Evaluation of the VIIRS BRDF, Albedo and NBAR products suite and an assessment of continuity with the long term MODIS record

Liu, Yan; Wang, Zhuosen; Sun, Qingsong; Erb, Angela; Li, Zhan; Schaaf, Crystal B.; Zhang, Xiaoyang; Román, M. O.; Scott, Russell L.; Zhang, Quan; Novick, Kimberly A.; Bret‐Harte, M. Syndonia; Petroy, S. B.; SanClements, Mike

doi:10.1016/j.rse.2017.09.020

Cited by 101 publications

(54 citation statements)

References 57 publications

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“…The applicability of this albedo-based method to other regions of the TP and its surroundings (e.g., the Himalaya and Karakorum) needs intensive investigations. Moreover, although the continuous MODIS albedo products since 2000 are available, new sensors and platforms, such as the Visible Infrared Imager/Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the Suomi-NPP (National Polar-orbiting Partnership) satellite, are promising in providing global albedo products which are comparable with the MODIS [69,70]. This indicates that the albedo-based method could be further studied and applied for glacier mass balance estimation in the near future.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Annual Glacier-Wide Mass Balance (2000–2016) of the Interior Tibetan Plateau Reconstructed from MODIS Albedo Products

Zhang

Jiang

et al. 2018

Remote Sensing

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Glaciers in the Tibetan Plateau (TP) play a crucial role in regulating agriculture irrigation, river discharge and the regional/global climate system. However, mass balance records of TP glaciers have remained scarce due to challenging mountainous terrain and harsh weather conditions, which limits our understanding of the influence of melting glaciers on local water resources and responses to climate change. Here, we present and assess an albedo-based method to derive annual mass balance for three glaciers in the interior TP from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) albedo data during 2000-2016. A strong linear correlation (R 2 = 0.941, P < 0.001) is found between annual minimum-averaged glacier-wide albedo (AMGA) values and annual mass balance measurements on the Xiao Dongkemadi glacier. Furthermore, the 17-year-long annual mass balance series of the Xiao Dongkemadi glacier and the Geladandong mountain region glaciers, and the Purogangri ice cap are reconstructed for the first time, with a mass loss rate of 535 ± 63 mm w.e.a −1 , 243 ± 66 mm w.e.a −1 and 113 ± 68 mm w.e.a −1 , respectively. The results are verified by geodetic estimates, with relative error ranging from 4.55% to 11.80%, confirming that the albedo-based method can be used to estimate specific mass budgets for interior TP glaciers. A strong correlation between the mass balance series and air temperature infers that increasing summer air temperature may be one of main reasons for glacier shrinkage of the three studied glaciers.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Annual Glacier-Wide Mass Balance (2000–2016) of the Interior Tibetan Plateau Reconstructed from MODIS Albedo Products

Zhang

Jiang

et al. 2018

Remote Sensing

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“…BRDF-related spectral variations over time are often confused with land-cover change [7], with biases introduced by such inappropriate data fusion potentially exceeding minimum sensitivity levels of climate models [2,36]. These effects can be pronounced [37,38] in data based on measurements from wide-angle sensors, such as the NOAA Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR), MODIS, the Multi-angle Imaging Spectroradiometer (MISR), the Polarization and Directionality of Earth Reflectance (POLDER) sensor, and the recent Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS). BRDF effects have even been found in imagery collected by narrower-swath, medium -resolution sensors such as Landsat and Systeme Probatoire d'Observation de la Terre (SPOT) [39].…”

Section: The Value Of Directional Reflectance Correctionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment of MODIS BRDF/Albedo Model Parameters (MCD43A1 Collection 6) for Directional Reflectance Retrieval

