIBRATION ARCHIVE SYSTEM

For more than 10 years, data have been collected from

the Thematic Mapper instruments on-board Landsat 4 and 5.

Early in the lifetime of these instruments significant efforts were

undertaken to ensure that the data were well calibrated

radiometrically [1-3]. However, over the passage of time these

activities diminished significantly. As a result, the ability to

extract information from these data has been reduced.

Fortunately, the imagery in the archive is maintained with all of

the internal calibration infor-mati(_n that was ,_btained at the time

of scene acquisition. These calibration data can be used to

0-7803-3068-4/9655.00© 1996 IEEE

characterize the instntments on several different time scales and

can be correlated with ground-based calibration campaign results.

To accomplish the goal of extracting pertinent

calibration data from the TM archive, the TM Calibration Archive

System (TMCAS)was developed [4]. This system consists of the

sothvare and hardware necessary to ingest data from 8mm tapes,

archive calibration data at several levels, calculate various

calibration parameters, and also has tools for plotting and

statistical analysis.

Calibration of TM,.-ill be analyzed at three different time

scales. The shortest time scale considered is a single orbit. The

intent here was to understand what changes take place during a

cycle where the instrument is _rned on, acquires data

continuously, and then turned off. At the other extreme,

calibration data will be extracted over the lifetime of the

instruments. Obviously, this allows determination of any long

term trends in detector response. Lastly, an intermediate time

period will be analyzed corresponding to the interval required for

one outgassing cycle.

Over 600 scenes of TM data will be analyzed during the

course of this project. Current efforts has been directed toward

analysis of data obtained from contiguous single orbits. The rest

of this paper will concentrate on the characterization of wellk-nm_aaTM anomalies, anomalies present in single orbit data, and

recommendations for calibration based on these results.

SINGLE ORBIT ANALYSIS

Initial analysis of single orbit data sets from Landsat 5

has revealed several interesting anomalies [4]. Scene content has

a significant effect on data recorded during the calibration interval.

This can be observed by comparing data acquired during daytime

descending orbital passes to data acquired during ascending, night

orbital passes. Data collected during night has less variability.

Additionally, daytime datahas more variability on forward scans

than on reverse scans. It is hypothesized that these differences are

due to memory effect. Differences based on scan direction also

exist in the calibration pulse magnitude recorded by the detectors.

This observation is independent of day or night acquisitions and

may be due to slight alignment differences in the calibration arm

assembly on fo_'ard and reverse scans. Differences in calibration

1276
i ̧

A radiometric calibration archive for Landsat TM

Dennis Helder

Electrical Engineering Department

South Dakota State University

Brookings, SD 57007

ABSTRACT

For more than ten years, Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) data has been collected of the

Earth's surface. Although equipped with an internal calibrator, routine temporal analysis of the

instrument's radiometry has not been performed. Recently, a project has been initiated to recover

"I'M radiometric calibration data from the Landsat archive to form a TM calibration archive. This

archive consists of calibration data collected at several different time scales: single orbit,

instrument lifetime, and an intermediate scale. Analysis of these data is providing insights into

how detector response, as well as internal calibrator performance, has changed over time. Initial

results are shown that indicate changes in detector gain and characterization of instrument

anomalies within a single orbit. Information obtained from this project will allow a more accurate

calibration of data that is already in the Landsat archive. Additionally, it will directly impact

development of correction algorithms for Landsat 7.

Keywords: radiometry, calibration, Landsat

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1. Problem Statement

For more than l 0 years, data have been collected from the Thematic Mapper instruments

on-board Landsat 4 and 5. This archive of data represents a tremendous resource available for

the study of the Earth. Early in the lifetime of these instruments significant efforts were

undertaken to ensure that the data were well calibrated radiometrically. _'4 However, over the

passage of time these activities diminished significantly. As a result, the ability to extract

information fi-om these data has been reduced. Fortunately, the imagery in the archive is

maintained with all of the internal calibration information that was obtained at the time of scene

acquisition. These calibration data can be used to characterize the instruments on several different

time scales and can be correlated with ground-based calibration campaign results. The purpose of

this research has been to develop a mechanism for extraction of calibration data from the TM

archive, analyze these data to characterize the instruments over their lifetimes at several different

time scales, correlate these data with past ground-based calibration data.

Work thus far has concentrated on developing a system for routine extraction of

calibration information from the Landsat TM archive. Because of the large amount of data that to

be analyzed, over 600 scenes, it was critical that a system be developed to extract calibration

information and archive the data at several different processing levels. This system was developed

over the past two years and tested using both Landsat 4 and 5 data. An initial collection of data

for the TM calibration archive has been established.

SPIE Vol. 2758 1 273
Landsat-7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus In-Flight Radiometric Calibration

Brian L. Markham

Code 923, NASA/GSFC

Greenbelt, MD 20771

(301)286-5240 (Voice)

(301)286-0239 (FAX)

Email: markham @ highwire.gsfc.nasa.gov

John L. Barker

Code 923, NASAJGSFC

Greenbelt, MD 20771

(301)286-9498 (Voice)

(301)286-0239 (FAX)

Email: jbarker @highwire.gsfc, nasa.gov

Wayne C. Boncyk

USGS/EROS Data Center

Sioux Falls, SD 57198

(605)594-6020 (Voice)

(605)594-6529 (FAX)

Email: boncyk @ edcsgw4.cr.usgs.gov

Ed Kaita

Science Systems and Applications, Inc

Code 923, NASA/GSFC

Greenbelt, MD 20771

(30 I) 286-5597 (Voice)

(301) 286-0239 (FAX)

Email: kaita @ ltpmail.gsfc.nasa.gov

Dennis L. Helder

Department of Electrical Engineering

South Dakota State University

Brookings, SD 57007

(605)688-4184 (Voice)

(605)688-5880 (FAX)

Email: helderd @mg.sdstate.edu

Abstract-- The Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) for

the Landsat-7 satellite is currently in the assembly and

integration stage with the satellite due for launch in 1998.

