A number of methods are available for topographic correction of remote sensing data, and various approaches have been proposed for the evaluation of topographic correction effects. However, few studies have evaluated the topographic correction effects for images obtained under all possible sun elevation conditions. This study employed three correction methods, namely, Statistical-Empirical (SE), C-correction (C), and the Sun-Canopy-Sensor + C-correction (SCS + C) methods. These were used for topographic correction of 11 images obtained by the Landsat-5 Thematic Mapper sensor from June to December. An evaluation of the effectiveness of these three methods was carried out based on five evaluation indices, with the goal of investigating the variation in the topographic correction effect with changes in lighting conditions and the adaptability of topographic correction methods to those conditions. The results showed that the SE method effectively reduced the dependence of surface reflectance on the terrain when the solar elevation was greater than 46°, yielding a very stable surface reflectance and a low proportion of outliers. At sun elevation below 46°, the SCS + C method has good correction effect. After topographic correction using these three methods, the correction effect was compromised as the lighting conditions weakened. Within areas where the topographic and geographical conditions are similar to that of this study, the correction effect can be divided into three levels based on the solar elevation while obtaining the images, i.e., > 60°, 50–60° and < 50°. Caution should be taken when conducting quantitative research on images obtained when the solar elevation is < 50°.

有多种方法可用于遥感数据的地形校正，并且已经提出了各种方法来评估地形校正效果。但是，很少有研究评估在所有可能的太阳高度条件下获得的图像的地形校正效果。这项研究采用了三种校正方法，即统计经验（SE），C校正（C）和Sun-Canopy-Sensor + C校正（SCS + C）方法。这些被用来对6月至12月由Landsat-5 Thematic Mapper传感器获得的11张图像进行地形校正。根据五个评估指标对这三种方法的有效性进行了评估，目的是研究随照明条件的变化而引起的地形校正效果的变化以及地形校正方法对这些条件的适应性。结果表明，当太阳仰角大于46°时，SE方法有效地降低了表面反射率对地形的依赖性，从而产生了非常稳定的表面反射率和较低的异常值比例。在太阳高度低于46°时，SCS + C方法具有良好的校正效果。使用这三种方法进行地形校正后，由于光照条件减弱，校正效果受到损害。在地形和地理条件与本研究相似的区域内，在获取图像的同时，可以根据太阳高度将校正效果分为三个级别，即> 60°，50–60°和<50°。在对太阳高度<50°时获得的图像进行定量研究时应谨慎。