Application of the empirical line method (ELM) to calibrate the airborne Daedalus-CZCS scanner

The present investigation aims at providing a reliable evaluation of the geometric and radiometric accuracy of the airborne Daedalus-Coastal Zone Color Scanner (CZCS), through cal/val techniques. To this aim, on November 2014, we accomplished a remote sensing campaign over the Peligna Valley (Italy). Together with the personnel of the III Nucleo Aereo of the Italian Coast Guard, based at the Pescara Airport, we deployed the Daedalus AA1268EM1 CZCS scanner on board the fixed-wing aircraft type ATR42MP and a ASD FieldSpec spectroradiometer for a simultaneous field survey. We used vicarious calibration and secondary non-parametric geometric correction to achieve absolute atmospheric correction and geometric calibration, respectively. Although the validation and calibration targets used in this study were similar in nature, correlation coefficients of the prediction equations between at-sensor radiance and ground reflectance were > 0.90 for each of the 10 CZCS wavebands and the independent error assessment demonstrate that the empirical line method can be applied to correct CZCS imagery with satisfactory results.