Eclipse Impact on a Remote Sensing Data Set PAL NDVI 10-Day Composite from February 11 to 20 in 1999 for Western Australia.docVIP

Remote Sensing 2010, 2, 1962-1972; doi:10.3390/rs2081962 OPEN ACCESS Remote Sensing ISSN 2072-4292 /journal/remotesensing Article Eclipse Impact on a Remote Sensing Data Set: PAL NDVI 10-Day Composite from February 11 to 20 in 1999 for Western Australia Chai K. Lim Department of Mathematics and Biostatistics, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, 503 Robert Grant Ave., Silver Spring, MD 20910, USA; E-Mail: Chai.Lim@US.ARMY.MIL; Tel.: +1-301-319-7389; Fax: +1-301-319-9285 Received: 30 June 2010; in revised form: 21 July 2010 / Accepted: 16 August 2010 / Published: 18 August 2010 Abstract: Pathfinder Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) derived from Channel 1 (Red) and Channel 2 (near-infrared) of Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) onboard NOAA 14 became abnormally high for the 10-day composite from February 11 to 20 in 1999 for Western Australia. There was a solar eclipse in the satellite path on February 16 about the same time when NOAA 14 was above the eclipse location, causing the Channel 1 value to be 0 in many cells. The NDVI composite updating rule was to capture the greenest condition of each composite period. There seems to have been a possible lack of quality control during the NDVI composite generation, which could have caused the abnormally high NDVI values. However, there were some cells within the affected area that had values close to normal for NDVI as well as Channel 1 and Channel 2. The abnormal NDVI data values could have been avoided by not using the data obtained during the eclipse in the generation of the composite. Further investigation on those cells which were not affected by the eclipse is suggested for a better quality control of remote sensing data obtained during eclipse occurrences. Keywords: NDVI; AVHRR; Eclipse; Western Australia; 10-day composite 1. Introduction About three decades ago, Normalized Differe