The conversion of digital numbers (DN) from orbital images to physical quantities of the Earth surface is dependent on trusted atmospheric characterization, which has been performed through the application of data collected from meteorological balloons or by solar photometers positioned at the Earth surface. Recently some orbital sensors have generated useful data that could be utilized in this characterization like those generated by sensor MODIS. Here, surface Bidirectional Reflectance Factors (BRF) estimated from field data were compared to those calculated from TM/Landsat-5 converted images through radiative transfer codes. The input data of these codes were estimated considering two different sources: the solar photometer and the MODIS sensor. The results have indicated that the MODIS data can be applied in the DN to surface BRF conversion.
atmospheric correction; solar photometer; MODIS
