Validation of the algorithm for reconstructing the Earth surface reflection coefficients from MODIS data

Abstract

To validate the proposed algorithm for retrieving the reflection coefficients of the earth’s surface, the results of ground - based measurements at the test area with the coordinates 38.829°N, 8.791°W are compared with the results obtained with the proposed algorithm, the MOD09 algorithm, and the algorithm without atmospheric correction. The comparison shows a good agreement of the results yielded by the proposed and MOD09 algorithms with the ground measurements. The reflection coefficients for the area with the coordinates 38.4-39.3º N, 8.3-9.2º W on May 03, 2016, as retrieved by the proposed algorithm, the MOD09 algorithm, and the algorithm without atmospheric correction are analyzed. For the MODIS channels 1 and 2, the MOD09 algorithm gives negative values of the reflection coefficient for some pixels, while the proposed algorithm does not. The algorithm without atmospheric correction overestimates the reflection coefficient.