Anne B. Kahle

A temperature and emissivity separation algorithm for Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) images

The Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) scanner on NASAs Earth Observing System (EOS)-AM1 satellite (launch scheduled for 1998) will collect five bands of thermal infrared (TIR) data with a noise equivalent temperature difference (NE/spl Delta/T) of /spl les/0.3 K to estimate surface temperatures and emissivity spectra, especially over land, where emissivities are not known in advance. Temperature/emissivity separation (TES) is difficult because there are five measurements but six unknowns. Various approaches have been used to constrain the extra degree of freedom. ASTERs TES algorithm hybridizes three established algorithms, first estimating the normalized emissivities and then calculating emissivity band ratios. An empirical relationship predicts the minimum emissivity from the spectral contrast of the ratioed values, permitting recovery of the emissivity spectrum. TES uses an iterative approach to remove reflected sky irradiance. Based on numerical simulation, TES should be able to recover temperatures within about /spl plusmn/1.5 K and emissivities within about /spl plusmn/0.015. Validation using airborne simulator images taken over playas and ponds in central Nevada demonstrates that, with proper atmospheric compensation, it is possible to meet the theoretical expectations. The main sources of uncertainty in the output temperature and emissivity images are the empirical relationship between emissivity values and spectral contrast, compensation for reflected sky irradiance, and ASTERs precision, calibration, and atmospheric compensation.

Overview of Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER)

The Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) is a research facility instrument provided by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI), Tokyo, Japan to be launched on NASAs Earth Observing System morning (EOS-AM1) platform in 1998. ASTER has three spectral hands in the visible near-infrared (VNIR), six bands in the shortwave infrared (SWIR), and five bands in the thermal infrared (TIR) regions, with 15-, 30-, and 90-m ground resolution, respectively. The VNIR subsystem has one backward-viewing band for stereoscopic observation in the along-track direction. Because the data will have wide spectral coverage and relatively high spatial resolution, it will be possible to discriminate a variety of surface materials and reduce problems in some lower resolution data resulting from mixed pixels. ASTER will, for the first time, provide high-spatial resolution multispectral thermal infrared data from orbit and the highest spatial resolution surface spectral reflectance temperature and emissivity data of all of the EOS-AM1 instruments. The primary science objective of the ASTER mission is to improve understanding of the local- and regional-scale processes occurring on or near the Earths surface and lower atmosphere, including surface-atmosphere interactions. Specific areas of the science investigation include the following: (1) land surface climatology; (2) vegetation and ecosystem dynamics; (3) volcano monitoring; (4) hazard monitoring; (5) aerosols and clouds; (6) carbon cycling in the marine ecosystem; (7) hydrology; (8) geology and soil; and (9) land surface and land cover change. There are three categories of ASTER data: a global map, regional monitoring data sets, and local data sets to be obtained for requests from individual investigators.

Color enhancement of highly correlated images. I. Decorrelation and HSI contrast stretches

Abstract Conventional enhancements for the color display of multispectral images are based on independent contrast modifications or “stretches” of three input images. This approach is not effective if the image channels are highly correlated or if the image histograms are strongly bimodal or more complex. Any of several procedures that tend to “stretch” color saturation while leaving hue unchanged may better utilize the full range of colors for the display of image information. Two conceptually different enhancements are discussed: the “decorrelation stretch”, based on principal-component (PC) analysis, and the “stretch” of “hue”-“saturation”-intensity (HSI) transformed data. The PC transformation is scene-dependent, but the HSI transformation is invariant. Examples of images enhanced by conventional linear stretches, decorrelation stretch, and by stretches of HSI transformed data are compared. Schematic variation diagrams or two- and three-dimensional histograms are used to illustrate the “decorrelation stretch” method and the effect of the different enhancements.

Color enhancement of highly correlated images. II - Channel ratio and 'chromaticity' transformation techniques

Abstract Conventional enhancements for the color display of multispectral images are usually based on independent contrast modifications (“stretches”) of three image channels. This approach generally does not produce colorful pictures if the image channels are strongly correlated. Procedures that selectively emphasize the weakly correlated component of the image data may better utilize the full range of colors. In Part I of this series of articles, two such methods were discussed that exaggerated color saturation without greatly modifying hue. These methods utilized principal-component analysis and HSI transformation of the image data. Herein we discuss two other methods, based on ratioing of data from different image channels. In the first approach, images of the ratioed data are “stretched” and assigned primary colors for display as color pictures. An alternative ratio method uses the difference, normalized to the intensity, instead of the ratio itself. Hues in pictures thus enhanced bear no resemblance to those in the unenhanced picture: hence, interpretation may be difficult. In the second approach, the intensity for each of three image channels is ratioed, pixel by pixel, to the sum of the intensities. Thus the data are transformed to image-domain “chromaticity” coordinates. These data are next “stretched” and then multiplied by the summed intensities to return them to the original coordinates for display. This technique is similar to those of Part I in that the hues need not be greatly altered.

