• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.189-198
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• 2022

In this present study, we investigated the effect of the offset correction factor calculation method on the sulfur dioxide (SO₂) column density in the SO₂ retrieval algorithm of the Geostationary Environment Monitoring Spectrometer (GEMS) launched in February 2020. The GEMS operational SO₂ retrieval algorithm is the Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy (DOAS) - Principal Component Analysis (PCA) Hybrid algorithm. In the GEMS Hybrid algorithm, the offset correction process is essential to correct the absorption effect of ozone appearing in the SO₂ slant column density (SCD) obtained after spectral fitting using DOAS. Since the SO₂ column density may depend on the conditions for calculating the offset correction factor, it is necessary to apply an appropriate offset correction value. In this present study, the offset correction values were calculated for days with many cloud pixels and few cloud pixels, respectively. And a comparison of the SO₂ column density retrieved by applying each offset correction factor to the GEMS operational SO₂ retrieval algorithm was performed. When the offset correction value was calculated using radiance data of GEMS on a day with many cloud pixels was used, the standard deviation of the SO₂ column density around India and the Korean Peninsula, which are the edges of the GEMS observation area, was 1.27 DU, and 0.58 DU, respectively. And around Hong Kong, where there were many cloud pixels, the SO₂ standard deviation was 0.77 DU. On the other hand, when the offset correction value calculated using the GEMS data on the day with few cloud pixels was used, the standard deviation of the SO₂ column density slightly decreased around India (0.72 DU), Korean Peninsula (0.38 DU), and Hong Kong (0.44 DU). We found that the SO₂ retrieval was relatively stable compared to the SO₂ retrieval case using the offset correction value on the day with many cloud pixels. Accordingly, to minimize the uncertainty of the GEMS SO₂ retrieval algorithm and to obtain a stable retrieval, it is necessary to calculate the offset correction factor under appropriate conditions.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.38 no.5_2
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• pp.747-763
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• 2022

Ocean salinity affects ocean circulation on a global scale and low salinity water around coastal areas often has an impact on aquaculture and fisheries. Microwave satellite sensors (e.g., Soil Moisture Active Passive [SMAP]) have provided sea surface salinity (SSS) based on the dielectric characteristics of water associated with SSS and sea surface temperature (SST). In this study, a Light Gradient Boosting Machine (LGBM)-based model for generating high resolution SSS from Geostationary Ocean Color Imager (GOCI) data was proposed, having machine learning-based improved SMAP SSS by Jang et al. (2022) as reference data (SMAP SSS (Jang)). Three schemes with different input variables were tested, and scheme 3 with all variables including Multi-scale Ultra-high Resolution SST yielded the best performance (coefficient of determination = 0.60, root mean square error = 0.91 psu). The proposed LGBM-based GOCI SSS had a similar spatiotemporal pattern with SMAP SSS (Jang), with much higher spatial resolution even in coastal areas, where SMAP SSS (Jang) was not available. In addition, when tested for the great flood occurred in Southern China in August 2020, GOCI SSS well simulated the spatial and temporal change of Changjiang Diluted Water. This research provided a potential that optical satellite data can be used to generate high resolution SSS associated with the improved microwave-based SSS especially in coastal areas.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.39 no.6_3
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• pp.1779-1790
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• 2023

