Presentation

Optical Algorithm for

Cloud Shadow Detection
over Water
(REMOTE SENSING)

REMOTE SENSING

The diagram shows the general process of gathering information by optical

sensors.
Light from source A falls on the landmass C which is reflected to the sensor D.
The signals are then sent to the receiving station where the images are
processed referring to F which is then passed as data to the human interpreter
G.
B and E refer to the Electromagnetic waves.

Role of Clouds in
Clouds cause
a serious
Remote
Sensing

problem for the sensors. They

not only conceal the ground
but also cast shadows.
These shadows also occur in
the observed images along
with the clouds.
The main problem caused by
shadows is either a reduction
or total loss of information in
an image.

Clouds and their shadows

over land.

But shadows can also be used

to estimate both cloud base
and cloud-top height which are
still a challenge from space.
It can also impact mesoscale
atmospheric circulations that
lead to major convective storm
systems.

Clouds and their shadows over

water.

SENSORS
HYPERION

A hyper spectral sensor on board

NASAs EO-1 satellite.
Spatial resolution about 30
meters.
Spectral configuration of 430nm2400nm.
Designed for land operations.
Useful for coastal areas and Navy
operations.
Not suitable for water studies.

MODIS

Moderate Resolution Imaging

Spectroradiometer(MODIS) is
currently aboard the Terra and
Aqua spacecraft.
Two spatial resolution bands of
250 meters each.
Wide spectral range: 0.4114.24m.
Used for global monitoring of
terrestrial ecosystems, fires,
ocean biological properties and
sea surface temperature.

SHADOW DETECTION OVER LAND

Location of shadows depends on:

Cloud elevation.
Incidence angle of the sunlight at that time.
For geometrical calculations ,we need:
Cloud-top and cloud-bottom heights.
Sun and satellite positions.
Main issue is determination of cloud vertical height.
Thermal channels can be used to estimate cloud-top height but
cloud-bottom height estimation is still a challenge.
Another method is to use brightness thresholds of clouds but it is
a difficult process as the brightness values can be very close to
those of their neighbors.

The image on the left depicts a sun-cloud geometry for shadow

detection.
The image on the right tells the projections of clouds at discrete heights
from sea level.

SHADOW DETECTION OVER

WATER

The brightness of shadows over water pixels varies with atmospheric

conditions. Therefore the brightness values from shadow and close-by
sunlit regions over water can provide information if a small portion of the
image is examined at a time.
It is because water-leaving radiance over sunlit pixels results from both
direct and diffuse solar irradiance while the water-leaving radiance over
shadowed pixels results from only diffuse solar irradiance.

Sunlit pixel
having direct
and diffuse
radiance
Shadow pixel having only
diffuse solar radiance

Thediffuse partof the incident radiation is radiation from the sky,

exclusive of the sun. It comes from clouds or from the blue sky, i.e.
from many directions simultaneously.
Thedirect partcomes directly from the direction of the sun and can,
therefore, cast shadows.
Water-leaving radiance is the light emitted from the water pixels.

This paper does not use any angular information or cloud height
estimation. It is a cloud shadow detection technique acquired
over water by satellite/airborne sensors.
It is derived for optical imageries entirely based on
measurements in the optical channels.

DATA OF THE RESEARCH

Hyperspectral Imager for the Coastal Ocean(HICO)

The HICO has been operating aboard the ISS since 24 September, 2009.
Provides hyperspectral images at 100 meters resolution optimized for the coastal
ocean.
Collects radiance at 128 contiguous spectral channels from 350 to 1070nm
range.
Each HICO scene is 50km in width by 200km in length.
HICO data flow from the ISS provides 15 scenes per day and managed by U.S.
Naval Research Lab.
Has high spectral resolution, thus contrast between shadowed and adjacent
sunlit regions would be higher after integrating the spectra which is
advantageous for shadow detection.

Lsdw

w ()

La from the
atmosphere

From shadowed region

Lsny

w()

From sunlit region

Assuming sensor is at nadir, i.e. directly below and a thick cloud over water
preventing direct solar photons on the sea surface and generating a shadow
region.
The total radiance measured by the sensor from the sunlit area is:

Lsny

() = La () + t() Lsny

()---------------------->(1)

where t() represents the diffuse transmittance of the atmosphere for the waterleaving radiance.
The total radiance over the shadowed region is :

Lsdw

() = La () + {t() +t()} Lsdw

()------------>(2)

where represents the perturbations due to the differences in illuminations

between the sunlit and shadowed regions.

