EOS Validation Program

Institution: Canada Centre for Remote Sensing
Phone: (613) 947-1251
E-mail: phil.teillet@ccrs.nrcan.gc.ca

Robert P. Gauthier, Canada Center for Remote Sensing
Gunar Fedosejevs, Canada Center for Remote Sensing
Norman T. O'Neill, Universite de Sherbrooke
Stuart Biggar, University of Arizona

We propose to produce routinely benchmark data sets from test sites, in the spectral bands of the commonly used sensors, and make the results available quickly on the Internet world-wide web and other media. The proposed approach is a hybrid of the reflectance-based and radiance-based calibration methods developed by the University of Arizona. Plans are to acquire and correct low-level Canadian airborne sensor coverage on a frequent and systematic basis to yield wall-to-wall ground reference data for extended test areas at a reasonably detailed spatial resolution. The airborne sensor will be a hyperspectral instrument in order to allow the synthesis of many spectral bands of interest in the visible and near-infrared. EOS-.MOD1S, NOAA-A- and EOS-Landsat-ETM+ will be the sensors of primary interest . Land surface reflectances and derived products will be reported routinely, whereas at-satellite predictions will be provided occasionally. Prairie grasslands and rangeland in western Canada are under investigation as the prime candidate targets. These targets will be supplemented by an annual overflight of the Nevada playas increasingly being used by the international community as Earth observation calibration sites.