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The atmospheric correction and measurement of chlorophyll concentration using the coastal zone color scanner 1
Author(s) -
Guan Fumin,
Peláez José,
Stewart Robert H.
Publication year - 1985
Publication title -
limnology and oceanography
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.7
H-Index - 197
eISSN - 1939-5590
pISSN - 0024-3590
DOI - 10.4319/lo.1985.30.2.0273
Subject(s) - atmospheric correction , chlorophyll , environmental science , satellite , remote sensing , chlorophyll a , atmosphere (unit) , ocean color , meteorology , atmospheric sciences , geology , chemistry , geography , physics , biochemistry , organic chemistry , astronomy
The Coastal Zone Color Scanner on the Nimbus‐7 satellite produces images of the sea in five colors (bands) of light, and these can be used to measure chlorophyll concentrations in the water, to visualize chlorophyll patterns, and to observe how these patterns change through time. However, 80–90% of the light observed by the instrument comes from the atmosphere, and removing this air light is difficult and usually requires considerable processing of the data. We describe here a new method to remove the influence of air light that is accurate, independent of external information, and requires far fewer computations than previous methods. This procedure should facilitate the use of CZCS data in biological oceanography, especially by investigators who may not have access to large computers and elaborate atmospheric correction procedures. The technique has been tested by comparing ship and satellite estimates of chlorophyll; the comparison shows very good agreement. In addition, a comparison of sequential chlorophyll images shows that the technique produces stable chlorophyll estimates under changing atmospheric conditions.