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Rodolphe MARION

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R. Marion is director of research at the French Atomic Energy and Alternative Energies Commission. R. Marion conducts research in the field of hyperspectral remote sensing applied to the characterization of industrial environments. In particular, R. Marion is interested in the detection and quantification of gas and aerosol plumes, the identification of industrial minerals and the characterization of industrial wastewater. More generally, his areas of interest include research and teaching in digital image and signal processing.

End-to-end simulations to optimize imaging spectroscopy mission requirements for seven scientific applications
Xavier Briottet   Karine Adeline   T. Bajjouk   V. Carrere   Malik Chami   Yohann Constans   Yevgeny Derimian   Alice Dupiau   Marie Dumont   Stéphanie Doz   Sophie Fabre   Pierre-Yves Foucher   Hervé Herbin   Stéphane Jacquemoud   Arnaud Le Bris   Marc Lang   Pavel Litvinov   Sophie Loyer   Rodolphe Marion   Audrey Minghelli   Thomas Miraglio   David Sheeren   Benjamin Szymanski   Frédéric Romand   Camille Desjardins   Damien Rodat   Benoît Cheul  
2023

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Abstract

CNES is currently carrying out a Phase A study to assess the feasibility of a future hyperspectral imaging sensor (10 m spatial resolution) combined with a panchromatic camera (2.5 m spatial resolution). This mission focuses on both high spatial and spectral resolution requirements, as inherited from previous French studies such as HYPEX, HYPXIM, and BIODIVERSITY. To meet user requirements, cost, and instrument compactness constraints, CNES asked the French hyperspectral Mission Advisory Group (MAG), representing a broad French scientific community, to provide recommendations on spectral sampling, particularly in the Short Wave InfraRed (SWIR) for various applications. This paper presents the tests carried out with the aim of defining the optimal spectral sampling and spectral resolution in the SWIR domain for quantitative estimation of physical variables and classification purposes. The targeted applications are geosciences (mineralogy, soil moisture content), forestry (tree species classification, leaf functional traits), coastal and inland waters (bathymetry, water column, bottom classification in shallow water, coastal habitat classification), urban areas (land cover), industrial plumes (aerosols, methane and carbon dioxide), cryosphere (specific surface area, equivalent black carbon concentration), and atmosphere (water vapor, carbon dioxide and aerosols). All the products simulated in this exercise used the same CNES end-to-end processing chain, with realistic instrument parameters, enabling easy comparison between applications. 648 simulations 68 were carried out with different spectral strategies, radiometric calibration performances and signal-to-noise Ratios (SNR): 24 instrument configurations ´ 25 datasets (22 images + 3 spectral libraries). The results show that a 16/20 nm spectral sampling in the SWIR domain is sufficient for most applications. However, 10 nm spectral sampling is recommended for applications based onspecific absorption bands such as mineralogy, industrial plumes or atmospheric gases. In addition, a slight performance loss is generally observed when radiometric calibration accuracy decreases, with a few exceptions in bathymetry and in the cryosphere for which the observed performance is severely degraded. Finally, most applications can be achieved with the lowest SNR, with the exception of bathymetry, shallow water classification, as well as carbon dioxide and methane estimation, which require the higher SNR level tested. On the basis of these results, CNES is currently evaluating the best compromise for designing the future hyperspectral sensor to meet the objectives of priority applications.

WaRM: A Roof Material Spectral Library for Wallonia, Belgium
Coraline Wyard   Rodolphe Marion   Eric Hallot  
2023

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The exploitation of urban-material spectral properties is of increasing importance for a broad range of applications, such as urban climate-change modeling and mitigation or specific/dangerous roof-material detection and inventory. A new spectral library dedicated to the detection of roof material was created to reflect the regional diversity of materials employed in Wallonia, Belgium. The Walloon Roof Material (WaRM) spectral library accounts for 26 roof material spectra in the spectral range 350–2500 nm. Spectra were acquired using an ASD FieldSpec3 Hi-Res spectrometer in laboratory conditions, using a spectral sampling interval of 1 nm. The analysis of the spectra shows that spectral signatures are strongly influenced by the color of the roof materials, at least in the VIS spectral range. The SWIR spectral range is in general more relevant to distinguishing the different types of material. Exceptions are the similar properties and very close spectra of several black materials, meaning that their spectral signatures are not sufficiently different to distinguish them from each other. Although building materials can vary regionally due to different available construction materials, the WaRM spectral library can certainly be used for wider applications; Wallonia has always been strongly connected to the surrounding regions and has always encountered climatic conditions similar to all of Northwest Europe.

