Issues in the application of DSM data to correct the terrain illumination effect in Landsat data  

Authors / CoAuthors

Li, F. | Jupp, D.L.B. | Thankappan, M.

Abstract

Removing the topographic effect from satellite images is a very important step in order to obtain comparable surface reflectance in mountainous areas and to use the images for different purposes on the same spectral base. The most common method of normalising for the topographic effect is by using a Digital Surface Model (DSM) and / or a Digital Elevation Model (DEM). However, the accuracy of the correction depends on the accuracy, scale and spatial resolution of DSM data as well as the co-registration between the DSM and satellite images. A physics based BRDF and atmospheric correction model in conjunction with a 1-second SRTM (Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission) derived DSM product released by Geoscience Australia in 2010 were used to conduct the analysis reported in this paper. The results show that artefacts in the DSM data can cause significant local errors in the correction. For some areas, false shadow and over corrected surface reflectance factors have been observed. In other areas, the algorithm is unable to detect shadow or retrieve an accurate surface reflectance factor in the slopes away from the sun. The accuracy of co-registration between satellite images and DSM data is crucial for effective topographic correction. A mis-registration error of one or two pixels can lead to large error of retrieved surface reflectance factors in the gully and ridge areas (retrieved reflectance factors can change from 0.3 to 0.5 or more). Therefore, accurate registrations for both satellite images and DSM data are necessary to ensure the accuracy of the correction. Using low resolution DSM data in conjunction with high resolution satellite images can fail to correct some significant terrain effects. A DSM resolution appropriate to the scale of the resolution of satellite image is needed for the best results.

Product Type

nonGeographicDataset

eCat Id

72608

Contact for the resource

Keywords

• External PublicationScientific Journal Paper

( Theme )

• digital elevation data

( Theme )

• image processing

( Theme )

• topography

Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC)

• Earth Sciences

• Published_Internal

Publication Date

2012-01-01T00:00:00

Creation Date

Security Constraints

Australian Government Security ClassificationSystem    

Classification - unclassified

Legal Constraints

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence    

Access - restricted

Use - license

Status

Purpose

Maintenance Information

unknown

Topic Category

geoscientificInformation

Series Information

Lineage

Unknown

Parent Information

Extents

Reference System

Spatial Resolution

Service Information

Associations

Downloads and Links

Source Information

Source data not available.