Dual-view operational atmospheric correction for ATSR-2 imagery

A method for atmospheric correction of ATSR-2 optical imagery is presented which exploits the sensor's dual view capability. A general model of land surface bidirectional reflectance is developed and used as a constraint to simultaneously retrieve atmospheric aerosol opacity and bidirectional reflectance from top of atmosphere radiance. The inversion assumes no a priori knowledge of the land surface cover. Validation has been performed over boreal forest, showing close agreement between ATSR-2 optical depth retrieval and field measurements.