Joint Use of in-Scene Background Radiance Estimation and Optimal Estimation Methods for Quantifying Methane Emissions Using PRISMA Hyperspectral Satellite Data: Application to the Korpezhe Industrial Site
Nicolas Nesme   Rodolphe Marion   Olivier Lezeaux   Stephanie Doz   Claude Camy-Peyret   Pierre-Yves Foucher  
2021

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Methane (CH4) is one of the most contributing anthropogenic greenhouse gases (GHGs) in terms of global warming. Industry is one of the largest anthropogenic sources of methane, which are currently only roughly estimated. New satellite hyperspectral imagers, such as PRISMA, open up daily temporal monitoring of industrial methane sources at a spatial resolution of 30 m. Here, we developed the Characterization of Effluents Leakages in Industrial Environment (CELINE) code to inverse images of the Korpezhe industrial site. In this code, the in-Scene Background Radiance (ISBR) method was combined with a standard Optimal Estimation (OE) approach. The ISBR-OE method avoids the use of a complete and time-consuming radiative transfer model. The ISBR-OEM developed here overcomes the underestimation issues of the linear method (LM) used in the literature for high concentration plumes and controls a posteriori uncertainty. For the Korpezhe site, using the ISBR-OEM instead of the LM -retrieved CH4 concentration map led to a bias correction on CH4 mass from 4 to 16% depending on the source strength. The most important CH4 source has an estimated flow rate ranging from 0.36 ± 0.3 kg·s−1 to 4 ± 1.76 kg·s−1 on nine dates. These local and variable sources contribute to the CH4 budget and can better constrain climate change models.

Improved Deconvolution of Mineral Reflectance Spectra
Ronan Rialland   Charles Soussen   Rodolphe Marion   Véronique Carrère  
IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing ( Volume: 14), 2021

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Reflectance spectroscopy is a widely used technique for mineral identification and characterization. Since modern airborne and satellite-borne sensors yield an increasing number of hyperspectral data, it is crucial to develop unsupervised methods to retrieve relevant spectral features from reflectance spectra. Spectral deconvolution aims to decompose a reflectance spectrum as a sum of a continuum modeling its overall shape and some absorption features. We present a flexible and automatic method able to deal with various minerals. The approach is based on a physical model and allows us to include noise statistics. It consists of three successive steps: first, continuum pre-estimation based on nonlinear least-squares; second, pre-estimation of absorption features using a greedy algorithm; third, refinement of the continuum and absorption estimates. The procedure is first validated on synthetic spectra, including a sensitivity study to instrumental noise and a comparison to other approaches. Then, it is tested on various laboratory spectra. In most cases, absorption positions are recovered with an accuracy lower than 5 nm, enabling mineral identification. Finally, the proposed method is assessed using hyperspectral images of quarries acquired during a dedicated airborne campaign. Minerals such as calcite and gypsum are accurately identified based on their diagnostic absorption features, including when they are in a mixture. Small changes in the shape of the kaolinite doublet are also detected and could be related to crystallinity or mixtures with other minerals such as gibbsite. The potential of the method to produce mineral maps is also demonstrated.

Identification of minerals from hyperspectral imaging based on a fuzzy logic approach
Ronan Rialland   Véronique Carrère   Rodolphe Marion   Charles Soussen  
Proceedings Volume 11727, Algorithms, Technologies, and Applications for Multispectral and Hyperspectral Imaging XXVII, 2021

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We present a fuzzy logic approach allowing the identification of minerals from re ectance spectra acquired by hyperspectral sensors in the VNIR and SWIR ranges. The fuzzy logic system is based on a human reasoning. It compares the positions of the main and secondary absorptions of the unknown spectrum (spectral characteristics estimated beforehand) with those of a reference database (derived from mineralogical knowledge). The proposed solution is first evaluated on laboratory spectra. It is then applied to airborne HySpex and satellite-borne PRISMA images acquired during a dedicated campaign over two quarries in France. This demonstrates the relevance of the method to automatically identify minerals in different mineralogical contexts and in the presence of mixtures.

