AEROSOL OPTICAL THICKNESS ESTIMATED FROM LANDSAT/ETM+IMAGE DATA

We retrieved the aerosol optical thickness $\tau$$_{a}$ over land from Landsat-7/ETM+ image data using the correlation between the visible reflectance and middle IR reflectance. This band correlation method for aerosol retrieval was originally proposed fur MODIS data analysis by Kaufman et al.(1977). The results of retrieved aerosol optical thickness $\tau$$_{a}$ from Landsat-7/ETM+ data were compared with the simultaneous sky observation data at our study site. We found a good agreement between the retrieved and observed values. We presented the distribution maps of the aerosol optical thickness over land, retrieved from Landsat-7/ETM+ image data. Then, the surface reflectance map was also presented. The aerosol optical thickness over sea was retrieved assuming no reflected contribution from sea in the near IR band. In addition, we discussed some limitations when we apply the band correlation method.