Radiometric intercalibration of MOMS and SPOT by vicarious method

Abstract

The homogeneous test site of La Crau (South of France) was used for radiometric calibration of the MOMS-camera onboard the Russian MIR-Station and of the HRV/HRVIR cameras on the SPOT-01 and SPOT-04 satellites. The test site has an extention of approx. 400 m x 400 m and is composed of bare soil and pebbles. For the spectral characterisation of the test site reflectance measurements with field spectrometers as well as multispectral images with airborne instruments from low flight altitude were obtained. To determine atmospheric optical parameters the ground irradiance of the sun was measured during the time the space cameras passed over the test site. With the measured reflectances and atmospheric parameters the 6S-radiation transfer model was used to calculate the spectral radiance reaching the space cameras. The paper describes the measuring techniques and discusses the calibration results.