Roof Material Mapping: Application Over Liège Using Open-Source Object-Based Supervised Classification Algorithms
Coraline Wyard   Benjamin Beaumont   Rodolphe Marion   Laure Roupioz   Tais Grippa   Eric Hallot  
EARSeL Joint Workshop - Earth Observation for Sustainable Cities and CommunitiesAt: Liège, Belgium, 2021

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Roof materials can be a significant source of pollution for the environment and can have negative health effects. Analyses of runoff water revealed high levels of metal traces but also polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and phthalates. This contamination would result from corrosion and alteration of roof materials. Similarly, the alteration or combustion of asbestos contained in certain types of roofs may allow the emission and dispersion of asbestos fibres into the environment. Therefore, acquiring information on roof materials is of great interest to decrease runoff water pollution, and to improve air and environmental quality around our homes. To this end, remote sensing is a particularly relevant tool since it allows semi-automatic mapping of roof materials using multispectral or hyperspectral data. The CASMATTELE project aims to develop a semi-automatic identification tool of roofing materials over the Liege area using remote-sensing and machine learning for public authorities.

OMP-Based Algorithm for Mineral Reflectance Spectra Deconvolution from Hyperspectral Images
Ronan Rialland   Charles Soussen   Rodolphe Marion   Véronique Carrère  
IGARSS 2020 - 2020 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, 2020

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The absorption positions and shapes are key information to identify and characterize a mineral from its reflectance spectrum. With the development of new airborne and satellite-borne hyperspectral sensors, automatic methods have to be developed to extract and analyze this useful information. A flexible deconvolution procedure, able to deal with various sensor characteristics and a wide variety of minerals of interest, is proposed. The approach is based on the sparse representation of the spectrum and the use of a greedy algorithm, the Non-Negative Orthogonal Matching Pursuit algorithm. First, NNOMP is adapted to deal with a parameteric physical model of mineral reflectance spectra. Then, noise statistical information is taken into account to improve the detection of small absorptions while minimizing overfitting effects. The procedure is tested on real data from two quarries in France. Results show the potential of our procedure for the estimation of a consistent number of absorptions whose parameters can be used to analyze the mineralogy.

Imaging Spectroscopy for the Detection, Assessment and Monitoring of Natural and Anthropogenic Hazards
Cindy Ong   Véronique Carrère   Sabine Chabrillat   R. Clark   Todd Hoefen   Raymond F. Kokaly   Rodolphe Marion   Carlos Roberto de Souza Filho   Gregg Alan Swayze   David R Thompson  
Surveys in Geophysics 40, 431–470, 2019

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Natural and anthropogenic hazards have the potential to impact all aspects of society including its economy and the environment. Diagnostic data to inform decision-making are critical for hazard management whether for emergency response, routine monitoring or assessments of potential risks. Imaging spectroscopy (IS) has unique contributions to make via the ability to provide some key quantitative diagnostic information. In this paper, we examine a selection of key case histories representing the state of the art to gain an insight into the achievements and perspectives in the use of visible to shortwave infrared IS for the detection, assessment and monitoring of a selection of significant natural and anthropogenic hazards. The selected key case studies examined provide compelling evidence for the use of the IS technology and its ability to contribute diagnostic information currently unattainable from operational spaceborne Earth observation systems. User requirements for the applications were also evaluated. The evaluation showed that the projected launch of spaceborne IS sensors in the near-, mid and long term future, together with the increasing availability, quality and moderate cost of off the shelf sensors, the possibilities to couple unmanned autonomous systems with miniaturized sensors, should be able to meet these requirements. The challenges and opportunities for the scientific community in the future when such data become available will then be ensuring consistency between data from different sensors, developing techniques to efficiently handle, process, integrate and deliver the large volumes of data, and most importantly translating the data to information that meets specific needs of the user community in a form that can be digested/understood by them. The latter is especially important to transforming the technology from a scientific to an operational tool. Additionally, the information must be independently validated using current trusted practices and uncertainties quantified before IS derived measurement can be integrated into operational monitoring services.