Water-leaving radiance can be expressed as two parts:

Part caused by the backscattering of the diffuse skylight

Part caused by the backscattering of the direct solar beam
For sunlit and shadowed regions ,the water-leaving radiance can be
expressed as:
Lsny w () = Lsny wsky () + Lsny wdir ()
and
Lsdw

() = Lsdw

wsky

()

Where Lsny wsky () / Lsdw wsky () and Lsny wdir () / Lsdw wdir ()
represent the water-leaving radiances caused by diffuse skylight and

According to P.Reinersman , K.L. Carder and F.R. Chen, Satellite-sensor

calibration verification with the cloud shadow method vol. 37, no. 24,
pp.5541-5549, Aug. 1998., Lsny wsky () can be expressed as
Lsny

wsky

() = Lsdw

wsky

() + Lsdw

wsky

()

From the analysis , it can be expected that the water-leaving radiance

from the shadowed pixel reaching the satellite sensor is lower than the
water-leaving radiance from the neighboring sunlit pixels.
Thus, the total radiance measured over the shadowed pixel is lower than
that measured over the neighboring sunlit pixel.
An example of HICO image taken over Guam
island in 2009. the adjacent sunlit pixel has
higher digital counts(green line) over
shadowed pixels(red line).

DEVELOPMENT OF CSDI

The above proposed technique indicates that the spectral shape or

amplitude alone is not adequate to separate the two regions for an entire
image. It can be only done if a small portion is examined.
So , we introduce a cloud shadow detection technique called the CSDI as
CSDI=IV c / <IV ASB >---------------->(3)
Where IVc represents the IV index of the pixel (the central pixel of ASB
which is the small portion ) that needs to be classified as a shadowed
or sunlit pixel.
The <IV ASB > represents the spatial mean of the IV indices within the
selected ASB of this pixel.
The IV index is defined as
IV= Lt() d from 400nm to 600 nm---------------------(4)
CSDI is mainly used for deep waters. Before applying CSDI , cloud needs to
be removed properly. The ASB needs to be selected carefully so that it only
contains shadowed and sunlit pixels or only sunlit pixels because to make
the denominator of CSDI larger than the numerator for shadowed and vice
versa for sunlit pixels.

It is important to select the ASB in such a way that it is bigger than the
shadowed region.
This can be achieved by using the cloud size information since cloud is
generally bigger than the shadow and relatively easy to detect.
If the selected ASB contains only sunlit pixels and the pixel under
examination is also a sunlit pixel, the CSDI value for this pixel would be
around one since the mean of the ASB [denominator of (3)] and the IV
index [numerator of (3)] would be about the same.
If the ASB contains both shadowed and sunlit pixels and the pixel under
examination is a sunlit pixel, the CSDI value will be greater than one since
the mean of the ASB will be slightly lower than the IV index of the pixel
under examination.
On the other hand, if the pixel under examination happens to be a
shadowed pixel, the CSDI value would be less than one since the IV index
of this shadowed pixel would be smaller than the mean of the ASB. Now, if
the ASB contains only shadowed pixels, it can be problematic since the
CSDI value will be around one, like the case of only sunlit pixels. They will
be classified as sunlit pixels if the CSDI threshold is put less than one.

RESULTS OF THE RESEARCH

Images showing relatively larger area of clouds using CSDI technique

BENEFITS AND DRAWBACKS OF

CSDI
Benefits
Relatively easy to use and faster than geometry based approach.
Does not require thermal channels which are not always present on
ocean sensors.
Based on top-of-the-atmosphere readings or airborne sensors.

Drawbacks
May give spurious results in non-homogenous or shallow waters.
Cannot detect shadows in the edge pixels of satellite images. But an
IV image can be used to visually identify the shadows in those pixels
since shadows appear dimmer in an IV image.

CONCLUSION
A cloud shadow-detection technique (CSDI) has been developed and
applied to HICO data collected from various locations to isolate shadowed
pixels. The shapes of the clouds and cloud shadows observed in the CSDI
images closely resemble those of clouds and cloud shadows in the
corresponding true color and IV images. The agreement between the true
color, IV, and CSDI images is very reasonable over open ocean.
This suggests the potential of the cloud shadow detection using the
proposed technique which only uses the top-of-the atmosphere optical
readings of the space borne or airborne imagers. Although the proposed
CSDI threshold works reasonably well on the selected HICO images,
further studies are necessary to fine tune the threshold and the selection
of optimal ASB size based on image scene content for automated
processing.