Tristan Harmel

Polarization impacts on the water-leaving radiance retrieval from above-water radiometric measurements

Above-water measurements of water-leaving radiance are widely used for water-quality monitoring and ocean-color satellite data validation. Reflected skylight in above-water radiometry needs to be accurately estimated prior to derivation of water-leaving radiance. Up-to-date methods to estimate reflection of diffuse skylight on rough sea surfaces are based on radiative transfer simulations and sky radiance measurements. But these methods neglect the polarization state of the incident skylight, which is generally highly polarized. In this paper, the effects of polarization on the sea surface reflectance and the subsequent water-leaving radiance estimation are investigated. We show that knowledge of the polarization field of the diffuse skylight significantly improves above-water radiometry estimates, in particular in the blue part of the spectrum where the reflected skylight is dominant. A newly developed algorithm based on radiative transfer simulations including polarization is described. Its application to the standard Aerosol Robotic Network-Ocean Color and hyperspectral radiometric measurements of the 1.5-year dataset acquired at the Long Island Sound site demonstrates the noticeable importance of considering polarization for water-leaving radiance estimation. In particular it is shown, based on time series of collocated data acquired in coastal waters, that the azimuth range of measurements leading to good-quality data is significantly increased, and that these estimates are improved by more than 12% at 413 nm. Full consideration of polarization effects is expected to significantly improve the quality of the field data utilized for satellite data validation or potential vicarious calibration purposes.

Long Island Sound Coastal Observatory: Assessment of above-water radiometric measurement uncertainties using collocated multi and hyperspectral systems

The Long Island Sound Coastal Observational platform (LISCO) near Northport, New York, has been recently established to support validation of ocean color radiometry (OCR) satellite data. LISCO is equipped with collocated multispectral, SeaPRISM, and hyperspectral, HyperSAS, above-water systems for OCR measurements. This combination offers the potential for improving validation activities of current and future OCR satellite missions, as well as for satellite intercomparisons and spectral characterization of coastal waters. Results of measurements made by both the multi and hyperspectral instruments, in operation since October 2009, are presented, evaluated and their associated uncertainties quantified based on observations for a period of over a year. Multi- and hyperspectral data processing as well as the data quality analysis are described and their uncertainties evaluated. The quantified intrinsic uncertainties of HyperSAS data exhibit satisfactory values, less than 5% over a large spectral range, from 340 to 740 nm, and over a large range of diurnal daylight conditions, depending on the maximum sun elevation at the solar noon. Intercomparisons between HyperSAS and SeaPRISM data revealed that an overcorrection of the sun glint effect in the current SeaPRISM processing induces errors, which are amplified through the whole data processing, especially at the shorter wavelengths. The spectral-averaged uncertainties can be decomposed as follows: (i) sun glint removal generates 2% uncertainty, (ii) sky glint removal generates strong uncertainties of the order of 15% mainly induced by sun glint overcorrection, (iii) viewing angle dependence corrections improve the data intercomparison by reducing the dispersion by 2%, (iv) normalization of atmospheric effects generates approximately 4% uncertainty. Based on this study, improvements of the sun glint correction are expected to significantly reduce the uncertainty associated with the data processing down to the level of 1%. On the other hand, strong correlations between both datasets (R(2)>0.96) demonstrate the efficacy of the above-water retrieval concept and confirm that the collocated instrumentation constitutes an important aid to above-water data quality analysis, which makes LISCO a key element of the AERONET-OC network.

Invariance of polarized reflectance measured at the top of atmosphere by PARASOL satellite instrument in the visible range with marine constituents in open ocean waters

The influence of oceanic constituents on the polarized reflectance measured at the top of atmosphere (TOA) over open ocean waters in one visible band is investigated. First, radiative transfer modelling is used to quantify the effects of biomass concentration on the TOA polarized signal for a wide range of observation geometries. The results showed that the TOA polarized reflectance remains insensitive to variations in the chlorophyll a concentration whatever the geometrical conditions in oligotrophic and mesotrophic waters, which represent about 90% of the global ocean. The invariance of the polarized signal with water content is explained by the prevailing influence of both atmospheric effects and skylight reflections at the sea surface on the polarization state of the radiation reaching the top of atmosphere level. The simulations also revealed that multidirectional and polarized TOA reflectances obtained in the visible spectrum are powerful tools for the discrimination between the aerosol optical properties. In the second part of the paper, the theoretical results are rigorously validated using original multiangle and polarized measurements acquired by PARASOL satellite sensor, which is used for the first time for ocean color purposes. First, a statistical analysis of the geometrical features of PARASOL instrument showed that the property of invariance of the TOA polarized reflectance is technically verified for more than 85% of viewed targets, and thus, indicating the feasibility of separating between the atmospheric and oceanic parameters from space remotely sensed polarized data. Second, PARASOL measurements acquired at regional and global scales nicely corroborated the simulations. This study also highlighted that the radiometric performance of the polarized visible wavelength of PARASOL satellite sensor can be used either for the aerosol detection or for atmospheric correction algorithms over open ocean waters regardless of the biomass concentration.

