Self-shading associated with a skylight-blocked approach system for the measurement of water-leaving radiance and its correction.

Self-shading associated with a skylight-blocked approach (SBA) system for the measurement of water-leaving radiance (Lw) and its correction [Appl. Opt.52, 1693 (2013)APOPAI0003-693510.1364/AO.52.001693] is characterized by Monte Carlo simulations, and it is found that this error is in a range of ∼1%-20% under most water properties and solar positions. A model for estimating this shading error is further developed, and eventually a scheme to correct this error based on the shaded measurements is proposed and evaluated. It is found that the shade-corrected value in the visible domain is within 3% of the true value, which thus indicates that we can obtain not only high precision but also high accuracy Lw in the field with the SBA scheme.