An autonomous above-water system for the validation of ocean color radiance data

An operational system for autonomous above-water radiance measurements, called the SeaWiFS Photometer Revision for Incident Surface Measurements (SeaPRISM), was deployed at the Acqua Alta Oceanographic Tower in the northern Adriatic Sea and used for the validation of remote sensing radiometric products in coastal waters. The SeaPRISM data were compared with simultaneous data collected from an independent in-water system for a wide variety of sun elevations along with different atmospheric, seawater, and sea state conditions. The average absolute differences between the above- and in-water determinations of water-leaving radiances (computed linearly) were less than 4.5% in the 412-555-nm spectral interval. A similar comparison for normalized water-leaving radiances showed average absolute differences less than 5.1%. The comparison between normalized water-leaving radiances computed from remote sensing and SeaPRISM matchup data, showed absolute spectral average (linear) differences of 17.0%, 22.1%, and 20.8% for SeaWiFS, MODIS, and MERIS, respectively. The results, in keeping with those produced by independent in-water systems, suggest the feasibility of operational coastal networks of autonomous above-water radiometers deployed on fixed platforms (towers, lighthouses, navigation aids, etc.) to support ocean color validation activities.