584 
EVALUATION OF ATMOSPHERIC EFFECTS IN HIGH SPATIAL/SPECTRAL 
RESOLUTION AIRBORNE IMAGERY 
D. Williams 
Dept de génie électrique, Université de Sherbrooke, 
Sherbrooke, Québec, Canada 
O’Neill, N.T., A. Royer 
Centre d’applications et de recherches in télédétection (CARTEL), 
Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Québec, Canada 
Miller J.R., J. Freemantle 
Centre for Research in Experimental Space Science (CRESS), 
York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada 
ABSTRACT 
Airborne imaging spectrometer data sets have been collected over several terrestrial sites accompanied by 
simultaneous solar transmittance data or surface spectral reflectance characterization of several ground targets. 
These data sets include multi-altitude images of a landfill sight and of Lake Ontario acquired by the 
Fluorescence Line Imager (FLI), multi-altitude images of coastal sites collected by the Compact Airborne 
Spectrographic Imager (CASI) over Baie des Chaleurs, Québec, and high altitude images acquired by NASA’s 
Airborne Visible and Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) over Jasper ridge in California and over 
Whiteface Mountain, NY. 
All data sets show contamination effects due to atmospheric scattering and absorption. The impact of the 
atmosphere on the retrieved spectra is analyzed both in terms of extracting atmospheric optical information 
and in terms of elimination this influence for purposes of deducing the ground surface reflectance. Results are 
presented which demonstrate the influence of the atmospheric adjacency effect on spectral signatures in 
transition regions between areas of low and high reflectance.