From ATCOR to the new system

Abstract

The ATmospheric CORrection (ATCOR) system is one of the most known and accurate atmospheric correction codes for land for the 0,4-2,5 μm spectral range. It generates the required Level 2A products and includes additional features such as generation of the classification map, haze/cirrus detection and removal, topographic correction, shadow compensation, etc. Started more than 25 years ago ATCOR is continuously improving and the functionality grows. The structure, procedural implementation, and the commercial nature of the bus system (Interactive Data Language, IDL) motivated us to implement a new system design based on the Python language, which is independent of license conditions. In this paper we give an overview of the requirements, new system structure, software transfer issues, and outcomes of the design and implementation.