Anthropogenic aerosol emissions mapping and characterization by imaging spectroscopy - application to a metallurgical industry and a petrochemical complex
Yannick Philippets   Pierre-Yves Foucher   Rodolphe Marion   Xavier Briottet  
2018

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This paper is focused on the retrieval of industrial aerosol optical thickness (AOT) and microphysical properties by means of airborne imaging spectroscopy. Industrial emissions generally lead to optically thin plumes requiring an adapted detection method taking into account the weak proportion of particles sought in the atmosphere. To this end, a semi-analytical model combined with the Cluster-Tuned Matched Filter (CTMF) algorithm is presented to characterize those plumes, requiring the knowledge of the soil under the plume. The model allows the direct computation of the at-sensor radiance when a plume is included in the radiative transfer. When applied to industrial aerosol classes as defined in this paper, simulated spectral radiances can be compared to ‘real’ MODTRAN (Moderate Resolution Atmospheric Transmission) radiances using the Spectral Angle Mapper (SAM). On the range from 0.4 to 0.7 µm, for three grounds (water, vegetation, and bright one), SAM scores are lower than 0.043 in the worst case (a both absorbing and scattering particle over a bright ground), and usually lower than 0.025. The darker the ground reflectance is, the more accurate the results are (typically for reflectance lower than 0.3). Concerning AOT retrieval capabilities, with a pre-calculated model for a reference optical thickness of 0.25, we are able to retrieve plume AOT at 550 nm in the range 0.0 to 0.4 with an error usually ranging between 9% and 13%. The first test case is a CASI (Compact Airborne Spectrographic Imager) image acquired over the metallurgical industry of Fos-sur-Mer (France). First results of the use of the model coupled with CTMF algorithm reveal a scattering aerosol plume with particle sizes increasing with the distance from the stack (from detection score of 54% near the stack for particles with a diameter of 0.1 µm, to 69% away from it for 1.0 µm particles). A refinement is made then to estimate more precisely aerosol plume properties, using a multimodal distribution based on the previous results. It leads to find a mixture of sulfate and brown carbon particles with a plume AOT ranging between 0.2 and 0.5. The second test case is an AHS (Airborne Hyperspectral Scanner) image acquired over the petrochemical site of Antwerp (Belgium). The first CTMF application results in detecting a brown carbon aerosol of 0.1 µm mode (detection score is 51%). Refined results show the evolution of the AOT decreasing from 0.15 to 0.05 along the plume for a mixture of brown carbon fine mode and 0.3 µm radius of sulfate aerosol.

Mineral Mapping Using the Automatized Gaussian Model (AGM) - Application to Two Industrial French Sites at Gardanne and Thann
Rodolphe Marion   Véronique Carrère  
Remote Sensing 10(1):146, 2018

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The identification and mapping of the mineral composition of by-products and residues on industrial sites is a topic of growing interest because it may provide information on plant-processing activities and their impact on the surrounding environment. Imaging spectroscopy can provide such information based on the spectral signatures of soil mineral markers. In this study, we use the automatized Gaussian model (AGM), an automated, physically based method relying on spectral deconvolution. Originally developed for the short-wavelength infrared (SWIR) range, it has been extended to include information from the visible and near-infrared (VNIR) range to take iron oxides/hydroxides into account. We present the results of its application to two French industrial sites: (i) the Altéo Environnement site in Gardanne, southern France, dedicated to the extraction of alumina from bauxite; and (ii) the Millennium Inorganic Chemicals site in Thann, eastern France, which produces titanium dioxide from ilmenite and rutile, and its associated Séché éco Services site used to neutralize the resulting effluents, producing gypsum. HySpex hyperspectral images were acquired over Gardanne in September 2013 and an APEX image was acquired over Thann in June 2013. In both cases, reflectance spectra were measured and samples were collected in the field and analyzed for mineralogical and chemical composition. When applying the AGM to the images, both in the VNIR and SWIR ranges, we successfully identified and mapped minerals of interest characteristic of each site: bauxite, Bauxaline® and alumina for Gardanne; and red and white gypsum and calcite for Thann. Identifications and maps were consistent with in situ measurements.

