Based on the success of ACIX-II Aqua, the same framework supported the starting of the third exercise, ACIX-III Aqua, now dedicated to satellite hyperspectral data. Started in 2022, ACIX-III Aqua is developed based on satellite data collected by the PRISMA mission, launched on orbit in March 2019, which has made it possible to collect a reasonable number of cloud-free images over inland and coastal waters. The exercise also included four different AC methods applied to EnMAP images, an advanced hyperspectral satellite operated by the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) since April 2022.

The scope of the ACIX-II Aqua was to provide an objective assessment of state-of-the-art of AC over inland and coastal waters for multispectral data gathered by Landsat-8 Operational Land Imager and Sentinel-2A/B MultiSpectral Instrument. This exercise is summarised in Pahlevan et al., 2021.

Following are the processing chains (a), the reference framework (b) and the timeline (c) for ACIX-III Aqua:

c)