The ETM+ is a derivative of the earlier Thematic Mappers

(TM's) flown on Landsats 4 and 5. Chief among changes

designed to improve radiometric calibration accuracy is the

Full Aperture Solar Calibrator (FASC), a diffuse reflecting

plate that can be deployed in front of the ETM+ aperture.

With knowledge of the reflectance and illumination geometry

of this calibrator, an absolute radiometric calibration of the

ETM+ can be performed in flight by reference to the sun.

Also incorporated on the ETM+ is a Partial Aperture Solar

Calibrator (PASC) which can perform more frequent, but less

complete calibrations of the ETM+. These two calibration

devices, along with an Internal Calibrator similar to the one

on the earlier TM's, constitute the on-board calibration

capability. Ground Look calibrations will supplement the on

-board measurements.

INTRODUCTION

The Landsat-7 mission is to provide continuity with the 20

year record of Landsat imagery starting in 1972 with LandsatI and the Multispectral Scanner (MSS). It provides wide area

coverage (-185 km swath ) on a 16 day repeat cycle with

modestly high (15-60 m depending on band) spatial

resolution[l]. The sensor on Landsat-7, the Enhanced

Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) is similar to the Thematic

Mappers on Landsats 4 and 5 and the Enhanced Thematic

Mapper built for Landsat 6. This sensor is currently being

assembled and integrated at Santa Barbara Remote Sensing

(SBRS) under contract to NASA. One of the requirements of

tbe Landsat-7 mission is radiometric calibration of the

ETM+ data to an uncertainty of less than 5% in at-aperture

radiance. This requirement, which is more stringent than in

the past for the Landsat program, is being met by some

improvements in the design and new calibration hardware,

e.g., improved bandpass filters and full and partial aperture

calibrators, a planned program of ground look calibrations and

changes in the radiometric calibration ground processing.

This paper addresses the new full aperture calibrator, its prelaunch characterization and in-orbit usage. A companion

paper [2] addresses the radiometric processing changes. This

paper is an update to [3].

FULL APERTURE SOLAR CALIBRATOR (FASC)

Design

The Full Aperture Solar Calibrator (FASC) is a white painted

panel that can be deployed in front of the ETM+ aperture

diffusely reflect solar radiation into the full aperture of the

instrument. The active surface of the FASC is painted with

the classic formulation of YB71, an inorganic flat white paint

0-7803-3068-4/9655.00@ 1996 IEEE

1273
Artifact Correction and Absolute Radiometric Calibration Techniques Employed in the

Landsat 7 Image Assessment System

Wayne C. Boncyk

U. S. Geological Survey

EROS Data Center, Sioux Falls, SD 57198

605-594-6020 fax:605-594-6529 boncyk@edcsgw4.cr.usgs.gov

Brian L. Markham

NASA/GSFC

Code 923, Greenbelt, M:D 20771

301-286-5240 fax:301-286-1757 markham@highwire.gsfc.nasa.gov

John L. Barker

NASA/GSFC

Code 925, Greenbelt, MI) 20771

301-286-9498 fax:301-286-1757 jbarker@highwire.gsfc.nasa.gov

605-688-4184

Dennis Helder

South Dakota State University

EERC, Brookings, SD 57007

fax:605-688-5880 helderd@mg.sdstate, edu

Abstract -- The Landsat-7 Image Assessment System (IAS),

part of the Landsat-7 Ground System, will calibrate and

evaluate the radiometric and geometric performance of the

Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) instrument. The

IAS incorporates new instrument radiometric artifact

correction and absolute radiometric calibration techniques

which overcome some limitations to calibration accuracy

inherent in historical calibration methods. Knowledge of

ETM+ instrument characteristics gleaned from analysis of

archival Thematic Mapper in-flight data and from ETM+

prelaunch tests allow the determination and quantification of

the sources of instrument artifacts. This a priori knowledge

will be utilized in IAS algorithms designed to minimize the

effects of the noise sources before calibration, in both ETM+

image and cah'bratioa data. Gain and Bias estimates for each

ETM+ detector that are derived from onboard calibrators are

tracked with Grotuxl based measurements, and with prelaunch

measurements of instrument gains and biases as part of a

Combined Radiometric Model (CRAM), to yield improved

estimates of absolute gain and bias per channel. Trends in

these instrument parameters are observed and recorded,

allowing for the development of analytic models of detector

gain and bias as functions of time and instrument state. [AS

radiometric calibration methodology, utilizing precalibration

artifact correction in conjunction with CRaM gain and bias

determination, provides a more consistent absolute calibration

of the ETM+ than tlmt possible with historical TM calibration

approaches.

0-7803-3068-4/9655.00© 1996 IEEE

HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

The Thematic Mapper (TM) instruments flown on Landsats

4 and 5 were designed to provide image data to an overall

absolute radiometric calibration accuracy of 10 per cent, and

a band to band accuracy of better than 2 per cent [1]. The

TM only has one onboard calibration reference source, the

Internal Calibrator (IC) comprised of three halogen lamps for

reflective band calibration and a heated black body for

emissive band cal_ration. Thus, TM absolute radiometric

calibration has been a daunting task. Within-band relative

calibration has also proven somewhat difficult, as

uncertainties in the position of the IC shutter and in the

knowledge of cal pulse intensity as a function of position

along the shutter flag have led to errors in the de.termination

of each detector's response to input radiance.