Deconvolution of SWIR reflectance spectra for automatic mineral identification in hyperspectral imaging
Martin Brossard   Rodolphe Marion   Véronique Carrère  
Remote Sensing Letters 7(6):581-590, 2016

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Hyperspectral sensors generally acquire images in the spectral range in more than one hundred contiguous narrow channels with a (deca)metric spatial resolution. Each pixel of the image is thus associated with a continuous spectrum which can be used to identify or map surface minerals. The most powerful algorithms (e.g., USGS (United States Geological Survey) Tetracorder) run with a standardized spectral library, are often supervised and require some expert knowledge. In this paper, we present an original method for mineral identification and mapping. Its originality lies in its fully automatic functioning for the full spectral range, from initialization using spectral derivatives, to spectral deconvolution and mineral identification, with a global approach. The modelling combines exponential Gaussians, a continuum including the fundamental water absorption at and deals with overfitting to keep only the relevant Gaussians. We tested the method in the SWIR (Short-Wave InfraRed,) and for 14 minerals representative of industrial environments (e.g., quarries, mines, industries). More than 98% of the simulated spectra were correctly identified. When applied to two AVIRIS (Airborne Visible/InfraRed Imaging Spectrometer) images, results were consistent with ground truth data. The method could be improved by extending it to the VNIR (Visible and Near-InfraRed,) spectral range to include iron oxides and by managing spectral mixtures.

Caractérisation des panaches industriels par imagerie hyperspectrale aéroportée
Xavier Briottet   Pierre-Yves Foucher   Rodolphe Marion   Adrien Deschamps  
Photoniques, 2016

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La caractérisation des aérosols et des gaz produits par l’homme est un enjeu majeur pour la société car ces composants ont un impact direct sur la santé et le climat. Plusieurs techniques de caractérisation existent mais la télédétection aéroportée est une réponse potentiellement adaptée pour l’étude de ces sources si l’on veut avoir accès à leur expansion spatiale. De plus, l’imagerie hyperspectrale concernant tout le domaine optique, elle permet de couvrir l’ensemble des besoins nécessaires à la détection et la caractérisation des aérosols et des gaz.

Simultaneous retrieval of CO2 and aerosols in a plume from hyperspectral imagery: Application to the characterization of forest fire smoke using AVIRIS data
Adrien Deschamps   Rodolphe Marion   Xavier Briottet   Pierre-Yves Foucher  
International Journal of Remote Sensing, 34(19), 6837–6864, 2013

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Hyperspectral imagery is a widely used technique to study atmospheric composition. For several years, many methods have been developed to estimate the abundance of gases. However, existing methods do not simultaneously retrieve the properties of aerosols and often use standard aerosol models to describe the radiative impact of particles. This approach is not suited to the characterization of plumes, because plume particles may have a very different composition and size distribution from aerosols described by the standard models given by radiative transfer codes. This article presents a new method to simultaneously retrieve carbon dioxide (CO2) and aerosols inside a plume, combining an aerosol retrieval algorithm using visible and near-infrared (VNIR) wavelengths and a CO2 estimation algorithm using shortwave infrared (SWIR) wavelengths. The microphysical properties of the plume particles, obtained after aerosol retrieval, are used to calculate their optical properties in the SWIR. Then, a database of atmospheric terms is generated with the radiative transfer code, Moderate Resolution Atmospheric Transmission (MODTRAN). Finally, pixel radiances around the 2.0 μm absorption feature are used to retrieve the CO2 abundances. After conducting a signal sensitivity analysis, the method was applied to two airborne visible/infrared imaging spectrometer (AVIRIS) images acquired over areas of biomass burning. For the first image, in situ measurements were available. The results show that including the aerosol retrieval step before the CO2 estimation: (1) induces a better agreement between in situ measurements and retrieved CO2 abundances (the CO2 overestimation of about 15%, induced by neglecting aerosols has been corrected, especially for pixels where the plume is not very thick); (2) reduces the standard deviation of estimated CO2 abundance by a factor of four; and (3) causes the spatial distribution of retrieved concentrations to be coherent.

Modeling directional-hemispherical reflectance and transmittance of fresh and dry leaves from 0.4μm to 5.7μm with the PROSPECT-VISIR model
Fanny Gerber   Rodolphe Marion   Albert Olioso   Stéphane Jacquemoud   B. Ribeiro da Luz   Sophie Fabre  
Remote Sensing of Environment 115(2):404-414, 2011

