Aerosol Retrieval and Atmospheric Correction for Meris Data over Lakes

One of the objectives of the ENVISAT project AO-164 on “Environmental Research in the Eastern Alps” is the development of algorithms for retrieval of water quality parameters of lakes from MERIS data. In order to test and validate atmospheric correction algorithms and to provide basic data for the development of algorithms for retrieval of limnological parameters and aerosol loadings, several field campaigns were carried out in summer 2003 on the lakes Garda (Italy) and Mondsee (Austria) parallel to MERIS overflights. Field measurements of aerosol optical thickness (AOT) were used as input for atmospheric correction by means of the 6S model, and field spectra measured above the water surface were used to validate the at-surface reflectance derived from MERIS data. The agreement between field and MERIS reflectance spectra is in general good. Some differences are found at short wavelengths which can be attributed to insufficient knowledge of aerosol properties. The sensitivity of the radiative transfer model to changes in AOT and the aerosol model was investigated. For a day with strong variability in the aerosol loading the spatial gradient of AOT was estimated from MERIS data and compared with the temporal evolution of AOT at a field measurement site.