This paper presents a single-channel atmospheric correction method for remotely sensed infrared (wavelength of 3–15 μm) images with various observation angles. The method is based on basic radiative transfer equations with a simple absorption-focused regression model to calculate the optical thickness of each atmospheric layer. By employing a simple regression model and re-organization of atmospheric profiles by considering viewing geometry, the proposed method conducts atmospheric correction at every pixel of a numerical weather prediction model in a single step calculation. The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) imaging channel (375 m) I4 (3.55~3.93 μm) and I5 (10.50~12.40 μm) bands were used as mid-wavelength and thermal infrared images to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed single-channel atmospheric correction method. The estimated sea surface temperatures (SSTs) obtained by the proposed method with high resolution numerical weather prediction models were compared with sea-truth temperature data from ocean buoys, multichannel-based SST products from VIIRS/MODIS, and results from MODerate resolution atmospheric TRANsmission 5 (MODTRAN 5), for validation. High resolution (1.5 km and 12 km) numerical weather prediction (NWP) models distributed by the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) were employed as input atmospheric data. Nighttime SST estimations with the I4 band showed a root mean squared error (RMSE) of 0.95 °C, similar to that of the VIIRS product (RMSE: 0.92 °C) and lower than that of the MODIS product (RMSE: 1.74 °C), while estimations with the I5 band showed an RMSE of 1.81 °C. RMSEs from MODTRAN simulations were similar (within 0.2 °C) to those of the proposed method (I4: 0.81 °C, I5: 1.67 °C). These results demonstrated the competitive performance of a regression-based method using high-resolution numerical weather prediction (NWP) models for atmospheric correction of single-channel infrared imaging sensors.

The Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) estimated solar renewable energy maps for the Korean Peninsula using the Cheonian geostationary orbiting satellite (COMS: Communication, Ocean and Meteorological Satellite). In the case of photovoltaic renewable energy, it is not only used as input data for installation of solar thermal plants and solar panel power plants to acquire renewable energy, but also for various fields such as agriculture, weather, climate change, energy and ecology. The spatial resolution of the solar renewable energy map is 4 km, and there are two temporal resolutions each month and yearly. The spatial range of the observation area was performed for the latitude 33 ° N ~ 42 ° N and the longitude 122 ° E ~ 131 ° E as shown in Fig. 1. In this solar renewable energy map, it was calculated by applying geostationary orbiting satellites based on the physical model. The physical model uses spectral information from COMS satellite to reflect the effects of aerosols, water vapor, and ozone on the scattering and absorption of atmospheric gases when solar radiation passing the atmosphere. Therefore, the amount of incident solar radiation attenuation for each gas was simulated by parameterization of physical model. In addition, in order to consider the biggest factor in cloud attenuation effect, our algorithm applies cloud attenuation factor for cloud top reflectance and cloud penetration according pass length. Finally, the photovoltaic renewable energy map was analyzed by comparing with the ground pyranometer data of the weather stations located in South Korea.