Satellite-based fog detection algorithms are being developed to detect fog in real-time over a wide area, with a focus on the Korean Peninsula (KorPen). The GEO-KOMPSAT-2A/Advanced Meteorological Imager (GK2A/AMI, GK2A) satellite offers an excellent temporal resolution (10 min) and a spatial resolution (500 m), while GEO-KOMPSAT-2B/Geostationary Ocean Color Imager-II (GK2B/GOCI-II, GK2B) provides an excellent spatial resolution (250 m) but poor temporal resolution (1 h) with only visible channels. To enhance the fog detection level (10 min, 250 m), we developed a fused GK2AB fog detection algorithm (FDA) of GK2A and GK2B. The GK2AB FDA comprises three main steps. First, the Korea Meteorological Satellite Center's GK2A daytime fog detection algorithm is utilized to detect fog, considering various optical and physical characteristics. In the second step, GK2B data is extrapolated to 10-min intervals by matching GK2A pixels based on the closest time and location when GK2B observes the KorPen. For reflectance, GK2B normalized visible (NVIS) is corrected using GK2A NVIS of the same time, considering the difference in wavelength range and observation geometry. GK2B NVIS is extrapolated at 10-min intervals using the 10-min changes in GK2A NVIS. In the final step, the extrapolated GK2B NVIS, solar zenith angle, and outputs of GK2A FDA are utilized as input data for machine learning (decision tree) to develop the GK2AB FDA, which detects fog at a resolution of 250 m and a 10-min interval based on geographical locations. Six and four cases were used for the training and validation of GK2AB FDA, respectively. Quantitative verification of GK2AB FDA utilized ground observation data on visibility, wind speed, and relative humidity. Compared to GK2A FDA, GK2AB FDA exhibited a fourfold increase in spatial resolution, resulting in more detailed discrimination between fog and non-fog pixels. In general, irrespective of the validation method, the probability of detection (POD) and the Hanssen-Kuiper Skill score (KSS) are high or similar, indicating that it better detects previously undetected fog pixels. However, GK2AB FDA, compared to GK2A FDA, tends to over-detect fog with a higher false alarm ratio and bias.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.39 no.6_2
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• pp.1553-1563
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• 2023

The Geostationary Ocean Color Imager-II (GOCI-II) is a satellite designed for ocean color observation, covering the Northeast Asian region and the entire disk of the Earth. It commenced operations in 2020, succeeding its predecessor, GOCI, which had been active for the previous decade. In this study, we aimed to enhance the atmospheric correction algorithm, a critical step in producing satellite-based ocean color data, by performing cross-calibration on the GOCI-II near-infrared (NIR) band using the GOCI NIR band. To achieve this, we conducted a cross-calibration study on the top-of-atmosphere (TOA) radiance of the NIR band and derived a vicarious calibration gain for two NIR bands (745 and 865 nm). As a result of applying this gain, the offset of two sensors decreased and the ratio approached 1. It shows that consistency of two sensors was improved. Also, the Rayleigh-corrected reflectance at 745 nm and 865 nm increased by 5.62% and 9.52%, respectively. This alteration had implications for the ratio of Rayleigh-corrected reflectance at these wavelengths, potentially impacting the atmospheric correction results across all spectral bands, particularly during the aerosol reflectance correction process within the atmospheric correction algorithm. Due to the limited overlapping operational period of GOCI and GOCI-II satellites, we only used data from March 2021. Nevertheless, we anticipate further enhancements through ongoing cross-calibration research with other satellites in the future. Additionally, it is essential to apply the vicarious calibration gain derived for the NIR band in this study to perform vicarious calibration for the visible channels and assess its impact on the accuracy of the ocean color products.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.39 no.6_2
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• pp.1605-1613
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• 2023

The physical properties of the ocean interior are determined by temperature and salinity. To observe them, we rely on satellite observations for broad regions of oceans. However, the satellite for salinity measurement, Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP), has low temporal and spatial resolutions; thus, more is needed to resolve the fast-changing coastal environment. To overcome these limitations, the algorithm to use the Geostationary Ocean Color Imager-II (GOCI-II) of the Geo-Kompsat-2B (GK-2B) was developed as the inputs for a Multi-layer Perceptron Neural Network (MPNN). The result shows that coefficient of determination (R²), root mean square error (RMSE), and relative root mean square error (RRMSE) between GOCI-II based sea surface salinity (SSS) (GOCI-II SSS) and SMAP was 0.94, 0.58 psu, and 1.87%, respectively. Furthermore, the spatial variation of GOCI-II SSS was also very uniform, with over 0.8 of R² and less than 1 psu of RMSE. In addition, GOCI-II SSS was also compared with SSS of Ieodo Ocean Research Station (I-ORS), suggesting that the result was slightly low, which was further analyzed for the following reasons. We further illustrated the valuable information of high spatial and temporal variation of GOCI-II SSS to analyze SSS variation by the 11th typhoon, Hinnamnor, in 2022. We used the mean and standard deviation (STD) of one day of GOCI-II SSS, revealing the high spatial and temporal changes. Thus, this study will shed light on the research for monitoring the highly changing marine environment.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.39 no.5_3
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• pp.979-995
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• 2023