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Vegetation water content retrieval using passive remote sensing techniques in the 0.4–2.5 μm region (reflection of solar radiation) and the 8–14 μm region (emission of thermal radiation) has given rise to an abundant literature. The wavelength range in between, where the main water absorption bands are located, has surprisingly received very little attention because of the complexity of the radiometric signal that mixes both reflected and emitted fluxes. Nevertheless, it is now covered by the latest generation of passive optical sensors (e.g. SEBASS, AHS). This work aims at modeling leaf spectral reflectance and transmittance in the infrared, particularly between 3 μm and 5 μm, to improve the retrieval of vegetation water content using hyperspectral data. Two unique datasets containing 32 leaf samples each were acquired in 2008 at the USGS National Center, Reston (VA, USA) and the ONERA Research Center, Toulouse (France). Reflectance and transmittance were recorded using laboratory spectrometers in the spectral region from 0.4 μm to 14 μm, and the leaf water and dry matter contents were determined. It turns out that these spectra are strongly linked to water content up to 5.7 μm. This dependence is much weaker further into the infrared, where spectral features seem to be mainly associated with the biochemical composition of the leaf surface. The measurements show that leaves transmit light in this wavelength domain and that the transmittance of dry samples can reach 0.35 of incoming light around 5 μm, and 0.05 around 11 μm. This work extends the PROSPECT leaf optical properties model by taking into account the high absorption levels of leaf constituents (by the insertion of the complex Fresnel coefficients) and surface phenomena (by the addition of a top layer). The new model, PROSPECT-VISIR (VISible to InfraRed), simulates leaf reflectance and transmittance between 0.4 μm and 5.7 μm (at 1 nm spectral resolution) with a root mean square error (RMSE) of 0.017 and 0.018, respectively. Model inversion also allows the prediction of water (RMSE = 0.0011 g/cm²) and dry matter (RMSE = 0.0013 g/cm²) contents.

Retrieval of microphysical and optical properties in aerosol plumes with hyperspectral imagery: L-APOM method
Alexandre Alakian   Rodolphe Marion   Xavier Briottet  
Remote Sensing of Environment 113(4):781-793, 2009

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This paper presents the retrieval method L-APOM which aims at characterizing the microphysical and optical properties of aerosol plumes from hyperspectral images with high spatial resolution. The inversion process is divided into three steps: estimation of the ground reflectance below the plume, characterization of the standard atmosphere (gases and background aerosols) and estimation of the plume aerosols properties. As using spectral information only is not sufficient to insure uniqueness of solutions, original constraints are added by assuming slow spatial variations of particles properties within the plume. The whole inversion process is validated on a large set of simulated images and reveals to remain accurate even in the worst cases of noise: relative estimation errors of aerosol properties remain between 10% and 20% in most cases. L-APOM is applied on a real AVIRIS hyperspectral image of a biomass burning plume for which in situ measurements are available. Retrieved properties appear globally consistent with measurements.

Remote sensing of aerosol plumes: a semianalytical model
Alexandre Alakian   Rodolphe Marion   Xavier Briottet  
Applied Optics 47(11):1851-1866, 2008

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A semianalytical model, named APOM (aerosol plume optical model) and predicting the radiative effects of aerosol plumes in the spectral range [0.4,2.5 μm], is presented in the case of nadir viewing. It is devoted to the analysis of plumes arising from single strong emission events (high optical depths) such as fires or industrial discharges. The scene is represented by a standard atmosphere (molecules and natural aerosols) on which a plume layer is added at the bottom. The estimated at-sensor reflectance depends on the atmosphere without plume, the solar zenith angle, the plume optical properties (optical depth, single-scattering albedo, and asymmetry parameter), the ground reflectance, and the wavelength. Its mathematical expression as well as its numerical coefficients are derived from MODTRAN4 radiative transfer simulations. The DISORT option is used with 16 fluxes to provide a sufficiently accurate calculation of multiple scattering effects that are important for dense smokes. Model accuracy is assessed by using a set of simulations performed in the case of biomass burning and industrial plumes. APOM proves to be accurate and robust for solar zenith angles between 0° and 60° whatever the sensor altitude, the standard atmosphere, for plume phase functions defined from urban and rural models, and for plume locations that extend from the ground to a height below 3 km. The modeling errors in the at-sensor reflectance are on average below 0.002. They can reach values of 0.01 but correspond to low relative errors then (below 3% on average). This model can be used for forward modeling (quick simulations of multi/hyperspectral images and help in sensor design) as well as for the retrieval of the plume optical properties from remotely sensed images.