Further complicating TM calibration has been the presence

of various sources, of instrument, spacecraR and transmission

noise that have introduced radiometric "artifacts" such as

Scan Correlated Shift (SCS), Memory Effect (ME), and

Coherent Noise (CN), amongst others, into TM imagery.

_e artifacts place further limits on the radiometric quality

of TM imagery.

Two approaches have traditionally employed to calibrate

TM imagery. The method developed at NASA/GSFC uses a

least squares regression technique on data provided from the

IC to fred a nominal gain and offset for each detector, based

on cal data provided with the scene [2]. A variant of this

approach has offsets determined scan by scan.

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LANDSAT TM MEMORY EFFECT CHARACTERIZATION AND

CORRECTION

Dennis Fielder

South Dakota State University

Wayne Boncyk

EROS Data Center

Ron Morfitt

EROS Data Center

Summary

Before radiometric calibration of Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) data can be done accurately, it is

necessary to minimize the effects of artifacts present in the data that originate in the instrument's signal

processing path. These artifacts have been observed in downlinked image data since shortly after launch

of Landsat 4 and 5. However, no comprehensive work has been done to characterize all the artifacts and

develop methods for their correction. In this paper, the most problematic artifact is discussed: memory

effect(ME). Characterization of this artifact is presented, including the parameters necessary for its

correction. In addition, a correction algorithm is described that removes the artifact from TM imagery. It

will be shown that this artifact causes significant radiometry errors, but the effect can be removed in a

straight forward manner.

Introduction

Since the launch of Landsats 4 and 5, the Thematic Mapper instruments on those platforms have been

providing high quality imagery of the Earth's surface. However, soon after launch it became apparent

that the radiometric accuracy of the data returned from the sensors was degraded by the presence of

several noise signals that manifest themselves as artifacts in resulting TM image products. Although tile
impairment fromtheartifactsisnotlarge,it is,nonetheless, significant.Characterization andremovalof

theseartifactsfromTMdatashouldallowuserstobetterextractquantitativeinformationfromtheir

imageryandremoveresultingerrorsinapplicationanalysescausedbyartifacts,suchasclassification

algorithmresultsthatarecorruptedbymemoryeffect.SinceLandsat5istheonlyTM sensorstillactively

providingdata,onlythisinstrument willbeconsideredhere.However, thetechniquespresentedcanalso

beappliedsuccessfully toLandsat 4TMdatawithappropriatemodificationofmodelparameters. To

illustratetheartifactsandtheirremoval,anexamplesceneispresented.

AfterextensiveanalysisofTMdata,it hasbeendeterminedthatthreeprimaryradiometricartifactsexist:

memoryeffect(ME),scan-correlated shift(SCS),andcoherentoise(CN).Othersecondaryartifacts

havebeenidentified;however, theireffectsaresignificantlylessandwillnotbeconsideredhere.All

threeoftheseartifactsarenormallydifficulttoobserveinthedataexceptinfairlyhomogeneous regions

suchaswater,snowcover,ordesert.

MEhasbeenknownbyvariousnamesinthepastsuchasbrightargetrecoveryorbanding.Itproduces

lightanddarkbandsinresultingimagery.TheMEpatternisdefinitelyperiodic:thebandsarealways16

lineswide,onebrighterscanfollowedbyadarkerscan.It ismostobviousinhomogeneous regions

followingasuddentransitioninintensity,suchasatacloud/landboundary.It isnotconstant withina

scan,butdiesoutwithdistancefromtheintensitytransitionboundary.Thisartifactcancausesignificant

errorsinradiometry, ontheorderofseveral digitalnumbers, orDN(recallthatTM isan8-bitinstrument

withoutputvaluesonascalefrom0to255),neartransitions.

SCSisasuddenchangeinthebiasofthedetectorsthatoccursinthetimeintervalbetweenscans(Metzler

andMalila,1985,Helder,1996).All detectorschangeatthesametime,butwithdifferentamplitudes.

Theamountofchangeistypicallyquitesmall,ontheorderof 1DNorless.Sincealldetectorschange

simultaneously, theeffectcanbeseeninthedataasbands(sixteenlineswide)thatareofslightlydifferent
intensity.The light and dark bands occur randomly, across multiple scans, without significant evidence of

periodic structure.

CN is normally the least offensive of the three radiometric artifacts, introducing uncertainties on the order

of 0.25 DN or less ( Metzler and Malila, 1985). A characterization and correction methodology for CN

will not be discussed here.

One of the difficulties inherent in artifact characterization is that normally the artifact amplitude is quite

small in comparison with the actual image data, often on the order of less than one DN Secondly, at least

in the case of ME, the artifact is image content dependent. For these two reasons, most of the artifact

characterization work has been done using night imagery collected during an ascending orbit. Two data

sets were analyzed: December 25, 1984, Path 23 Rows 214-234, and October 21, 1985, Path 116 Rows

199-225. These sets represent the longest contiguous segments of night data available in the EROS Data

Center (EDC) TM Archive. Use of multiple scenes greatly increased the amount of data available and,

therefore, improved the accuracy of the artifact parameter estimation process. Additionally, it allowed

determination of the presence of short term time dependencies (i.e., are these artifacts independent of

time, or do they change within an orbit)?

