THE SPECTRAL SHAPE MATCHING METHOD FOR THE ATMOSPHERIC CORRECTION OF LANDSAT IMAGERY IN SAEMANGEUM COASTAL AREA

Atmospheric correction over the ocean part is more important than that over the land because the signal from the ocean is very small about one tenth of that reflected from land. In this study, the Spectral Shape Matching Method (SSMM) developed by Ahn and Shanmugam (2004) is evaluated using Landsat imagery acquired over the highly turbid Saemangeum Coastal Area. The result of SSMM is compared with COST model developed by Chavez (1991 and 1997). In principle, SSMM is simple and easy to implement on any satellite imagery, relying on both field and image properties. To assess the potential use of these methods, several field campaigns were conducted in the Saemangeum coastal area corresponding with Landsat-7 satellite's overpass on 29 May 2005. In-situ data collected from the coastal waters of Saemangeum using optical instruments (ASD field spectroradiometer) consists of ChI, Ap, SS, aooM, F(d). In order to perform SSMM, we use the in-situ water-leaving radiance spectra from clear oceanic waters to estimate the the path radiance from total signal recorded at the top of the atmosphere (TOA), due to the reason that the shape of clear water-leaving radiance spectra is nearly stable than turbid water-leaving radiance spectra. The retrieved water-leaving radiance after subtraction of path signal from TOA signal in this way is compared with that estimated by COST model. The result shows that SSMM enabled retrieval of water-leaving radiance spectra that are consistent with in-situ data obtained from Saemangeum coastal waters. The COST model yielded significantly high errors in these areas.