• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.21-32
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• 2022

The importance of the classical theme of how the Top-of-Atmosphere (TOA) and Top-of-Canopy (TOC) reflectance of high-resolution satellite images match the actual atmospheric reflectance and surface reflectance has been emphasized. Based on the Radiometric Calibration Network (RadCalNet) BTCN and BSCN data, this study compared the accuracy of TOA and TOC reflectance products of the currently available optical satellites, including KOMPSAT-3, WorldView-2, and Pléiades-1A image sets calculated using the absolute atmospheric correction function of the Orfeo Toolbox (OTB) tool. The comparison experiment used data in 2018 and 2019, and the Landsat-8 image sets from the same period were applied together. The experiment results showed that the product of TOA and TOC reflectance obtained from the three sets of images were highly consistent with RadCalNet data. It implies that any imagery may be applied when high-resolution reflectance products are required for a certain application. Meanwhile, the processed results of the OTB tool and those by the Apparent Reflection method of another tool for WorldView-2 images were nearly identical. However, in some cases, the reflectance products of Landsat-8 images provided by USGS sometimes showed relatively low consistency than those computed by the OTB tool, with the reference of RadCalNet BTCN and BSCN data. Continuous experiments on active vegetation areas in addition to the RadCalNet sites are necessary to obtain generalized results.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.35 no.6_4
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• pp.1327-1339
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• 2019

Surface reflectance obtained by absolute atmospheric correction from satellite images is useful for scientific land applications and analysis ready data (ARD). For Landsat and Sentinel-2 images, many types of radiometric processing methods have been developed, and these images are supported by most commercial and open-source software. However, in the case of KOMPSAT 3/3A images, there are currently no tools or open source resources for obtaining the reflectance at the top-of-atmosphere (TOA) and top-of-canopy (TOC). In this study, the atmospheric correction module of KOMPSAT 3/3A images is newly implemented to the optical calibration algorithm supported in the Orfeo ToolBox (OTB), a remote sensing open-source tool. This module contains the sensor model and spectral response data of KOMPSAT 3A. Aerosol measurement properties, such as AERONET data, can be used to generate TOC reflectance image. Using this module, an experiment was conducted, and the reflection products for TOA and TOC with and without AERONET data were obtained. This approach can be used for building the ARD database for surface reflection by absolute atmospheric correction derived from KOMPSAT 3/3A satellite images.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.449-461
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• 2021

Analysis Ready Data (ARD) for optical satellite images represents a pre-processed product by applying spectral characteristics and viewing parameters for each sensor. The atmospheric correction is one of the fundamental and complicated topics, which helps to produce Top-of-Atmosphere (TOA) and Top-of-Canopy (TOC) reflectance from multi-spectral image sets. Most remote sensing software provides algorithms or processing schemes dedicated to those corrections of the Landsat-8 OLI sensors. Furthermore, Google Earth Engine (GEE), provides direct access to Landsat reflectance products, USGS-based ARD (USGS-ARD), on the cloud environment. We implemented the Orfeo ToolBox (OTB) atmospheric correction extension, an open-source remote sensing software for manipulating and analyzing high-resolution satellite images. This is the first tool because OTB has not provided calibration modules for any Landsat sensors. Using this extension software, we conducted the absolute atmospheric correction on the Landsat-8 OLI images of Railroad Valley, United States (RVUS) to validate their reflectance products using reflectance data sets of RVUS in the RadCalNet portal. The results showed that the reflectance products using the OTB extension for Landsat revealed a difference by less than 5% compared to RadCalNet RVUS data. In addition, we performed a comparative analysis with reflectance products obtained from other open-source tools such as a QGIS semi-automatic classification plugin and SAGA, besides USGS-ARD products. The reflectance products by the OTB extension showed a high consistency to those of USGS-ARD within the acceptable level in the measurement data range of the RadCalNet RVUS, compared to those of the other two open-source tools. In this study, the verification of the atmospheric calibration processor in OTB extension was carried out, and it proved the application possibility for other satellite sensors in the Compact Advanced Satellite (CAS)-500 or new optical satellites.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.37 no.6_3
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• pp.1951-1963
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• 2021

Remote sensing data using earth observation satellites in agricultural environment monitoring has many advantages over other methods in terms of time, space, and efficiency. Since the sensor mounted on the satellite measures the energy that sunlight is reflected back to the ground, noise is generated in the process of being scattered, absorbed, and reflected by the Earth's atmosphere. Therefore, in order to accurately measure the energy reflected on the ground (radiance), atmospheric correction, which must remove noise caused by the effect of the atmosphere, should be preceded. In this study, atmospheric correction sensitivity analysis, inter-satellite cross-analysis, and comparative analysis with ground observation data were performed to evaluate the application of KOMPSAT-3 satellite's atmospheric correction for agricultural application. As a result, in all cases, the surface reflectance after atmospheric correction showed a higher mutual agreement than the TOA reflectance before atmospheric correction, and it is possible to produce the time series vegetation index of the same standard. However, additional research is needed for quantitative analysis of the sensitivity of atmospheric input parameters and the tilt angle.