The following discussion focuses on ME. This artifact is the most troublesome of the three and can also

produce the largest radlometric errors. A brief review of the literature will be presented followed by

characterization of the artifact. More importantly, a correction procedure that removes ME based on a

physical model of the phenomenon is presented. Thus, radiometric accuracy is preserved and even

enhanced. An example scene will be presented that is corrupted by ME and subsequently restored. The

final sections discuss the characterization and summarize implementation of the suggested correction

technique.
Background

Memory Effect (ME) has been known by a variety of names, such as "banding," "bright target recovery,"

"bright target saturation," "scan-to-scan striping," and "radiometric hysteresis," since it was first observed

after the launch of Landsat 4 (Barker and Gunther, 1983, Barker, 1983, Murphy, 1986, Srinivasan et al,

1988). ME is commonly observed in imagery that contains large homogeneous regions immediately

adjacent to a sharp intensity transition such as a cloud/desert or snow/water boundary that is not parallel

to a scan line. System response is depressed after scanning past tile transition for an interval of several

thousand minor frames. Consider, for example, a water scene consisting of a large cloud bank about 1000

pixels wide on the West side of the image. On a forward scan, as the instrument scans from the clouds

onto the water, the detector response is immediately depressed on the order of one to two DN. This effect

diminishes as the instrument finishes its forward scan. On the reverse scan, ME has entirely recovered

and as the instrument scans toward the cloud bank from the East, the detectors are responding normally

and are not depressed. As a result, darker scans are observed in an alternating fashion adjacent to the

sharp transition with an intensity difference of up to several DN that decreases with distance from the

cloud bank. ME has not been observed in Bands 5, 6 and 7 that reside on the cold focal plane, only TM

Bands 1 through 4 are affected. This is due to the difference in design of the preamplifiers for the cold

focal plane detectors.

Over the years, several methods have been proposed to remove ME. Most have relied on some type of

filtering approach to perform a cosmetic improvement. Fusco et al. (1986) developed a recursive filtering

approach along scan lines based on model parameters derived from an analysis of "bright" edges.

Although not derived directly from a physical model or data uncorrupted from image content, the

approach is closely related to what is presented here and was able to provide reasonable estimates of ME
parameters. Srinivasanetal.(1988)developedarestorationfilterbasedonapowerspectrumestimation

approach.Thistechniqueonlyprovidedacosmeticmprovement. Anotherfilteringapproachdeveloped

byCrippen(1989)wasveryefficienttoimplement andconsistedofsimpleaveragingoperations, Lastly,a

WienerfilteringapproachwasdevelopedbyHelderetal.(1992)incorporatinganadaptivetchniqueto

effectivelyremovedMEfromdataforcosmeticmprovement.

Characterization

Themethodology reportedhereusedtwoapproaches forcharacterization ofME:amodeloftheanalog

circuitrybetweenthedetectorandA/DconvertersintheTMinstrument wasdeveloped; andthedata

producedbytheinstrument itselfwereanalyzed.Thesesanalyseswereconductedinanindependent

fashionandproducedresultsthatwereinstrongagreement wiheachother.

BecausetheMEartifacthasanexponential decay,it waspostulatedthatapossiblesourceforthis

phenomenon is the analog circuitry connecting the detectors to the AfD converters. The signal path

immediately following the detectors is a string of linear amplifiers. The pre-amplifier was singled out as

the most likely candidate since it provided the most gain in the system and was also the most complex

circuit with several supporting feedback mechanisms to ensure overall circuit stability. The pre-amplifier

system was analyzed in an exhaustive block-by-block procedure using the circuit analysis software

PSPICE. A feedback circuit in the pre-amplifier was determined to exhibit a transfer function dominated

by a resistor/capacitor network with a time constant of 0.01 second. Simulations of the pre-amplifier

showed that a step input in voltage (simulating a sharp intensity transition from a bright region to a dark

region) produced a voltage output that closely mirrored what is observed in the data produced by the

instrument. That is, the output of the pre-amplifier undershoots the desired level, and recovers

exponentially with a time constant of 10 milliseconds. This time constant is equivalent to an image-based

spatial period of 1040 minor frames (or pixels). Unfortunately, since a characteristic model for the
detectors themselves was unavailable, it was impossible to unambiguously determine the magnitude of the

system response from the system's electronic model.

In a parallel analysis, a study of 26 night scenes from the EDC archive was undertaken to extract the ME

model parameters directly from the data produced by the instrument. It was desired to use night imagery

because the only input to the system is well-defined internal calibrator pulses. Thus, the only output from

the system during acquisition of night scenes, other than a relatively constant bias level after SCS

removal, is a pulse response from the internal calibrator. One difficulty with this procedure is that a gap

exists in all archived data sets between the end of a calibration interval, as shown in Figure 1, and the

start of the next scan. In order to account for the gap, the analysis was divided into forward scans and

reverse scans. As can be seen from Figure 1, the calibration pulse at the end of forward scans occurs near

the end of the calibration interval. Thus, the data obtained during the subsequent reverse scans is most

strongly affected by ME. These data were analyzed to obtain initial values of ME magnitude and time

constant. However, a better estimate of the magnitude of ME can be obtained from reverse scan

calibration data. Here, the calibration pulse occurs early in the calibration interval and the shutter region

immediately following the pulse can provide an improved estimate of the magnitude of ME. By

combining these two pieces of information, a more accurate estimate of ME parameters can be obtained.

The model for ME is based on a first order linear circuit model and, therefore, has a response, after the

pulse has occurred, of the form

g(t) = b - ke -t/_ (1)

where g(t)

b

k

is the ME pulse response

is the detector bias, DN

is the ME magnitude, DN

6
x is the ME time constant, in minor frames (mf).

The independent variable, t, can be thought of as discretized units of time or as a spatial increment. A

TM pixel is acquired approximately every 10 p.s. However, it is more convenient to consider t as a spatial

variable with units of pixels (or minor frames, mf). The procedure for determining the ME parameters is

illustrated in Figure 2. Figure 2a shows data from a single reverse scan for a detector after bias

correction. This is the data recorded shortly after the detector has viewed the brightest calibration pulse.

