Direct Determination of Surface Albedos from Satellite Imagery

Abstract

An empirical method to measure the spectral surface albedo of surfaces from LANDSAT imagery is presented and analyzed. The empiricism in the method is due only to the fact that three parameters of the solution must be determined for each spectral photograph of an image on the basis of independently known albedos at three points. The approach is otherwise based on exact solutions of the radiative transfer equation for upwelling intensity. Application of the method allows the routine construction of spectral albedo maps from satellite imagery, without requiring detailed knowledge of the atmospheric aerosol content, as long as the optical depth is less than 0.75, and of the calibration of the satellite sensor.