As wildfires are difficult to predict, real-time monitoring is crucial for a timely response. Geostationary satellite images are very useful for active fire detection because they can monitor a vast area with high temporal resolution (e.g., 2 min). Existing satellite-based active fire detection algorithms detect thermal outliers using threshold values based on the statistical analysis of brightness temperature. However, the difficulty in establishing suitable thresholds for such threshold-based methods hinders their ability to detect fires with low intensity and achieve generalized performance. In light of these challenges, machine learning has emerged as a potential-solution. Until now, relatively simple techniques such as random forest, Vanilla convolutional neural network (CNN), and U-net have been applied for active fire detection. Therefore, this study proposed an active fire detection algorithm using state-of-the-art (SOTA) deep learning techniques using data from the Advanced Himawari Imager and evaluated it over East Asia and Australia. The SOTA model was developed by applying EfficientNet and lion optimizer, and the results were compared with the model using the Vanilla CNN structure. EfficientNet outperformed CNN with F1-scores of 0.88 and 0.83 in East Asia and Australia, respectively. The performance was better after using weighted loss, equal sampling, and image augmentation techniques to fix data imbalance issues compared to before the techniques were used, resulting in F1-scores of 0.92 in East Asia and 0.84 in Australia. It is anticipated that timely responses facilitated by the SOTA deep learning-based approach for active fire detection will effectively mitigate the damage caused by wildfires.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.39 no.5_3
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• pp.933-948
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• 2023

Atmospheric aerosols not only have adverse effects on human health but also exert direct and indirect impacts on the climate system. Consequently, it is imperative to comprehend the characteristics and spatiotemporal distribution of aerosols. Numerous research endeavors have been undertaken to monitor aerosols, predominantly through the retrieval of aerosol optical depth (AOD) via satellite-based observations. Nonetheless, this approach primarily relies on a look-up table-based inversion algorithm, characterized by computationally intensive operations and associated uncertainties. In this study, a novel high-resolution AOD direct retrieval algorithm, leveraging machine learning, was developed using top-of-atmosphere reflectance data derived from the Geostationary Ocean Color Imager-II (GOCI-II), in conjunction with their differences from the past 30-day minimum reflectance, and meteorological variables from numerical models. The Light Gradient Boosting Machine (LGBM) technique was harnessed, and the resultant estimates underwent rigorous validation encompassing random, temporal, and spatial N-fold cross-validation (CV) using ground-based observation data from Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) AOD. The three CV results consistently demonstrated robust performance, yielding R²=0.70-0.80, RMSE=0.08-0.09, and within the expected error (EE) of 75.2-85.1%. The Shapley Additive exPlanations(SHAP) analysis confirmed the substantial influence of reflectance-related variables on AOD estimation. A comprehensive examination of the spatiotemporal distribution of AOD in Seoul and Ulsan revealed that the developed LGBM model yielded results that are in close concordance with AERONET AOD over time, thereby confirming its suitability for AOD retrieval at high spatiotemporal resolution (i.e., hourly, 250 m). Furthermore, upon comparing data coverage, it was ascertained that the LGBM model enhanced data retrieval frequency by approximately 8.8% in comparison to the GOCI-II L2 AOD products, ameliorating issues associated with excessive masking over very illuminated surfaces that are often encountered in physics-based AOD retrieval processes.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.37 no.5_1
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• pp.1029-1042
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• 2021

