Airborne Polarimetric Remote Sensing for Atmospheric Correction

Abstract

The problem, whose targets can not be effectively identified for airborne remote sensing images, is mainly due to the atmospheric scattering effect. This problem is necessary to be overcome. According to the statistical evaluations method and the different characteristics of polarization between the objects radiance and atmospheric path radiation, a new atmospheric correction method for airborne remote sensing images was proposed. Using this new method on the airborne remote sensing images which acquired on the north coast areas of China during the haze weather, we achieved a high quality corrected atmosphere-free image. The results demonstrate the power of the method on the harbor area. The results show that the algorithm, improving image contrast and image information entropy, can effectively identify the targets after atmospheric correction. The image information entropy was enhanced from 5.59 to 6.62. The research provides a new and effective atmospheric correction technical approach for the airborne remote sensing images.