A Theoretical Framework for Hyperspectral Anomaly Detection Using Spectral and Spatial A Priori Information
Brice Yver   Rodolphe Marion  
IEEE Xplore, 2007

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This letter presents a new theoretical approach for anomaly detection using a priori information about targets. This a priori knowledge deals with the general spectral behavior and the spatial distribution of targets. In this letter, we consider subpixel and isolated targets that are spectrally anomalous in one region of the spectrum but not in another. This method is totally different from matched filters that suffer from a relative sensitivity to low errors in the target spectral signature. We incorporate the spectral a priori knowledge in a new detection distance, and we propose a Bayesian approach with a Markovian regularization to suppress the potential targets that do not respect the spatial a priori. The interest of the method is illustrated on simulated data consisting in realistic anomalies that are superimposed on a real HyMap hyperspectral image.

Atmospheric correction of hyperspectral data over dark surfaces via simulated annealing
Rodolphe Marion   Rémi Michel   Christian Faye  
IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing 44(6):1566 - 1574, 2006

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A method [atmospheric correction via simulated annealing (ACSA)] is proposed that enhances the atmospheric correction of hyperspectral images over dark surfaces. It is based on the minimization of a smoothness criterion to avoid the assumption of linear variations of the reflectance within gas absorption bands. We first show that this commonly used approach generally fails over dark surfaces when the signal to noise ratio strongly declines. In this case, important residual features highly correlated with the shape of gas absorption bands are observed in the estimated surface reflectance. We add a geometrical constraint to deal with this correlation. A simulated annealing approach is used to solve this constrained optimization problem. The parameters involved in the implementation of the algorithm (initial temperature, number of iterations, cooling schedule, and correlation threshold) are automatically determined by using a standard simulated annealing theory, reflectance databases, and sensor characteristics. Applied to a HyMap image with available ground truths, we verify that ACSA adequately recovers ground reflectance over clear land surfaces, and that the added spectral shape constraint does not introduce any spurious feature in the spectrum. The analysis of an AVIRIS image of Central Switzerland clearly shows the ability of the method to perform enhanced water vapor estimations over dark surfaces. Over a lake (reflectance equal to 0.02, low signal to noise ratio equal to about 6), ACSA retrieves unbiased water vapor amounts (2.86 cm/spl plusmn/0.36 cm) in agreement with in situ measurements (2.97 cm/spl plusmn/0.30 cm). This corresponds to a reduction of the standard deviation by a factor 3 in comparison with standard unconstrained procedures (1.95 cm/spl plusmn/1.08 cm). Similar results are obtained using a Hyperion image of DoE ARM SGP test site containing a very dark area of the land surface.

Measuring trace gases in plumes from hyperspectral remotely sensed data
Rodolphe Marion   Rémi Michel   Christian Faye  
IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing 42(4):854-864, 2004

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A method [joint reflectance and gas estimator (JRGE)] is developed to estimate a set of atmospheric gas concentrations in an unknown surface reflectance context from hyperspectral images. It is applicable for clear atmospheres without any aerosol in a spectral range between approximately 800 and 2500 nm. Standard gas by gas methods yield a 6% rms error in H/sub 2/O retrieval from Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) data, reaching several tens percent for a set of widespread ground materials and resulting from an simplifying assumption of linear variations of the reflectance model within gas absorption bands and partial accounting of the gas induced signal. JRGE offers a theoretical framework consisting in a two steps algorithm that accounts for sensor characteristics, assumptions on gas concentrations and reflectance variations. It estimates variations in gas concentrations relatively to a standard atmosphere model. An adaptive cubic smoothing spline like estimation of the reflectance is first performed. Concentrations of several gaseous species are then simultaneously retrieved using a nonlinear procedure based on radiative transfer calculations. Applied to AVIRIS spectra simulated from reflectance databases and sensor characteristics, JRGE reduces the errors in H/sub 2/O retrieval to 2.87%. For an AVIRIS image acquired over the Quinault prescribed fire, far field CO/sub 2/ estimate (348 ppm, about 6% to 7% rms) is in agreement with in situ measurement (345-350 ppm) and aerosols yield an underestimation of total atmospheric CO/sub 2/ content equal to 5.35% about 2 km downwind the fire. JRGE smoothes and interpolates the reflectance for gas estimation but also provides nonsmoothed reflectance spectra. JRGE is shown to preserve various mineral absorption features included in the AVIRIS image of Cuprite Mining District test site.