Radiative transfer model for simulating high-resolution satellite images

A simulator of high spatial resolution satellite images is introduced. It is based on the coupling of two radiative transfer models: discrete anisotropic radiative transfer (DART) for terrestrial landscapes and second simulation of the satellite signal in the solar spectrum (6S) for the atmosphere. It works in the visible, near infrared, and midinfrared domains. The simulation procedure involves four steps: 1) assessment of the optical properties of the atmosphere, 2) simulation of high-resolution reflectance images of the earth surface, 3) transformation of the bottom of the atmosphere (BOA) images to top of the atmosphere (TOA) images, and 4) convolution of the TOA spectral images with the sensor spectral reponse. Two applications of the simulator are presented: the detection of targets and the analysis of the spatial information. This simulator is being used as a radiative transfer reference model at the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES), Toulouse, France.