ME is difficult to observe. However, in this example there is a sense that values near the beginning of the

scan are somewhat less than values at the end of the scan. If all reverse scans for the given lamp state are

averaged together over 26 night scenes in a contiguous interval, the result shown in Figure 2b is obtained.

Here it is obvious that a depression in detector response exists immediately after the calibration pulse is

observed, followed by an increase in an exponential fashion to a constant bias level. However, the data

are still quite noisy. Figure 2c show an exponential model fitted to the data after it has been smoothed

with a moving average filter. Model parameters are given in Table 1.

An examination of Table 1 reveals that the magnitude of ME is strongest in Bands 2 and 3. Band 2 has a

slightly larger average ME amplitude, but Band 3 exhibits larger variability. Band 4 exhibits less ME

magnitude, while Band 1 is the least affected of the four. It is also interesting to note that the time

constant is fairly consistent in Bands 2, 3, and 4. The Band 1 average time constant is significantly

higher. This may simply be due to the fact that Band 1 exhibits the least amount of ME and is, therefore,

the most difficult band to estimate ME parameters for. The fact that Bands 2, 3, and 4 are consistent is

expected since the assumed cause of ME is the feedback circuit mentioned previously. This circuit design

is fundamentally the same for all bands. However, when the circuits were built, gain resistors were

carefully matched to individual detectors. Thus, the specific circuitry is slightly different for each

detector. This, coupled with inevitable stray capacitances, gives rise to variations in the time constant.
Apotential errorsourceexistsfortheMEparameter estimationmethod.Thistechniqueanalyzesdata

obtainedrightattheedgeofthedynamicrangeofthedetectors. Infact,MEactuallycausesadepression

belowthenormaldetectorbiaslevel.Asaresult,systemlinearitycannotbeguaranteed. Thisis

especiallytrueinobservations ofdamfromBand4. InitialMEmagnitudevalueestimateswerelowdue

tothiseffect.ThevaluespresentedinTable1wereadjustedslightlytoprovideimprovedMEcorrection.

Anexplanationofthecorrectionprocedurebasedontheseparameters isgiveninthenextsection.

Correction

ME is caused by the presence of a resistor/capacitor combination in the electronic pre-amplifier

immediately following the detectors. As such, it is modeled as a first order linear system. The output of

such a system is obtained by convolving the input signal and the impulse response of the system

(Poularikas and Seely, 1985). The impulse response of the system can be derived from the calibration

pulse response discussed in the preceding section. Subsequently, a restoration filter can be derived from

knowledge of the impulse response of the system. The most direct approach is to simply apply an inverse

filter. This can be done successfully only if the transfer function of the system (the Fourier transform of

the impulse response) contains no zeros. Fortunately, this is the case for ME and the details are shown

below.

The impulse response due to ME has the following form:

h_z(t ) = AS(t) + k_.e-"_ u(t) (2)

where kME.is the magnitude of the ME impulse response, x is its time constant, and u(t) is the unit step

function. Parameter 'A" is introduced to insure that no change in steady state bias occurs due to ME, thus

A = 1 - kME ZMF.. The first term represents the response of the system without ME, while the second term
istheerrorduetoME.Theresponseofafirstorderlinearsystemtoasquarepulseoccurringatt = 0,of

width T and height P is given as

T -t

Pk _ r(1 - e _ )e _ t >T (3)

By equating this expression to (1) above, it can be immediately seen that the magnitude and time constant

of the ME impulse response can be obtained from the calibration pulse response as

XME= X (4a)

k

ku_ = r (4b)

Pr_(1- e _ )

Unfortunately, calibration pulses are not perfectly square with width T and height P. However, a

reasonable approximation can be obtained. The width of the pulse, T, is assumed to be the distance in

minor frames (mf), or sample values, between the locations on the skirts of the pulse that have values

10% of the peak value of the pulse. Average pulse height, as calculated by integrating over this range of

pulse values and dividing by the number of mf, can be used for P. Average calibration pulse height values

for Bands 1 to 4 are given in Table 2 for lamp state [111] where all lamps are on. Pulse widths are 50 mf

for all bands.

With knowledge of the form of the ME impulse response and estimates of the calibration pulse, as well as

the output from a calibration pulse, the ME impulse response parameters can be obtained without a

deconvolution operation or use of Fourier transformation. The form of the impulse response is

exponential and therefore of infinite duration. However, from a practical point of view, a limited duration
approximationthe order of 3000 mf is reasonable. Past this point the system response to ME is far

smaller than the quantization level and unmeasurable.

Once the impulse response for ME has been obtained, a restoration filter can be developed. Many

approaches are available for deriving restoration filters. The simplest of these, inverse filtering, is

applicable here. This can be shown in the following way. Consider the system model below

y(t) = h(t)*x(t) +n(t) (5)

where convolution is denoted by *, y(t) is the observed signal or image, x(t) is the desired signal or image,

h(t) is the transfer function of the system, and n(t) represents a noise process usually modeled as additive

zero-mean, white noise. This expression has the well-known analogous form following Fourier

transformation,

Y(co) = H(oo)X(co) + N(co). (6)

where co is spatial frequency. The inverse filtering approach uses the restoration filter W(co) = 1/H(co) to

obtain an estimate of X(c0)

_(_)= Y(_)W(_)-

Y(oo) N(co)

H(co) - X(co)+ H(co)"

(7)

This method works well if no noise is present in the system. Under this condition, the second term in the

above expression disappears and perfect restoration is possible. However, with ME this is certainly not

the case as Figure 2 readily shows. Normally, noise is present and, if it is white, it has a constant power

spectrum. Under these conditions the second term does not disappear. However, its effects can be

10
minimizedif [H(0_) I> 1forallf Inthiscase,noiseisattenuatedratherthanincreasedintherestoration

process.ThetransferfunctionforMEcanbefoundbyFouriertransformationoftheimpulseresponse.

