Aerosol Models

Aerosols are the trickiest part of atmospheric correction. There are many different types of suspended sediments in the Earth's atmosphere and they have different optical properties. The different aerosol models try to encapsulate these different types of suspended sediment. The default choice of model is typically the continental aerosol model (e.g. LEDAPS, the Landsat 4-7 surface reflectance product, is hard-coded to the continental model). However, depending on location, other aerosol models may be more appropriate. For example, an urban model near large cities and a maritime model near coastal environments. The choice of aerosol model is not too significant in clear viewing conditions but at lower visibility this choice can become significant (e.g. 10% difference in surface reflectance estimate).