Nonlinear Bayesian algorithms for gas plume detection and estimation from hyper-spectral thermal image data

This paper presents a nonlinear Bayesian regression algorithm for detecting and estimating gas plume content from hyper-spectral data. Remote sensing data, by its very nature, is collected under less controlled conditions than laboratory data. As a result, the physics-based model that is used to describe the relationship between the observed remote-sensing spectra, and the terrestrial ( or atmospheric) parameters that are estimated is typically littered with many unknown nuisance parameters. Bayesian methods are well-suited for this context as they automatically incorporate the uncertainties associated with all nuisance parameters into the error estimates of the parameters of interest. The nonlinear Bayesian regression methodology is illustrated on simulated data from a three-layer model for longwave infrared (LWIR) measurements from a passive instrument. The generated LWIR scenes contain plumes of varying intensities, and this allows estimation uncertainty and probability of detection to be quantified. The results show that this approach should permit more accurate estimation as well as a more reasonable description of estimate uncertainty. Specifically, the methodology produces a standard error that is more realistic than that produced by matched filter estimation.