The relationship between upwelling underwater polarization and attenuation/absorption ratio

The attenuation coefficient of the water body is not directly retrievable from measurements of unpolarized water-leaving radiance. Based on extensive radiative transfer simulations using the vector radiative transfer code RayXP, it is demonstrated that the underwater degree of linear polarization (DoLP) is closely related to the attenuation-to-absorption ratio (c/a) of the water body, a finding that enables retrieval of the attenuation coefficient from measurements of the Stokes components of the upwelling underwater polarized light field. The relationship between DoLP and the c/a ratio is investigated for the upwelling polarized light field for a complete set of viewing geometries, at several wavelengths in the visible part of the spectrum; for varying compositions of the aquatic environment, whose constituents include phytoplankton, non-algal particles, and color dissolved organic matter (CDOM); and for varying microphysical properties such as the refractive index and the slope of the Junge-type particle size distribution (PSD). Consequently, this study reveals the possibility for retrieval of additional inherent optical properties (IOPs) from air- or space-borne DoLP measurements of the water-leaving radiation.

Estimating particle composition and size distribution from polarized water-leaving radiance

The sensitivity of the polarization of water-leaving radiance to the microphysical parameters of oceanic hydrosols, specifically to the real part of the bulk refractive index (nbulk) and to the hyperbolic slope of the Junge-type particle size distribution (PSD, ξ) is analyzed using in situ measurements of the underwater polarized light, in both Case I and Case II waters, and multiple scattering computations. Based on comparisons of experimental and simulated data, estimations of the real part of the refractive index and of the slope of the PSD are given. The study yielded results that generally agreed with expectations and that have accuracies comparable to previously published techniques. The analysis also demonstrates that the inclusion of polarization in addition to traditional radiance measurements can be expected to provide complementary information on the nature of particle populations in the ocean.

Assessment of a bidirectional reflectance distribution correction of above-water and satellite water-leaving radiance in coastal waters

Water-leaving radiances, retrieved from in situ or satellite measurements, need to be corrected for the bidirectional properties of the measured light in order to standardize the data and make them comparable with each other. The current operational algorithm for the correction of bidirectional effects from the satellite ocean color data is optimized for typical oceanic waters. However, versions of bidirectional reflectance correction algorithms specifically tuned for typical coastal waters and other case 2 conditions are particularly needed to improve the overall quality of those data. In order to analyze the bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) of case 2 waters, a dataset of typical remote sensing reflectances was generated through radiative transfer simulations for a large range of viewing and illumination geometries. Based on this simulated dataset, a case 2 water focused remote sensing reflectance model is proposed to correct above-water and satellite water-leaving radiance data for bidirectional effects. The proposed model is first validated with a one year time series of in situ above-water measurements acquired by collocated multispectral and hyperspectral radiometers, which have different viewing geometries installed at the Long Island Sound Coastal Observatory (LISCO). Match-ups and intercomparisons performed on these concurrent measurements show that the proposed algorithm outperforms the algorithm currently in use at all wavelengths, with average improvement of 2.4% over the spectral range. LISCOs time series data have also been used to evaluate improvements in match-up comparisons of Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer satellite data when the proposed BRDF correction is used in lieu of the current algorithm. It is shown that the discrepancies between coincident in-situ sea-based and satellite data decreased by 3.15% with the use of the proposed algorithm. This confirms the advantages of the proposed model over the current one, demonstrating the need for a specific case 2 water BRDF correction algorithm as well as the feasibility of enhancing performance of current and future satellite ocean color remote sensing missions for monitoring of typical coastal waters.

Polarization techniques for the retrieval of water parameters from above and below water polarimetric observations

The next generation of Ocean Color satellite sensors (PACE, NASA) will have polarization sensitive channels which will make possible to continue the time series of polarization acquisitions from space initiated by the French missions POLDER/PARASOL (CNES) and can be used to acquire additional information on ocean water constituents. The water attenuation coefficient is not retrievable by the exclusive use of the unpolarized measurements of the water-leaving radiance. However, we recently showed that the underwater degree of linear polarization (DoLP) can be fairly related to the attenuation/absorption ratio (c/a) which enables us to achieve retrievals of the absorption and attenuation coefficients from measurements of the Stokes components of the upwelling underwater light field. The relationship between the DoLP and the attenuation/absorption (c/a) ratio is investigated based on vector radiative transfer simulations of the underwater polarized light field for several wavelengths in the visible part of the spectrum, for a complete set of viewing geometries and for varying water compositions with water constituents include phytoplankton, non-algal particles and CDOM. It is shown that the relationship that exists between DoLP and c/a ratio has an excellent correlation for wide range of different viewing and Suns geometries opening the possibility for air or space borne DoLP measurements of the ocean and therefore retrieval of additional water optical properties.