As part of the next-generation Compact Advanced Satellite 500 (CAS500) project, CAS500-4 is scheduled to be launched in 2025 focusing on the remote sensing of agriculture and forestry. To obtain quantitative information on vegetation from satellite images, it is necessary to acquire surface reflectance through atmospheric correction. Thus, it is essential to develop an atmospheric correction method suitable for CAS500-4. Since the absorption and scattering characteristics in the atmosphere vary depending on the wavelength, it is needed to analyze the sensitivity of atmospheric correction parameters such as aerosol optical depth (AOD) and water vapor (WV) considering the wavelengths of CAS500-4. In addition, as CAS500-4 has only five channels (blue, green, red, red edge, and near-infrared), making it difficult to directly calculate key parameters for atmospheric correction, external parameter data should be used. Therefore, thisstudy performed a sensitivity analysis of the key parameters (AOD, WV, and O₃) using the simulated images based on Sentinel-2 satellite data, which has similar wavelength specifications to CAS500-4, and examined the possibility of using the products of GEO-KOMPSAT-2A (GK2A) as atmospheric parameters. The sensitivity analysisshowed that AOD wasthe most important parameter with greater sensitivity in visible channels than in the near-infrared region. In particular, since AOD change of 20% causes about a 100% error rate in the blue channel surface reflectance in forests, a highly reliable AOD is needed to obtain accurate surface reflectance. The atmospherically corrected surface reflectance based on the GK2A AOD and WV was compared with the Sentinel-2 L2A reflectance data through the separability index of the known land cover pixels. The result showed that two corrected surface reflectance had similar Seperability index (SI) values, the atmospheric corrected surface reflectance based on the GK2A AOD showed higher SI than the Sentinel-2 L2A reflectance data in short-wavelength channels. Thus, it is judged that the parameters provided by GK2A can be fully utilized for atmospheric correction of the CAS500-4. The research findings will provide a basis for atmospheric correction of the CAS500-4 in the future.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.37 no.5_2
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• pp.1281-1293
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• 2021

The recent launch of the GOCI-II enables South Korea to have the world's first capability in deriving the ocean color data at geostationary satellite orbit for about 20 years. It is necessary to develop a consistent long-term ocean color time-series spanning GOCI to GOCI-II mission and improve the accuracy through validation using in situ data. To assess the GOCI-II's early mission performance, the objective of this study is to compare the GOCI-II Chlorophyll-a concentration (Chl-a), Colored Dissolved Organic Matter (CDOM), and remote sensing reflectances (R_rs) through comparison with the GOCI data. Overall, the distribution of GOCI-II Chl-a corresponds with that of the GOCI over the Yellow Sea, Korea Strait, and the Ulleung Basin. In particular, a smaller RMSE value (0.07) between GOCI and GOCI-II over the summer Ulleung Basin confirms the GOCI-II data's reliability. However, despite the excellent correlation, the GOCI-II tends to overestimate Chl-a than the GOCI over the Yellow Sea and Korea Strait. The similar over-estimation bias of the GOCI-II is also notable in CDOM. Whereas no significant bias or error is found for R_rs at 490 nm and 550 nm (RMSE~0), the underestimation of R_rs at 443 nm contributes to the overestimation of GOCI-II Chl-a and CDOM over the Yellow Sea and the Korea Strait. Also, we show over-estimation of GOCI-II R_rs at 660 nm relative to GOCI to cause a possible bias in Total suspended sediment. In conclusion, this study confirms the initial reliability of the GOCI-II ocean color products, and upcoming update of GOCI-II radiometric calibration will lessen the inconsistency between GOCI and GOCI-II ocean color products.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.33 no.5_1
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• pp.587-598
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• 2017

Volcanic ash is a fine particle smaller than 2 mm in diameters. It falls after the volcanic eruption and causes various damages to transportation, manufacturing industry and respiration of living things. Therefore diffusion information of volcanic ash is highly significant for preventing the damages from it. It is advantageous to utilize satellites for observing the widely diffusing volcanic ash. In this study volcanic ash diffusion information about two eruptions of Mt. Sakurajima were calculated using the geostationary satellite, Communication, Ocean and Meteorological Satellite (COMS) Meteorological Imager (MI) and polar-orbiting satellite, Landsat-8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) and the Thermal InfraRed Sensor (TIRS). The direction and velocity of volcanic ash diffusion were analyzed by extracting the volcanic ash pixels from COMS-MI images and the height was retrieved by adjusting the shadow method to Landsat-8 images. In comparison between the results of this study and those of Volcanic Ash Advisories center (VAAC), the volcanic ash tend to diffuse the same direction in both case. However, the diffusion velocity was about four times slower than VAAC information. Moreover, VAAC only provide an ash height while our study produced a variety of height information with respect to ash diffusion. The reason for different results is measured location. In case of VAAC, they produced approximate ash information around volcano crater to rapid response, while we conducted an analysis of the ash diffusion whole area using ash observed images. It is important to measure ash diffusion when large-scale eruption occurs around the Korean peninsula. In this study, it can be used to produce various ash information about the ash diffusion area using different characteristics satellite images.