The MODIS/ASTER airborne simulator (MASTER) — a new instrument for earth science studies

Abstract The MODIS/ASTER Airborne Simulator was developed for the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) projects. ASTER and MODIS are both spaceborne imaging instruments on the Terra platform launched in the fall of 1999. Currently MASTER is flown on the Department of Energy (DOE) King Air Beachcraft B200 aircraft and the NASA DC-8. In order to validate the in-flight performance of the instrument, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the University of Arizona conducted a joint experiment in December 1998. The experiment involved overflights of the MASTER instrument at two sites at three elevations (2000, 4000, and 6000 m). The two sites: Ivanpah Playa, California, and Lake Mead, Nevada, were selected to validate the visible–shortwave infrared and thermal infrared (TIR) channels, respectively. At Ivanpah Playa, a spectrometer was used to determine the surface reflectance and a sun photometer used to obtain the optical depth. At Lake Mead contact and radiometric surface lake temperatures were measured by buoy-mounted thermistors and self-calibrating radiometers, respectively. Atmospheric profiles of temperature, pressure, and relative humidity were obtained by launching an atmospheric sounding balloon. The measured surface radiances were then propagated to the at-sensor radiance using radiative transfer models driven by the local atmospheric data. There was excellent agreement between the predicted radiance at sensor and the measured radiance at sensor at all three altitudes. The percent difference between the channels not strongly affected by the atmosphere in the visible–shortwave infrared was typically 1–5% and the percent difference between the TIR channels not strongly affected by the atmosphere was typically less than 0.5%. These results indicate the MASTER instrument should provide a well-calibrated instrument for Earth Science Studies. It should prove particularly valuable for those studies that leverage information across the electromagnetic spectrum from the visible to the TIR.

Mineralogic information from a new airborne thermal infrared multispectral scanner.

A new six-channel aircraft multispectral scanner has been developed to exploit mineral signature information at wavelengths between 8 and 12 micrometers. Preliminary results show that igneous rock units can be identified from their free silica content, and that carbonate as well as clay-bearing units are readily separable on the digitally processed images.

Middle infrared multispectral aircraft scanner data: analysis for geological applications

Multispectral middle IR (8-13-microm) data were acquired with an aircraft scanner over Utah. Because these digital image data were dominated by temperature, all six channels were highly correlated. Extensive processing was required to allow geologic photointerpretation based on subtle variations in spectral emittance between rock types. After preliminary processing, ratio images were produced and color ratio composites created from these. Sensor calibration and an atmospheric model allowed determination of surface brightness, temperature, emittance, and color composite emittance images. The best separation of major rock types was achieved with a principal component transformation, followed by a Gaussian stretch, followed by an inverse transformation to the original axes.

Mapping of hydrothermal alteration in the Cuprite mining district, Nevada, using aircraft scanner images for the spectral region 0.46 to 2.36µm

Color composites of Landsat Multispectral Scanner ratio images that display variations in the intensity of ferric-iron absorption bands are highly effective for mapping limonitic altered rocks but are ineffective for mapping nonlimonitic altered rocks. Analysis of 0.45- to 2.5-µm field and laboratory spectra shows that iron-deficient opalized rocks in the Cuprite mining district, Nevada, have an intense OH-absorption band near 2.2 µm, owing to their content of clay minerals and alunite, and that this spectral feature is absent or weak in adjacent unaltered tuff and basalt. Altered rocks in the district can be discriminated from unaltered rocks with few ambiguities by use of color-ratio composite images derived from multispectral (0.46 to 2.36 µm) aircraft data. In addition, some effects of mineralogical zoning can be discriminated within the altered area. Only variations in amounts of limonite can be discerned in shorter wavelength aircraft data, Landsat Multispectral Scanner bands, and color aerial photographs.

The advanced spaceborne thermal emission and reflectance radiometer (Aster)

The Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission Reflectance Radiometer (ASTER) is the only high‐spatial‐resolution multispectral imager scheduled to fly in Earth orbit on the first platform of NASAs Earth Observation System (EOS‐A). The instrument will nave three bands in the visible near infrared with 15‐m spatial resolution, six bands in the short‐wave infrared with 30‐m spatial resolution and five bands in the thermal infrared with 90‐m spatial resolution. There will be an additional band in the near infrared with 15‐m spatial resolution that will provide same‐orbit stereo data when combined with the corresponding nadir viewing band. The ASTER instrument is being built by the Japanese Government based on the scientific requirements of the ASTER science team. This team consists of Japanese and American scientists, who will also be responsible for the development of algorithms for data reduction and analysis. The ASTER will be able to address a variety of science objectives identified by the EOS global change program. ASTER will provide surface temperatures and emissivity estimates, surface reflected radiances and digital elevation models at a spatial scale that will allow detailed process studies for MODIS and other global monitoring instruments at the subpixel level. Existing aircraft instruments can be used to simulate data that will be provided by ASTER. Examples are shown here of surface temperature mapping, surface compositional mapping, and digital elevation models derived from the NASA Thermal Infrared Multispectral Scanner, the Airborne Visible Infrared Imaging Spectrometer, and aerial photography.

Separation of temperature and emittance in remotely sensed radiance measurements

Abstract The remote determination of surface temperature and surface spectral emittance by use of airborne or satellite-borne thermal infrared instruments is not straightforward. The radiance measured is a function of surface temperature, the unknown surface spectral emittance, and absorption and emission in the intervening atmosphere. With a single measurement, the solution for temperature and spectral emittance is underdetermined. This article reviews two of the early approximate methods which have been fairly widely used to approach this problem.