Radiometric Top-of-Atmosphere Reflectance Consistency Assessment for Landsat 8/OLI, Sentinel-2/MSI, PROBA-V, and DEIMOS-1 over Libya-4 and RadCalNet Calibration Sites

There is a clear trend toward the use of higher spatial resolution satellite sensors. Due to the low revisit time of these sensors and frequent cloud coverage, many applications require data from different sensors to be combined in order to have more frequent observations. This raises concerns regarding data interoperability and consistency. The initial pre-requisite is that there are no radiometric differences in top-of-atmosphere (TOA) observations. This paper aims to quantitatively assess differences in the TOA signal provided by PROBA-V, Sentinel-2A and Sentinel-2B, Landsat-8, and Deimos-1 by using observations over both the Libya-4 desert calibration site and the RadCalNet sites. The results obtained over the Libya-4 site indicate that for all sensors investigated, the inter-sensor deviations are negligible, i.e., within +/- 2% for comparable spectral bands, with the exception of the Deimos-1 Green band. Clear BRDF (bi-directional reflectance distribution function) effects were observed over the RadCalNet sites, thereby preventing consistent conclusions on inter-sensor deviations from being made. In order to fully explore the potential of the RadCalNet sites, it is recommended that BRDF characterizations be additionally incorporated into the RadCalNet simulations and made publicly available through the distribution portal.