AERONET-based surface reflectance validation network (ASRVN) data evaluation: Case study for railroad valley calibration site

The AERONET-based Surface Reflectance Validation Network (ASRVN) is an operational processing system developed for validation of satellite derived surface reflectance products at regional and global scales. The ASRVN receives 50 × 50 km2 subsets of MODIS data centered at AERONET sites along with AERONET aerosol and water vapor data, and performs an atmospheric correction. The ASRVN produces surface bidirectional reflectance factor (BRF), albedo, parameters of the Ross-Thick Li-Sparse (RTLS) BRF model, as well as Hemispherical-Directional Reflectance Factor (HDRF), which is required for comparison with the ground-based measurements. This paper presents a comparison of ASRVN HDRF with the ground-based HDRF measurements collected during 2001–2008 over a bright calibration Railroad Valley, Nevada site as part of the MODIS land validation program. The ground measurements were conducted by the Remote Sensing Group (RSG) at the University of Arizona using an ASD spectrometer. The study reveals a good agreement between ASRVN and RSG HDRF for both MODIS Terra and Aqua with rmse ~ 0.01–0.025 in the 500 m MODIS land bands B1–B7. Obtained rmse is below uncertainties due to the spatial and seasonal variability of the bright calibration 1 km2 area. While two MODIS instruments have a similar rmse in the visible bands, MODIS Aqua has a better agreement (lower rmse) with the ground data than MODIS Terra at wavelengths 0.87–2.1 μm. An independent overall good agreement of two MODIS instruments with the ground data indicates that the relative calibration of MODIS Terra and Aqua at medium-to-bright reflectance levels for the stated time period is significantly better than uncertainties of the ASRVN and ground data.