Evaluation of SIMBADA measurements of marine reflectance and aerosol optical thickness during ACE-Asia and AOPEX"
Résumé
The SIMBADA radiometer was designed to check the radiometric calibration of satellite ocean-color sensors and evaluate the atmospheric correction of ocean-color imagery. It measures marine reflectance and aerosol optical thickness in 11 spectral bands covering the spectral range 350 to 870 nm. Aerosol optical thickness is obtained by viewing the sun disk and marine reflectance by viewing the ocean surface through a vertical polarizer that minimizes sun glint and reflected skylight. The measurements made by SIMBADA during ACE-Asia (March-April 2001, Japan Sea) and AOPEX (July-August 2004, Mediterranean Sea) are compared with those made concomitantly by other ocean radiometers and sun photometers, i.e., MER, PRR, SPMR, Trios, TSRB, and BOUSSOLE instruments for marine reflectance and CIMEL and Microtops for aerosol optical thickness. Agreement is generally good between the various measurements or estimates. The SIMBADA aerosol optical thickness is within ±0.02 of the values obtained by other sun photometers. The SIMBADA marine reflectance, after correction for bi-directional effects (Q factor), does not exhibit biases when compared with estimates by other radiometers, which generally agree within ±10%. In some cases larger discrepancies exist, and they are largely explained by differences in solar irradiance. More accurate SIMBADA estimates may be obtained by improving the radiometric calibration, the correction for angular geometry and water body polarization, the calculation of incident solar irradiance, and the selection of data minimally affected by sky reflection.