Applications of Color Index Ring Method for Cloud Screening

Ocean color satellites always have a problem in computating observations by cloud coverage. Thus, masking out the clouds from observations is one of the most complicated works to provide obtain right remote sensing products. Although many satellites use multi-band for cloud filtering, we suggested an alternative way for identifying cloud coverage using only RGB bands not only thin/ thick cloud information but also sun glint. We applied our new concept, Color Index Ring (CIR) to Terra-MODIS imagery. Then, it was compared with other cloud screening algorithms: band ratio and reflectance intensity methods. While the intensity method works very well in regions covered with thick clouds, near coastal plumes areas covered with thin clouds were not properly identified with band ratio and intensity methods. We illustrated how CIR method works for these two ambiguous features in the satellite imagery.