Thisisgivenby

H(co) =

A

-- + jcoA + k_te

T ME

1

-- + j09

T ME

I(A ),

= (8)

1 + a) 2

Fortunately, since k_ < 0 and A = 1 - kr_'rtvaz, this function is greater than unity for all frequencies.

Thus, inverse filtering is a viable approach for removing ME.

The next issue for removing ME involves implementation of the restoration filter. One approach is to

implement the filter in the Fourier domain. However, this method involves Fourier transformation of very

large data sets and, as such, is impractical. Implementation in the spatial domain through a convolution

operation is necessary. The expression for the restoration filter in the spatial domain is given as

w(t) = AS(t) - k_e " (9)

where t is again thought of as discretized time or, equivalently, mr.

From the form of this equation, it is apparent that the filter is of infinite extent. For implementation, the

filter length must be truncated. A general rule followed here is to truncate the filter at approximately

3000 coefficients. This is roughly three ME time constants and ensures that the error introduced by the

truncation is minimal and that ME is still theoretically reduced in amplitude by an order of magnitude.

As described above, a convolution operation with a filter length of 3000 elements of differing values

11
requiresasignificantcomputational engineinorder to be performed in a reasonable period of time. It is

possible, however, to approximate the above exponential filter by a series of steps. The number of steps,

their widths, and magnitudes can be varied depending on how closely it is desired to approximate the

ideal filter. For example, a six step filter of exponentially increasing step widths with magnitudes equal to

the average value of the filter in that interval has been shown empirically to give an excellent correction.

Improvements in computational times of two orders of magnitude are possible using this approach while

still yielding results that differ insignificantly from those of the ideal filter.

An example of this ME correction method is shown in Figure 3. The figure includes portions of Lake

Erie and its accompanying shoreline. It was acquired on April 10, 1984 during a time when ice still

bordered the shore. These data have been stretched significantly so that ME is readily observable, and all

before and after image pairs in the figure have been stretched identically. Although detector striping is

discernible, the bright ice region and homogeneous dark water region form an ideal environment for

production of ME. This is clearly observable in Figures 3e and 3g which show Bands 3 and 4 before ME

correction. These two bands most strongly exhibit ME in the water region; the alternating light and dark

bands, 16 lines wide, are clearly present. Also, the intensity difference between the bands is strongest

near the shore, as predicted by the model. Figures 3fand 3h show the same data after ME correction. In

Figure 3f, the light and dark bands are virtually absent throughout the entire Band 3 water region. A

striping pattern is still present due to the fact that the detector response has not been equalized. The form

of the striping pattern is significantly different. The obvious one line wide stripe is due to detector 16 in

both bands being slightly "brighter" than the other 15 detectors. Also, coherent noise is noticeable as

small vertical dark "bars" within each scan. The correction in Band 4, Figure 3h, suggests that some

residual ME may be present. This is due to the fact that Band 4 detectors often saturate in water regions

at the low end of their dynamic range. When this happens, assumptions of linearity are no longer valid

and the ME response is corrupted by this other phenomenon.

12
Band2alsoexhibitsignificant MEasshowninFigure3c.AlthoughnotaspronouncedasinBand3,it

isstillvisuallyapparent withthelargestintensityvariationoccurringnearest totheshore.Figure3d

showsthesamedatafollowingMEcorrection.MEisvirtuallynonexistent. Theslightresidual striping

patternisagainduetounequal detectorresponse. Lastly,Band1alsoexhibitsMEasshowninFigure3a.

InFigure3b,afterMEisremoved, thewateregionismuchmoreclearlydefinedandsubtlechangesare

morereadilyapparent.

Tocomplement thequalitativeanalysisabove,quantitativersultsareshowninFigure4. Thedatain

Figure4weregeneratedbyaveragingthe400samplesfromthewaterregioninFigure3inthealongscan

directiontoobtainanaverageintensityforeachdetector.Theseaverageintensitiesareplottedasa

functionofscanindexinFigure4foronerepresentative detectorfromeachband.Thescansareindexed

verticallywiththetopofFigure3representingthefirstscan.Sincealldatausedintheaveraging

operationweretakenfromthewateregion,theassumptionisthataveragevariationinthealongtrack

directionisveryslightandoccursslowly.Nosignificant differencesshouldoccurfromonescantothe

next.However, cursoryinspectionoftheplotsshowthatthisisdefinitelynotthecase.BeforeME

correctionoccurs,averypronouncedsawtoothwaveformisevident.Thisisduetothealternatinglight

anddarkintensitiesproducedbyME.Althoughthemagnitudeofthefluctuationsissmall,ontheorderof

0.5to1.0DNforBands2through4,it isnonetheless present.Aftercorrection, thesawtoothpatternis

stronglyattenuated. Inmanycases, asmoothscantoscanvariationisevident.InBand4,forexample,

thestandarddeviationforscantoscandifferenceis0.5DNbeforeMEcorrection.AfterMEcorrection,

thestandarddeviationofscantoscandifferencesisreducedto 0.1DN Thisreductionivariabilityof

80%indicates, forthisexample, that80%ofthevariabilityisactuallyduetoinstrument artifactandonly

20%isduetoscenecontent.

