HICO level-2 data processing toolbox for the atmospheric correction and the retrieval of water quality parameters

The Hyperspectral Imager for the Coastal Ocean (HICO) is an imaging spectrometer specifically designed to monitor the coastal ocean. The processing of Top-Of-Atmosphere (TOA) radiance data down to surface reflectance is fundamental for the retrieval of water quality products. However, the current HICO processing chain does not provide atmospheric corrected data nor higher-level water quality products. This work describes a toolbox for the atmospheric correction of HICO data and the retrieval of water quality products. The HICO toolbox, consisting on three main modules (image pre-processing, atmospheric correction and retrieval of water quality products), has been used over a set of HICO images showing a good linear correlation (R² = 0.95) between in-situ measured and retrieved Chl-a over a water body. The presented toolbox will ease the processing of HICO data down to surface reflectance that will allow to derive water quality parameters.