A physically-based model to correct atmospheric and illumination effects in optical satellite data of rugged terrain

A physically-based model to correct atmospheric and topographically induced illumination effects in optical satellite data is developed and tested. Special emphasis is put on the impact of rugged terrain. Ground reference data for various land use classes enables the assessment of the corrections´ influence on land use classifications. The estimation of surface reflectance is achieved in a two-step procedure. First irradiance components and atmospheric parameters are calculated for horizontal surfaces using the atmo-code 6S, E. Vermonte et al. (1994), then the influence of the topography on the parameters is integrated using DEM data.