Figure4indicatesthat,formostscans,acorrectionismadetothe"darker"scanstoincreasetheiraverage

intensity.Thisisappropriateforthetypeofstepdiscontinuitythatispresentfromthebrightericeregion

tothedarkerwateregion(i.e.thedetectorresponsehasbeenincorrectlydepressedduetoME).If the

13
steptransitionwereof the opposite direction, as in a transition from a darker to a uniform brighter region,

ME would cause the detectors to overshoot. This condition is difficult to observe in typical images since it

occurs rather infrequently. It is interesting to note, however, that in Figure 4 the first few scans do not

show a sawtooth waveform pattern before correction. Also, the corrected scans are at a significantly

higher average intensity than before correction. The reason for this is that in the original image there is a

region of ice present on both sides of the water region for the first few scans. As a result, the average

intensity is depressed on both the forward and reverse scans. This results in a radiometric error that,

while not visible qualitatively, is actually worse since it occurs in all the scans rather than in only half of

the scans.

Discussion

Although it can be shown that other artifacts exist, most notably CN and SCS, ME is the most significant

artifact contributing to radiometric error in Landsat 5 data. It is also the most noticeable in a visual,

qualitative sense. Its removal allows the data user to better utilize the ability of the TM instrument to

resolve detail in a radiometric sense.

The magnitude of ME shown in Table 1 comes from the system observing only a calibration pulse. As a

result, the magnitude is small. However, from the proceeding analysis, it can be seen that larger pulses

will produce correspondingly larger magnitudes of ME in the data. If the worst case situation is

considered to be a bright target with an amplitude of 200 DN and duration of 3000 mf (this assumes that

the bright target is of a significantly different nature than the normal land regions that Landsat was

designed to characterize and also that most users are not interested in data that is more than 50% covered

by such features), a maximum radiometric error on the order of 5.2 DN will occur in Band 3 that will take

approximately 3000 mf to decay to insignificance (-0.34 DN after three time constants). This represents a

14
maximumradiometricerrorontheorderof2%.MaximumerrorsinBands1,2and4are2.5,5.7,and

5.3DN,respectively.

Becauseofthelongtimeconstant associated with ME, this artifact significantly impacts the information

contained in the calibration interval. Calibration pulse values and shutter region bias values will be

depressed due to bright scene content. The amount of depression is dependent on the intensity, and

duration of intensity, in the scene. For calibration intervals following forward scans, the shutter region is

affected more than the calibration pulse. On reverse scans the opposite is true, the calibration pulse is

affected to a greater degree than the shutter interval is. As a result, greater variability is introduced into

integrated calibration pulse values and an additional error is contained in detector gain estimates. One

approach to minimize this is to use only calibration pulses following forward scans. These pulses are

located several hundred minor frames from the end of the scene and are, therefore, less affected by ME.

However, the best approach is to remove the ME artifact prior to further calibration operations.

It should be pointed out that even after correction of ME, noticeable striping may still be present. This is

due to a variety of sources. First, SCS can cause alternating light and dark bands that give the appearance

of ME. Second, during the shutter interval a bias correction occurs known as DC restore. DC restore is

influenced by the presence of ME and causes a significant change in detector bias. An appropriate

method for minimizing both of these effects is to use the shutter region before DC restore occurs to

estimate detector bias for the immediately preceding scan.

Lastly, prior to a more complete understanding of ME, other artifacts were supposedly present that are

now known to be simply manifestations of ME. The most notable of these was known as scan line droop

(Metzler and Malila, 1985, and Kieffer et al., 1985). This artifact was postulated as a "droop" in detector

response at the beginning of a scan line, followed by an exponential recovery to a steady state bias level.

From the analysis presented here, it is apparent that "droop" was simply the response of the system to a

calibration pulse due to ME. Further details are available in Helder et al. (1996).

15
Conclusions

ME is an artifact most likely caused by circuitry contained in the pre-amplifiers in the analog signal

processing chain connecting the detectors to the A/D converters. It can, therefore, be modeled as a first

order linear system with an exponential response. The time constant associated with this response is

approximately 10 ms which translates to roughly 1040 mr. It is most commonly observed as horizontal

bands 16 lines wide of alternating light and dark intensity in homogeneous regions adjacent to sharp

across-scan intensity transitions. The magnitude of the ME artifact is such that errors in the data greater

than 5 DN can occur. This is a significant radiometric error greater than 2% that decays slowly according

to the time constant indicated above. Correction of ME is possible through use of a restoration filter.

Fortunately, the transfer function associated with ME has a magnitude greater than unity everywhere and

a simple inverse filter can be implemented without introducing additional artifacts or noise. Because of

the long time constant associated with ME, the restoration filter requires a length of at least 3000 mf for

adequate suppression. To decrease the computational burden required, approximations to the ideal filter

are attractive and have been shown to work well.

The approaches presented herein allows users of Landsat 5 data to improve the accuracy of their data sets

and are especially attractive to those whose applications are sensitive to small intensity changes.

Extensions of these techniques are applicable to Landsat 4 data and will also be used, with some

modification, for the analysis of data obtained from Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus instrument that will

fly on Landsat 7.

References

Barker, J.L., "Relative Radiometric Calibration of Landsat TM Reflective Bands," Proceedings of the

Landsat-4 Science Characterization Early Results Symposium, Greenbelt, MD, NASA Conference

Publication 2355, Vol. 55, No. 3, Feb. 22-24, 1983.

16
Barker,J.L.andGunther, F.J.,"Landsat-4SensorPerformance," Proceedings ofPecoraVIIISymposium,

SatelliteLandRemoteSensingAdvancements fortheEighties,SiouxFalls,SouthDakota,pp.46-74,

October4-7,1983.

