The HJ-1A and HJ-1B satellites were launched successfully on September 6, 2008. For effective monitoring of the environmental and natural disasters, both HJ-1A and HJ-1B carry a charge-coupled device (CCD) sensor, with each CCD sensor containing two cameras, which results in a ground swath of about 700 km for each satellite. The CCD can make cross-track multiple view angle measurements with a field of view of >40 deg. The Earth's surface can be covered completely within 48 h in four spectral

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... ds from 0.43 to 0.90 μm. We have presented a method of extracting the hemispherical-directional reflectance factor (HDRF) from CCD imagery and normalizing HDRF to a standard geometric situation. After geometric correction and registration, radiometric calibration, and correction for atmospheric effects, multitemporal HDRFs were obtained for the flat land surface located in Northern China with different land cover types. The angular observations were extracted from a series of overpasses of the CCD aboard HJ-1A and HJ-1B. We then inverted the HDRFs by the semiempirical kernel-driven bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) model and normalized the HDRFs to nadir-viewing direction. This study shows the significance of directional effects in the HJ-1A and HJ-1B CCD data and the feasibility of normalizing HDRFs' CCD data when the angular effects must be taken into account.