et al. 2017

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Measurements of solar radiation reflected from Earth's surface are the basis for calculating albedo, vegetation indices, and other terrestrial attributes. However, the "bi-directional" geometry of illumination and viewing (i.e., the Bi-directional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF)) impacts reflectance and all variables derived or estimated based on these data. The recently released MODIS BRDF/Albedo Model Parameters (MCD43A1 Collection 6) dataset enables retrieval of directional reflectance at arbitrary solar and viewing angles, potentially increasing precision and comparability of data collected under different illumination and observation geometries. We quantified the ability of MCD43A1 Collection 6 for retrieving directional reflectance and compared the daily Collection 6 retrievals to those of MCD43A1 Collection 5, which are retrieved on an eight-day basis. Correcting MODIS-based estimates of surface reflectance from the illumination and viewing geometry of the Terra satellite (MOD09GA) to that of the MODIS Aqua (MYD09GA) overpass, as well as MCD43A4 Collection 6 and Landsat-5 TM images show that the BRDF correction of MCD43A1 Collection 6 results in greater consistency among datasets, with higher R 2 (0.63-0.955), regression slopes closer to unity (0.718-0.955), lower root mean squared difference (RMSD) (0.422-3.142), and lower mean absolute error (MAE) (0.282-1.735) compared to the Collection 5 data. Smaller levels of noise (observed as high-frequency variability within the time series) in MCD43A1 Collection 6 in comparison to Collection 5 corroborates the improvement of BRDF parameters time series. These results corroborates that the daily MCD43A1 Collection 6 product represents the anisotropy of surface features and results in more precise directional reflectance derivation at any solar and viewing geometry than did the previous Collection 5.

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“…A number of studies have attempted to validate satellite-based albedo products by directly comparing them for specific spatially representative tower albedometer measurement sites [12,13]. These studies assume that the tower-measured albedo over a limited footprint (tens to a few hundred metres) can represent the satellite-measured albedo at coarse resolutions (500 m-3 km), so that no upscaling is needed.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Validation of Space-Based Albedo Products from Upscaled Tower-Based Measurements Over Heterogeneous and Homogeneous Landscapes

et al. 2020

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Surface albedo is a fundamental radiative parameter as it controls the Earth's energy budget and directly affects the Earth's climate. Satellite observations have long been used to capture the temporal and spatial variations of surface albedo because of their continuous global coverage. However, space-based albedo products are often affected by errors in the atmospheric correction, multi-angular bi-directional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) modelling, as well as spectral conversions. To validate space-based albedo products, an in situ tower albedometer is often used to provide continuous "ground truth" measurements of surface albedo over an extended area. Since space-based albedo and tower-measured albedo are produced at different spatial scales, the can be directly compared only for specific homogeneous land surfaces. However, most land surfaces are inherently heterogeneous with surface properties that vary over a wide range of spatial scales. In this work, tower-measured albedo products, including both directional hemispherical reflectance (DHR) and bi-hemispherical reflectance (BHR), are upscaled to coarse satellite spatial resolutions using a new method. This strategy uses high-resolution satellite derived surface albedos to fill the gaps between the albedometer's field-of-view (FoV) and coarse satellite scales. The high-resolution surface albedo is generated from a combination of surface reflectance retrieved from high-resolution Earth Observation (HR-EO) data and moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) BRDF climatology over a larger area. We implemented a recently developed atmospheric correction method, the Sensor Invariant Atmospheric Correction (SIAC), to retrieve surface reflectance from HR-EO (e.g., Sentinel-2 and Landsat-8) top-of-atmosphere (TOA) reflectance measurements. This SIAC processing provides an estimated uncertainty for the retrieved surface spectral reflectance at the HR-EO pixel level and shows excellent agreement with the standard Landsat 8 Surface Reflectance Code (LaSRC) in retrieving Landsat-8 surface reflectance. Atmospheric correction of Sentinel-2 data is vastly improved by SIAC when compared against the use of in situ AErosol RObotic NETwork (AERONET) data. Based on this, we can trace the uncertainty of tower-measured albedo during its propagation through high-resolution EO measurements up to coarse satellite scales. These upscaled albedo products can then be compared with space-based albedo products over heterogeneous land surfaces. In this study, both tower-measured albedo and upscaled albedo products are examined at Ground Based Observation for Validation (GbOV) stations (https://land.copernicus.eu/global/gbov/), and used to compare with satellite observations, including Copernicus Global Land Service (CGLS) based on ProbaV and VEGETATION 2 data, MODIS and multi-angle imaging spectroradiometer (MISR).

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Evaluation of the VIIRS BRDF, Albedo and NBAR products suite and an assessment of continuity with the long term MODIS record

Cited by 101 publications

References 57 publications

Annual Glacier-Wide Mass Balance (2000–2016) of the Interior Tibetan Plateau Reconstructed from MODIS Albedo Products

Annual Glacier-Wide Mass Balance (2000–2016) of the Interior Tibetan Plateau Reconstructed from MODIS Albedo Products

Assessment of MODIS BRDF/Albedo Model Parameters (MCD43A1 Collection 6) for Directional Reflectance Retrieval

Validation of Space-Based Albedo Products from Upscaled Tower-Based Measurements Over Heterogeneous and Homogeneous Landscapes

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