• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.39 no.6_2
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• pp.1541-1551
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• 2023

Radiometric calibration is a fundamental step in ocean color remote sensing since the step to derive solar radiance spectrum in visible to near-infrared wavelengths from the sensor-observed electromagnetic signals. Generally, satellite sensor suffers from degradation over the mission period, which results in biases/uncertainties in radiometric calibration and the final ocean products such as water-leaving radiance, chlorophyll-a concentration, and colored dissolved organic matter. Therefore, the importance of radiometric calibration for the continuity of ocean color satellites has been emphasized internationally. This study introduces an approach to improve the radiometric calibration algorithm for the visible bands of the Geostationary Ocean Color Imager-II (GOCI-II) satellite with a focus on stability. Solar Diffuser (SD) measurements were employed as an on-orbit radiometric calibration reference, to obtain the continuous monitoring of absolute gain values. Time series analysis of GOCI-II absolute gains revealed seasonal variations depending on the azimuth angle, as well as long-term trends by possible sensor degradation effects. To resolve the complexities in gain variability, an azimuth angle correction model was developed to eliminate seasonal periodicity, and a sensor degradation correction model was applied to estimate nonlinear trends in the absolute gain parameters. The results demonstrate the effects of the azimuth angle correction and sensor degradation correction model on the spectrum of Top of Atmosphere (TOA) radiance, confirming the capability for improving the long-term stability of GOCI-II data.