Bidirectional reflectance function in coastal waters: modeling and validation

The current operational algorithm for the correction of bidirectional effects from the satellite ocean color data is optimized for typical oceanic waters. However, versions of bidirectional reflectance correction algorithms, specifically tuned for typical coastal waters and other case 2 conditions, are particularly needed to improve the overall quality of those data. In order to analyze the bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) of case 2 waters, a dataset of typical remote sensing reflectances was generated through radiative transfer simulations for a large range of viewing and illumination geometries. Based on this simulated dataset, a case 2 water focused remote sensing reflectance model is proposed to correct above-water and satellite water leaving radiance data for bidirectional effects. The proposed model is first validated with a one year time series of in situ above-water measurements acquired by collocated multi- and hyperspectral radiometers which have different viewing geometries installed at the Long Island Sound Coastal Observatory (LISCO). Match-ups and intercomparisons performed on these concurrent measurements show that the proposed algorithm outperforms the algorithm currently in use at all wavelengths.

Remote Sensing and Ocean Color

Abstract: In the Earth’s remote sensing field, the term “water color” is used when analyzing the spectral distribution of visible radiation exiting an aquatic environment (ocean, lakes and rivers) to reach a satellite or airborne spectroradiometer sensor. In particular, when studying the determination and estimation methods of suspended matter concentration in the oceans, such as phytoplanktonic organisms, matters of mineral origin or even detrital and dissolved organic matters, the term “ocean color” is used. The main and historical interest in using ocean color satellite technologies to observe aquatic environment relies on the quantification of the phytoplanktonic biomass on a global scale. Indeed, phytoplanktonic organisms, which are microscopic unicellular algae often present in low concentrations in a given region, represent approximately 50% of the vegetation on the planet because of the very large surface of the world’s oceans. Consequently, these organisms have a significant impact both on marine life, since they form the first link in the marine food chain, and on the climate, especially through the carbon cycle. Those organisms in fact help to capture the atmospheric carbon dioxide, one of the main greenhouse gases, through the process of the photosynthesis and primary production. A wide variety of phytoplankton species exist in seawater, categorized into different types according to their size and the photosynthetic pigments they contain. For example, we can mention the type of the diatoms, dinoflagellates or cyanobacteria. Other common applications of ocean color satellite technologies concern the monitoring of toxic algae (for example, red tide), the study of nutrient dynamics, the study of marine ecosystem ecology, the monitoring of river discharge in coastal areas and their impact on the health of coastal ecosystems.

Uncertainties assessment and satellite validation over 2 years time series of multispectral and hyperspectral measurements in coastal waters at Long Island Sound Coastal Observatory

Optical remote sensing of coastal waters from space is a basic requirement for monitoring global water quality and assessing anthropogenic impacts. However, this task remains highly challenging due to the optical complexity of the atmosphere-water system in coastal areas. In order to support present and future multi- and hyper-spectral calibration/validation activities for the Ocean Color Radiometry (OCR) satellites, as well as the development of new measurements and retrieval techniques for coastal waters, City College of New York along with the Naval Research Laboratory (Stennis) has established a scientifically comprehensive observation platform, the Long Island Sound Coastal Observatory (LISCO). As an integral part of the NASA AERONET - Ocean Color Network, LISCO is equipped with a multispectral SeaPRISM system. In addition, LISCO expands its observational capabilities through hyperspectral measurements with a HyperSAS system. The related multi- and hyperspectral data processing and data quality analysis are described. The three main OCR satellites, MERIS, MODIS and SeaWiFS, have been evaluated against the LISCO dataset of quality-checked measurements of SeaPRISM and HyperSAS. Adjacency effects impacting satellite data have been analyzed and found negligible. The remote sensing reflectances retrieved from satellite and in situ data are also compared. These comparisons show satisfactory correlations (R2 > 0.91 at 547nm) and consistencies (median value of the absolute percentage difference ~ 7.4%). It is also found that merging of the SeaPRISM and HyperSAS data at LISCO site significantly improve the overall data quality which makes this dataset highly suitable for satellite data validation purposes or for potential vicarious calibration activities.