Improving sea surface floating matter identification from Sentinel-2 MSI imagery using optical radiative simulation of neighborhood difference

The reflectance difference (Δ R ) between a floating matter pixel and a nearby water reference pixel is a method of atmospheric radiation unmixing. This technique unveils target signals by referencing the background within the horizontal neighborhood. Δ R is effective for removing the mixed-pixel effect and partial atmospheric path radiance. However, other atmospheric interference sources in the difference pixel, including atmospheric extinction and sunglint, need to be clarified. To address these challenges, we combined in situ floating matter endmember spectra for simulation and Sentinel-2 Multispectral Instrument (MSI) sensors for validation. We focused on radiative transfer simulation of horizontal neighborhood and vertical atmospheric column, investigating the bilateral conversion of Δ R between bottom-of-atmosphere (BOA) and top-of-atmosphere (TOA) signals, and clarifying how the atmosphere affects the difference pixel (Δ R ) and floating matter identification. Results showed that direct use of TOA Δ R works in discriminating algae from non-algae floating matters under weak sunglint, and is a suitable candidate for no bother with atmospheric correction, least uncertain, and wider coverage. And then, sunglint interference is also inevitable, whether serious or not.