Accuracy Comparison of TOA and TOC Reflectance Products of KOMPSAT-3, WorldView-2 and Pléiades-1A Image Sets Using RadCalNet BTCN and BSCN Data

The importance of the classical theme of how the Top-of-Atmosphere (TOA) and Top-of-Canopy (TOC) reflectance of high-resolution satellite images match the actual atmospheric reflectance and surface reflectance has been emphasized. Based on the Radiometric Calibration Network (RadCalNet) BTCN and BSCN data, this study compared the accuracy of TOA and TOC reflectance products of the currently available optical satellites, including KOMPSAT-3, WorldView-2, and Pléiades-1A image sets calculated using the absolute atmospheric correction function of the Orfeo Toolbox (OTB) tool. The comparison experiment used data in 2018 and 2019, and the Landsat-8 image sets from the same period were applied together. The experiment results showed that the product of TOA and TOC reflectance obtained from the three sets of images were highly consistent with RadCalNet data. It implies that any imagery may be applied when high-resolution reflectance products are required for a certain application. Meanwhile, the processed results of the OTB tool and those by the Apparent Reflection method of another tool for WorldView-2 images were nearly identical. However, in some cases, the reflectance products of Landsat-8 images provided by USGS sometimes showed relatively low consistency than those computed by the OTB tool, with the reference of RadCalNet BTCN and BSCN data. Continuous experiments on active vegetation areas in addition to the RadCalNet sites are necessary to obtain generalized results.