Absolute error estimation of the RACE atmospheric correction module based on space images from the Sentinel-2 satellites

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Abstract

The article discusses two atmospheric correction modules: RACE (A Robust Atmospheric Correction Procedure) and Sen2Cor of the Earth observation satellites “Sentinel-2” (ESA) (image processing level: L2A) and their quantitative comparison. The RACE module processed 22 Sentinel-2 scenes with the L1C processing level, various shooting conditions and a wide variety of objects. The average absolute error for all scenes in the derived albedo ranges was estimated for each of the 22 scenes for the B2, B3, B4 and B8 Sentinel-2 spectral channels. As a result of the RACE absolute error estimation for the spectral channels considered, it was shown that the RACE module was comparable in the albedo determination accuracy at the Earth’s level to the Sen2Cor module.

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About the authors

Petr A. Zashchepka

Peleng JSC; Belarusian National Technical University

Author for correspondence.
Email: 1zashchepko@mail.ru
ORCID iD: 0009-0004-1901-2818

2nd category research engineer, Peleng JSC, master’s student, Belarusian National Technical University

Belarus, Minsk; Minsk

Valiantsina A. Zaitsava

Peleng JSC

Email: zaitseva53@inbox.ru

leading research engineer, PhD in Physics and Mathematics

Belarus, Minsk

Rostsislau V. Fiodartsau

Belarusian National Technical University

Email: feodrw@gmail.com

PhD in Technical Sciences, head of the Department of Process Equipment, Associate Professor

Belarus, Minsk

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Supplementary files

Supplementary Files
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2. Fig. 1. Photo (September 11, 2022) with a fragment of the Earth’s surface for the La Crau scene: a – processing level L1C; b – processing level L2A; c – processing level RACE

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3. Fig. 2. Albedo distribution histograms for the La Crau scene: a – channel B2, b – channel B3, c – channel B4, d – channel B8

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4. Fig. 3. Dependence of the albedo absolute error distribution on the reference albedo value for the La Crau scene: a – channel B2, b – channel B3, c – channel B4, d – channel B8

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5. Fig. 4. Scatter charts of the absolute RACE accuracies by ranges for the La Crau scene: a – channel B2, b – channel B3, c – channel B4, d – channel B8

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6. Fig. 5. Photo (January 12, 2024) with a fragment of the Earth’s surface for the Antarctica scene: a – processing level L1C; b – processing level L2A; c – processing level RACE

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7. Fig. 6. Scatter charts of the RACE accuracy relative to Sen2Cor by ranges over all scenes: a – channel B2, b – channel B3, c – channel B4, d – channel B8

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Copyright (c) 2025 Zashchepka P.A., Zaitsava V.A., Fiodartsau R.V.