Uncertainties in radiometric measurements of the ocean surface from above water and helicopter hyperspectral and polarimetric observations

A new system was assembled with a snapshot hyperspectral imager and a polarimetric camera for quantifying uncertainties in aquatic remote sensing applications. The hyperspectral imager measures radiances from a field-of-view (FOV) creating imagery for each of its spectral bands. The polarimetric camera measures the Stokes vector components of the radiance. A combination of polarimetric and hyperspectral measurements provides data about the wind-roughened surface in various water and sky conditions. Uncertainties in the total radiance L t in unpolarized and polarized modes are estimated by observations from the ships in two ocean cruises, from a nearshore platform, and a helicopter in the Chesapeake Bay showing that uncertainties are a combination of the effects of the reflected sky from the surface ( ρ L s ), water leaving radiance ( L w ), and Rayleigh scattering; the impact of the latter increases with the height.