Extracting information on surface properties from bidirectional reflectance measurements

Journal Article · Wed Feb 20 04:00:00 EST 1991 · Journal of Geophysical Research; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1029/90JD02239· OSTI ID:5394265

Pinty, B ^[1]; Verstraete, M M ^[2]

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1. Laboratoire d'Etudes et de Recherches en Teledetection Spatiale, Toulouse (France)
2. Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor (USA)

The retrieval of surface parameters from remotely sensed data is of prime interest for the estimation of surface properties of various planets in the solar system, including Earth. Bidirectional reflectance measurements taken over natural surfaces in visible and near-infrared spectral bands represent one data set from which these surface properties could be estimated. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to have both physical models predicting the bidirectional reflectance field as a function of the relevant surface parameters, and numerical procedures allowing the inversion of the models using a limited sampling of the bidirectional reflectance field. Given that theoretical models of the bidirectional reflectance have been published and that numerical procedures are available, this paper focuses on the errors and uncertainties in the retrieved parameters which may arise because of (1) the weaknesses in our theoretical understanding and representation of the surface radiation transfer and (2) the errors in the bidirectional reflectance data. For instance, it is shown that the addition a posteriori of an amplitude parameter in the function accounting for the opposition effect can drastically modify the retrieved values of the optical and morphological parameters of the surface. The consequences of uncertainties in the reflectance data are also investigated, and the redistribution, by the inversion procedure, of such uncertainties on the retrieved parameters is discussed. Finally, synthetic reflectance data contaminated by a known random noise are used to examine the numerical stability of the retrieval and the compatibility between the models.

• OSTI ID: 5394265
• Journal Information: Journal of Geophysical Research; (United States), Journal Name: Journal of Geophysical Research; (United States) Vol. 96:D2; ISSN 0148-0227; ISSN JGREA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

58 GEOSCIENCES
580000* -- Geosciences
640107 -- Astrophysics & Cosmology-- Planetary Phenomena
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
AMPLITUDES
DATA ANALYSIS
EARTH PLANET
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
ERRORS
GEOPHYSICAL SURVEYS
INFRARED RADIATION
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
MORPHOLOGY
NEAR INFRARED RADIATION
OPTICAL PROPERTIES
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
PLANETARY EVOLUTION
PLANETS
RADIATIONS
RADIOMETRIC SURVEYS
REFLECTIVITY
REMOTE SENSING
SATELLITES
SOLAR SYSTEM EVOLUTION
SURFACE PROPERTIES
SURVEYS
VISIBLE RADIATION