On the detectability of adjacency effects in ocean color remote sensing of mid-latitude coastal environments by SeaWiFS, MODIS-A, MERIS, OLCI, OLI and MSI

The detectability of adjacency effects (AE) in ocean color remote sensing by SeaWiFS, MODIS-A, MERIS, OLCI, OLI and MSI is theoretically assessed for typical observation conditions up to 36 km offshore (20 km for MSI). The methodology detailed in Bulgarelli et al. (2014) is applied to expand previous investigations to the wide range of terrestrial land covers and water types usually encountered in mid-latitude coastal environments. Simulations fully account for multiple scattering within a stratified atmosphere bounded by a non-uniform reflecting surface, sea surface roughness, sun position and off-nadir sensor view. A harmonized comparison of AE is ensured by adjusting the radiometric sensitivity of each sensor to the same input radiance. Results show that average AE in data from MODIS-A, and from MERIS and OLCI in reduced spatial resolution, are still above the sensor noise level (NL) at 36 km offshore, except for AE caused by green vegetation at the red wavelengths. Conversely, in data from the less sensitive SeaWiFS, OLI and MSI sensors, as well as from MERIS and OLCI in full spatial resolution, sole AE caused by highly reflecting land covers (such as snow, dry vegetation, white sand and concrete) are above the sensor NL throughout the transect, while AE originated from green vegetation and bare soil at visible wavelengths may become lower than NL at close distance from the coast. Such a distance increases with the radiometric resolution of the sensor. It is finally observed that AE are slightly sensitive to the water type only at the blue wavelengths. Notably, for an atmospheric correction scheme inferring the aerosol properties from NIR data, perturbations induced by AE at NIR and visible wavelengths might compensate each other. As a consequence, biases induced by AE on radiometric products (e.g., the water-leaving radiance) are not strictly correlated to the intensity of the reflectance of the nearby land.