A Feasible Atmospheric Correction Method to TM Image

In this paper, an atmospheric correction method to TM image is presented, which can simulate the atmospheric correction parameters, such as optical depth, sky radiance and path radiance at the time the satellite passes, by using interpolation among local meteorological records, parameterization models and dark pixels. The TM image of the Nanjing area in China was corrected by this method. For analyzing the accuracy of this method, the calculated reflectance, apparent reflectance and ground measured reflectance were compared. NDVI before and after atmospheric correction were also compared. The results show that the method is applicable and efficient in the visible to near infrared band of TM image. In order to improve the accuracy of the method, the infrared spectrum measured data for the two other bands of TM image are required in future field investigations. The method is suitable to many other satellite optical remote sensing images with the same or similar spectral characteristics of TM images. © 2007 The Journal of China University of Mining & Technology.