Global analysis of the improvements in AATSR nadir-forward co-registration following the application of an automated registration algorithm

An automated registration method for the correction of AATSR co-registration is presented. AATSR co-registration between the nadir and forward views is known to be poor, generally greater than 1 pixel. Here we apply the SURF algorithm to automatically generate a set of tie-points between the forward and nadir images. These tie-points are then used to create a set of warping parameters which effectively co-register the forward and nadir images. The warping parameters have been tested globally for a number of years of AATSR data and are shown to provide improved co-registration to less than a pixel in all cases. The same method will, in the future, be applied to the other ATSR instruments which share similar co-registration problems.