aerial photographyhyperspectral-sensorreflectanceremote sensingwaterways
I've been trying to lay my hands on textbooks, etc, that explain the differences between the remote sensing terms in lay man language.
radiance and irradiance
remote sensing reflectance and water leaving radiance
Just wondering if anybody can point me the right direction or shed more light on those terms.
Albedo is a measure of the diffuse reflectivity of a surface, as opposed to specular reflectivity such as that of glass or water.
The term spectral signature refers to the relationship between the wavelength (or frequency) of electromagnetic radiation and the reflectance of the surface. The signature is affected by several things including the material composition and structure. Some parts of the EMR spectrum, such as the microwave region, are more sensitive to surface structure than other regions. We use the spectral signature (or more often sampled parts of it--bands of satellite imagery) to infer things about the surface such as composition (e.g. vegetation, bare soil, etc.).
A feature on the other hand is simply an object in landscape. For example, a feature may be a field of uniform crop, a road, or building, or any other part of the landscape. We often try to identify features by using their spectral signatures, assuming uniformity, which is not always the case. Sometimes, rather than classifying pixels based on their spectral signatures alone, we also try to account for spatial relations such as the proximity of similar pixels. This is common for example with object-based image segmentation, which attempts to identify features using a combination of spectral and spatial characteristics.
Best Answer
I've found two sources that appear to provide easy to read explanation between Radiance vs. Irradiance and remote sensing reflectance and water leaving radiance.
Starting with Radiance vs. Irradiance:
The author uses two figures to discuss Radiance and Irradiance with respect to Illuminance.
Also, a good reference may be The Light Handbook provides additional information.
In terms of remote sensing reflectance and water leaving radiance
This comment here
Illustration of light rays contributing to the irradiance reflectance
Illustration of light rays contributing to the remote-sensing reflectance