Open AccessEarth reflectance and polarization intercomparison between SCIAMACHY onboard Envisat and POLDER onboard ADEOS‐2
Author(s) -
Tilstra L. G.,
Stammes P.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: atmospheres
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.67
H-Index - 298
eISSN - 2156-2202
pISSN - 0148-0227
DOI - 10.1029/2006jd007713
Subject(s) - sciamachy , remote sensing , polarization (electrochemistry) , spectrometer , environmental science , linear polarization , imaging spectrometer , optics , physics , geology , chemistry , laser
In this paper, we compare reflectance and polarization measurements from two different satellite instruments, namely, the imager Polarization and Directionality of the Earth's Reflectances (POLDER) and the spectrometer Scanning Imaging Absorption Spectrometer for Atmospheric Chartography (SCIAMACHY). Both instruments are able to measure not only the Earth reflectance but also the state of linear polarization of the detected light. The aim of this paper is to validate the SCIAMACHY reflectance and polarization data using the fact that POLDER is well calibrated. This validation requires a careful search for suitable, collocated data having identical solar and viewing angles. For the reflectance, there is a disagreement between POLDER and SCIAMACHY of up to 20% in the wavelength interval 400–1000 nm, which we attribute to SCIAMACHY. As for the linear polarization, we present for the first time clear evidence for the existence of discrepancies in the SCIAMACHY polarization retrieval for polarization measurement devices 2, 3, and 4.