Radiometric calibration of AVIRIS-NG sensor using Indian desert sites

This manuscript describes reflectance-based vicarious calibration exercise of the Airborne Visible InfraRed Imaging Spectrometer Next Generation (AVIRIS-NG) sensor during its second phase of observation campaigns over the Indian subcontinent. Vicarious calibration methods are one of the significant approaches that have been practiced successfully for the absolute radiometric calibration of various spaceborne and airborne sensors to ascertain its desired performance in terms of data quality and its accuracy. Calibration campaigns were performed for AVIRIS-NG sensor during its phase-2 campaign overpass at the Desalpar (25th March 2018) and Amarapur (27th March 2018) calibration sites of Gujarat, India. Results from ground-based measurements of atmospheric conditions and surface reflectance including descriptions of the test sites are summarized in this work. Based on the in-situ data and images from the AVIRISNG sensor, the at-sensor apparent radiances are simulated using the 6SV radiative transfer model. The comparison shows good agreement between AVIRIS-NG measured radiance and 6SV simulated apparent radiance at the two calibration sites using desert aerosol model. The gains (spectrally) derived agree to within - 2 % each other. Furthermore, an analysis is performed to determine or identify systematic and random errors, and the overall uncertainty is evaluated for reflectance-based method (total uncertainty of less than 4 % spectrally). (c) 2023 Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of COSPAR.