ACIX-III Aqua: evaluation of atmospheric correction for hyperspectral PRISMA imagery over inland and coastal waters

This study reports the outcomes of the third Atmospheric Correction Intercomparison Exercise (ACIX-III Aqua), which evaluated the performance of atmospheric correction (AC) methods for hyperspectral PRISMA satellite data over inland and coastal waters. The exercise included five AC processors (ACOLITE, hGRS, iCOR, MIP, and POLYMER), the standard PRISMA Level 2C product, and an adjacency correction tool (T-Mart) tested with ACOLITE. A total of 239 cloud-free PRISMA scenes from 2019 to 2024 were compared with in situ data of remote sensing reflectance, gathered from both hyperspectral and multispectral radiometers across eight distinct optical water types (OWTs). The accuracy of each AC method varied with spectral band, but all showed largest and lowest discrepancies with in situ data at 443 nm and 560 nm, respectively. All AC methods showed the best agreement with in situ data in greenish waters (OWT 4b) and highest uncertainties were yielded in humic-rich waters (OWT 7). Consistently with the previous ACIX-Aqua study focused on multispectral data, no single AC method outperformed the others across all OWTs. The study confirmed the ongoing challenges of AC over optically complex waters, yet the exercise allowed the community to advance in developing AC methods for hyperspectral satellite images and supporting the development of future operational hyperspectral missions, such as PRISMA Second Generation (PRISMA 2G) and CHIME.

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Publication Details

Journal
International Journal of Remote Sensing
Published
2025-11-14
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1080/01431161.2025.2574517
Primary Topic
Marine and coastal ecosystems
Type
article
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article

ACIX-III Aqua: evaluation of atmospheric correction for hyperspectral PRISMA imagery over inland and coastal waters

Mariano Bresciani, Anders Knudby, Susanne Kratzer, Stefan Adriaensen et al.
International Journal of Remote Sensing
Marine and coastal ecosystems
article

ACIX-III Aqua: evaluation of atmospheric correction for hyperspectral PRISMA imagery over inland and coastal waters

Mariano Bresciani, Anders Knudby, Susanne Kratzer, Stefan Adriaensen, Liesbeth De Keukelaere, Tristan Harmel, Kevin Alonso, Federica Braga, Daniel Odermatt, Alice Fabbretto, Ferran Gascon, François Steinmetz, Noelle Cremer, Gian Marco Scarpa, Thomas Heege, Georgia Doxani, Marco Gianinetto, Hendrik Bernert, Claudia Giardino, Sindy Sterckx, Yulun Wu, Nima Pahlevan, Ryan Vandermeulen, Mortimer Werther, Karin Schenk, Ettore Lopinto, Andrea Pellegrino, Thomas Schroeder, Ana I. Dogliotti, Quinten Vanhellemont, Vittorio Brando, Lodovica Panizza, Joram Agten
article en

Abstract

This study reports the outcomes of the third Atmospheric Correction Intercomparison Exercise (ACIX-III Aqua), which evaluated the performance of atmospheric correction (AC) methods for hyperspectral PRISMA satellite data over inland and coastal waters. The exercise included five AC processors (ACOLITE, hGRS, iCOR, MIP, and POLYMER), the standard PRISMA Level 2C product, and an adjacency correction tool (T-Mart) tested with ACOLITE. A total of 239 cloud-free PRISMA scenes from 2019 to 2024 were compared with in situ data of remote sensing reflectance, gathered from both hyperspectral and multispectral radiometers across eight distinct optical water types (OWTs). The accuracy of each AC method varied with spectral band, but all showed largest and lowest discrepancies with in situ data at 443 nm and 560 nm, respectively. All AC methods showed the best agreement with in situ data in greenish waters (OWT 4b) and highest uncertainties were yielded in humic-rich waters (OWT 7). Consistently with the previous ACIX-Aqua study focused on multispectral data, no single AC method outperformed the others across all OWTs. The study confirmed the ongoing challenges of AC over optically complex waters, yet the exercise allowed the community to advance in developing AC methods for hyperspectral satellite images and supporting the development of future operational hyperspectral missions, such as PRISMA Second Generation (PRISMA 2G) and CHIME.

International Journal of Remote SensingVol. 46(23)
NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service (US), Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (AU), University of Ottawa (CA), Stockholm University (SE), Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (IT), Institute of Natural Sciences (BE), European Space Agency (FR), Research Institute for Electromagnetic Materials (JP), Istituto di Scienze Marine del Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (IT), Istituto per il Rilevamento Elettromagnetico dell'Ambiente (IT), Unitelma Sapienza University (IT), St. Mary’s Hospital (ZA), Institute of Astronomy and Space Physics (AR), Institut de Ciències del Mar (ES), Eomap (Germany) (DE), Magellium (France) (FR), European Space Research Institute (IT), Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (CH), Flemish Institute for Technological Research (BE), Sapienza University of Rome (IT), Politecnico di Milano (IT)
Openalex Percentile: Top 66%
Marine and coastal ecosystems
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