Crippen,R.E.,"A SimpleSpatialFilteringRoutinefortheCosmeticRemoval ofScan-LineNoisefrom

LandsatTMP-TapeImagery,"Photogrammetric EngineeringandRemoteSensing, Vol.55,No.3,pp.

327-331, March,1989.

Fusco,L.,Frei,U.,Trevese, D.,Blonda,P.N.,Pasquariello, G.,Milillo,G.,"LandsatTMImage

Forward/Reverse ScanBanding:Characterization andCorrection,"International Journal ofRemote

Sensing, Vol.7,No.4,pp.557-575, 1986.

Helder,D.L.,Quirk,B.,Hood,J.,"ATechnique for the Reduction of Banding in Landsat TM Images,"

Photogranametric Engineering and Remote Sensing, Vol. 58, No. 10, pp. 1425-1431, 1992.

Helder, D.L., Barker, J.L., Boncyk, W.C., Markham, B.L., "Short Term Calibration of Landsat TM:

Recent Findings and Suggested Techniques," International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium,,

Lincoln, Nebraska, May 27-31,1996.

Kieffer, H.H. Cook, D.A., Eliason, E.M., Eliason, P.T., "Intraband Radiometric Performance of the

Landsat Thematic Mappers," Photogranlmetric Engineering and Remote Sensing, Vol. 51, No. 9, pp.

1331-1350, September 1985.

Metzler, M.D. and Malila W.A. 1985. "Characterization and comparison of Landsat-4 and Landsat-5

Thematic Mapper Data," Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing, Vol. 51, No. 9, pp. 1315-

1330, September 1985.

Murphy, J.M., "Within-Scene Radiometric correction of Landsat Thematic Mapper TM Data in Canadian

Production Systems," Proceedings of the Earth Remote Sensing Using Landsat Thematic Mapper and

SPOT Sensor Systems, Innsbruck, Austria, SPIE vol. 660, pp. 25-31, April 15-17, 1986.

Poularikas, A.D., and Seely, S., Signals and Systems, PWS Engineering, 1985.

Srinivasan, R., Cannon, M., White, J., "Landsat Data Destriping using Power Spectral Filtering," Optical

Engineering, Vol. 27, No. 11, pp. 939-943, November, 1988.

Figure 1.

Figure 2.

Figure 3.

Figure 4.

TM calibration interval.

ME due to calibration lamps.

Lake Erie TM scene before and after ME correction.

Scan averages before and after ME correction.

Table 1. ME Parameter Values.

Table 2. Band Average Calibration Pulse Height for Lamp State [111].

17
18
Band Dete_or b k tau

1 1 2.827 0.078 1066

1 2 2.519 0.150 1331

1 3 2.474 0.122 1405

1 4 2.468 0.133 676

1 5 2.318 0.124 1516

1 6 2.552 0.137 1095

1 7 2.283 0.124 1104

1 8 2.596 0.127 1322

1 9 2.126 0.103 1304

1 10 2.261 0.109 1482

1 11 2.084 0.111 1198

1 12 2.270 0.103 1475

1 13 2.203 0.139 1167

1 14 2.398 0.127 1363

1 15 2.123 0.134 1171

1 16 2.345 0.125 1224

Band average 2.365 0.122 1244

Band std. 0.159 0.013 156.1

Band Dete_or b k tau

3 1 3.335 0.258 1034

3 2 2.443 0.192 1282

3 3 2.903 0.192 1143

3 4 2.596 0.372 1036

3 5 2.684 0.318 817

3 6 2.745 0.288 1077

3 7 2.614 0.426 960

3 8 2.461 0.116 1125

3 9 2.848 0.297 1127

3 10 2.559 0.232 972

3 11 2.726 0.346 1044

3 12 2.615 0.190 1173

3 13 2.542 0.346 1079

3 14 2.557 0.199 1467

3 15 2.580 0.263 1081

3 16 2.577 0.211 1212

Band average 2.674 0.265 1102

Band std. 0.150 0.067 102.0

Table l. ME Parameter Values

Band

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

Detector b k

1 2.618 0.300

2 2.039 0.264

3 2.209 0.261

4 2.012 0.308

5 2.002 0.258

6 2.058 0.243

7 2.037 0.296

8 2.059 0.303

9 2.090 0.298

10 2.024 0.276

11 2.115 0.213

12 2.018 0.301

13

14

15

16

2.073 0.283

2.063 0.264

2.113 0.261

2.116 0.256

Band avemge

Band std.

Band Detector

4 1

4 2

4 3

4 4

4 5

4 6

4 7

4 8

4 9

4 10

4 11

4 12

4 13

4 14

4 15

4 16

tau

87O

1078

1079

1076

1143

1124

1064

1190

1142

1206

1360

889

1120

1296

1087

1246

Band std.

2.103 0.274 1123

0.082 0.022 90.25

b k

3.280 0.298

2.309 0.202

2.330 0.230

2.453 0.247

2.199 0.195

2.247 0.171

2.174 0.233

2.249 0.250

2.283 0.257

2.239 0.208

2.384 0.242

2.241 0.258

2.366 0.231

2.326 0.240

2.244 0.222

2.470 0.290

Band avemge 2.362 0.236

0.143 0.024

tau

927

1074

1005

1116

1131

1162

906

1159

1049

1348

1052

1261

1114

1154

1247

1147

1116

85.41

19
Band Avera_;e Pulse Hei_,ht Standard Deviation

1 216.5 5.72

2 196.4 10.95

3 207.0 2.20

4 182.1 8.4

Table 2. Band Average Calibration Pulse Height for Lamp State [111].

20