A system to measure the data quality of spectral remote sensing reflectance of aquatic environments

Spectral remote-sensing reflectance (Rrs, sr−1) is the key for ocean color retrieval of water bio-optical properties. Since Rrs from in situ and satellite systems are subject to errors or artifacts, assessment of the quality of Rrs data is critical. From a large collection of high quality in situ hyperspectral Rrs data sets, we developed a novel quality assurance (QA) system that can be used to objectively evaluate the quality of an individual Rrs spectrum. This QA scheme consists of a unique Rrs spectral reference and a score metric. The reference system includes Rrs spectra of 23 optical water types ranging from purple blue to yellow waters, with an upper and a lower bound defined for each water type. The scoring system is to compare any target Rrs spectrum with the reference and a score between 0 and 1 will be assigned to the target spectrum, with 1 for perfect Rrs spectrum and 0 for unusable Rrs spectrum. The effectiveness of this QA system is evaluated with both synthetic and in situ Rrs spectra and it is found to be robust. Further testing is performed with the NOMAD data set as well as with satellite Rrs over coastal and oceanic waters, where questionable or likely erroneous Rrs spectra are shown to be well identifiable with this QA system. Our results suggest that applications of this QA system to in situ data sets can improve the development and validation of bio-optical algorithms and its application to ocean color satellite data can improve the short-term and long-term products by objectively excluding questionable Rrs data.