Using the Sonoran Desert test site to monitor the long-term radiometric stability of the Landsat TM/ETM+ and Terra MODIS sensors

Pseudo-invariant ground targets have been extensively used to monitor the long-term radiometric calibration stability of remote sensing instruments. The NASA MODIS Characterization Support Team (MCST), in collaboration with members from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center, has previously demonstrated the use of pseudo-invariant ground sites for the long-term stability monitoring of Terra MODIS and Landsat 7 ETM+ sensors. This paper focuses on the results derived from observations made over the Sonoran Desert. Additionally, Landsat 5 TM data over the Sonoran Desert site were used to evaluate the temporal stability of this site. Top-ofatmosphere (TOA) reflectances were computed for the closely matched TM, ETM+, and MODIS spectral bands over selected regions of interest. The impacts due to different viewing geometries, or the effect of test site Bi-directional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF), are also presented. ?? 2009 SPIE.