Clouds often contaminate remote sensing images, which leads to missing land feature information and subsequent application degradation. Low-rank tensor completion has shown great potential in the reconstruction of multi-temporal remote sensing images. However, existing methods ignore different low-rank properties in the spatial and temporal dimensions, such that they cannot utilize spatial and temporal information adequately. In this paper, we propose a new frequency spectrum-modulated tensor completion method (FMTC). First, remote sensing images are rearranged as third-order spatial–temporal tensors for each band. Then, Fourier transform (FT) is introduced in the temporal dimension of the rearranged tensor to generate a spatial–frequential tensor. In view of the fact that land features represent low-frequency components and fickle clouds represent high-frequency components in the time domain, we chose adaptive weights for the completion of different low-rank spatial matrixes, according to the frequency spectrum. Then, Invert Fourier Transform (IFT) was implemented. Through this method, the joint low-rank spatial–temporal constraint was achieved. The simulated data experiments demonstrate that FMTC is applicable on different land-cover types and different missing sizes. With real data experiments, we have validated the effectiveness and stability of FMTC for time-series remote sensing image reconstruction. Compared with other algorithms, the performance of FMTC is better in quantitative and qualitative terms, especially when considering the spectral accuracy and temporal continuity.
Thick cloud and shadows have a significant impact on the availability of optical remote sensing data. Although various methods have been proposed to address this issue, they still have some limitations. First, most approaches rely on a single clear reference image as complementary information, which becomes challenging when the target image has large missing areas. Secondly, the existing methods that can utilize multiple reference images require the complementary data to have high temporal correlation, which is not suitable for situations where the difference between the reference image and the target image is large. To overcome these limitations, a flexible spatiotemporal deep learning framework based on generative adversarial networks is proposed for thick cloud removal, which allows for the use of three arbitrary temporal images as references. The framework incorporates a three-step encoder that can leverage the uncontaminated information from the target image to assimilate the reference images, enhancing the model’s ability to handle reference images with diverse temporal differences. A series of simulated and real experiments on Landsat 8 and Sentinel 2 data is performed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method. The proposed method is especially applicable to small/large-scale regions with reference images that are significantly different from the target image.
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) provide a flexible platform for surface reflectance measurement at spatial scales between ground observations and satellite remote sensing. This study develops a UAV-based spectroradiometric system for surface reflectance retrieval under natural illumination conditions using non-imaging hyperspectral sensors. The system integrates two stabilized spectroradiometers mounted on a UAV to simultaneously measure hemispherical downwelling irradiance and upwelling surface radiance at flight altitude, enabling reflectance retrieval through a radiance–irradiance ratio framework without relying on ground calibration targets or radiative transfer model inversion. Field experiments were conducted over agricultural plots, and the UAV-derived reflectance was quantitatively validated against ground-based dual-spectroradiometer measurements. The results demonstrate stable irradiance measurements during flight and good agreement between UAV- and ground-derived reflectance across the 400–900 nm spectral range. The proposed system offers a practical and reliable solution for hyperspectral reflectance retrieval using UAV platforms.