Issues in the application of Digital Surface Model data to correct the terrain illumination effects in Landsat images

The accuracy of topographic correction of Landsat data based on a Digital Surface Model (DSM) depends on the quality, scale and spatial resolution of the DSM data used and the co-registration between the DSM and the satellite image. A physics-based bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) and atmospheric correction model in conjunction with a 1-second DSM was used to conduct the analysis in this paper. The results show that for the examples used from Australia, the 1-second DSM, can provide an effective product for this task. However, it was found that some remaining artefacts in the DSM data, originally due to radar shadow, can still cause significant local errors in the correction. Where they occur, false shadows and over-corrected surface reflectance factors can be observed. More generally, accurate co-registration between satellite images and DSM data was found to be critical for effective correction. Mis-registration by one or two pixels could lead to large errors of retrieved surface reflectance factors in gully and ridge areas. Using low-resolution DSM data in conjunction with high-resolution satellite images will also fail to correct significant terrain components where they occur at the finer scales of the satellite images. DSM resolution appropriate to the resolution of satellite image and the roughness of the terrain is needed for effective results, and the rougher the terrain, the more critical will be the accurate registration.