The cross-calibration of CBERS-02B/CCD visible-near infrared channels with Terra/MODIS channels

Abstract

Radiometric calibration is a prerequisite to quantitative remote sensing, and its accuracy has a direct impact on the reliability and accuracy of the quantitative application of remote-sensing data. This article attempts to cross-calibrate the visible and near-infrared channels 1 (450–520 nm), 2 (520–590 nm), 3 (630–690 nm), and 4 (770–890 nm) of the China–Brazil Earth Resources Satellite (CBERS)-02B/charge-coupled device (CCD) camera with channels 3 (459–479 nm), 4 (545–565 nm), 1 (620–670 nm), and 2 (841–876 nm) of the Terra/Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), respectively. The radiative transfer modelling (RTM) method is implemented using the CBERS-02B/CCD and Terra/MODIS measurements at the Dunhuang radiometric calibration site in October 2008. The differences between the cross-calibration and vicarious calibration techniques for channels 1, 2, 3, and 4 are 11.15%, –0.89%, 2.88%, and 11.28%, respectively. Furthermore, the accuracies of the cross-calibration coefficients of CBERS-02B/CCD are analysed, wherein the results indicate that the calibration uncertainty is within 5%.

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful for the comments of the referees. This work was supported by The National High Technology Research and Development Programme of China (no. 2008AA121800) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (no. 41071231). The authors are also thankful to Professor C. R. Li, L. L. Tang, and Dr L. L. Ma for various discussions that took place during the preparation of this work.