Optical Properties Using Adaptive Selection of NIR/SWIR Reflectance Correction and Quasi-Analytic Algorithms for the MODIS-Aqua in Estuarine-Ocean Continuum: Application to the Northern Gulf of Mexico

An adaptive selection of the near/shortwave infrared (NIR/SWIR) reflectance correction and the quasi-analytic algorithms (QAAs) is proposed for the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS-Aqua) to utilize the strengths of different correction algorithms and QAAs in a single satellite scene with water types ranging from turbid coastal to clear open ocean waters. A blended satellite product is generated by merging three atmospheric-correction algorithms(AD-ATCOR): 1) iterative NIR correction; 2) management unit of the north sea mathematical models (MUMM); and 3) SWIR, using a spectral threshold-based selection for different water types. The validation analysis of a blended remote sensing reflectance product showed overall good agreement with AERONET-OC observations followed by NASA bio-optical marine algorithm data set (NOMAD) at the blue wavelengths and the estuarine data set at the green and red wavelengths. The results suggest that the adaptive method is a better alternative to address the challenging problem of selecting different correction algorithms for different water types in a single satellite scene. Likewise, an adaptive selection of a QAA (AD-QAA) used the QAA-v5 and the QAA-V to obtain merged inherent optical property (IOP) products in a single MODIS-Aqua scene with varying water types. As a case study, the two adaptive selection procedures were sequentially applied to the MODIS-Aqua imagery representing four environmental conditions in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Improved retrievals of the total absorption and backscattering coefficients along an estuarine to ocean continuum demonstrated the effectiveness of this method in an optically complex and dynamic river-dominated system.