Atmospheric Correction

Atmospheric correction is an essential part of remote sensing and satellite imagery where it compensates for the impact of the atmosphere on remote sensing data. When sunlight travels through the atmosphere, it is affected by scattering and absorption that occur due to aerosols, gases, and water vapor thereby altering the spectral data collected by detectors. Techniques for atmospheric correction help overcome this issue and determine the actual surface reflectance of land features. Corrected images allow for precise analysis within the field of GIS, Earth observation, environment monitoring, precision agriculture, forest industry, land cover mapping, disaster evaluation, and natural resource management. It is particularly significant when working with satellite images from different dates and data based on spectral indices (e.g. NDVI or other vegetation/water indices). Atmospheric correction increases radiometric consistency of data and minimizes atmospheric effects needed for the quality interpretation of multispectral and hyperspectral information. The use of different techniques including atmospheric modeling, radiative transfer, and surface reflectance correction depends on the specifics of sensors, datasets, and applications.