Evaluation of glint correction approaches for fine-scale ocean color measurements by lightweight hyperspectral imaging spectrometers

Abstract

Low-power, lightweight, off-the-shelf imaging spectrometers, deployed on above-water fixed platforms or on low-altitude aerial drones, have significant potential for enabling fine-scale assessment of radiometrically derived water quality properties (WQPs) in oceans, lakes, and reservoirs. In such applications, it is essential that the measured water-leaving spectral radiances be corrected for surface-reflected light, i.e., glint. However, noise and spectral characteristics of these imagers, and environmental sources of fine-scale radiometric variability such as capillary waves, complicate the glint correction problem. Despite having a low signal-to-noise ratio, a representative lightweight imaging spectrometer provided accurate radiometric estimates of chlorophyll concentration—an informative WQP—from glint-corrected hyperspectral radiances in a fixed-platform application in a coastal ocean region. Optimal glint correction was provided by a spectral optimization algorithm, which outperformed both a hardware solution utilizing a polarizer and a subtractive algorithm incorporating the reflectance measured in the near infrared. In the same coastal region, this spectral optimization approach also provided the best glint correction for radiometric estimates of backscatter at 650 nm, a WQP indicative of suspended particle load.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
Feb 12, 2020
Source ID
10.1364/ao.377059

Entities

People

  • Ryan E. O’shea
  • Samuel R. Laney
  • Zhongping Lee

Organizations

  • National Aeronautics and Space Administration
  • United States Department of Defense
  • Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Environmental science
  • Physics

Readers

  • Atmospheric Remote Sensing.
  • Distributed Systems and Data Platform Development

Technology Areas

  • Autonomy