Search publications of the members of the Royal Belgian institute of natural Sciences
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Mapping total suspended matter from geostationary satellites: a feasibility study with SEVIRI in the Southern North Sea
- Geostationary ocean colour sensors have not yet been launched into space, but are under consideration by a number of space agencies. This study provides a proof of concept for mapping of Total Suspended Matter (TSM) in turbid coastal waters from geostationary platforms with the existing SEVIRI (Spinning Enhanced Visible and InfraRed Imager) meteorological sensor on the METEOSAT Second Generation platform. Data are available in near real time every 15 minutes. SEVIRI lacks sufficient bands for chlorophyll remote sensing but its spectral resolution is sufficient for quantification of Total Suspended Matter (TSM) in turbid waters, using a single broad red band, combined with a suitable near infrared band. A test data set for mapping of TSM in the Southern North Sea was obtained covering 35 consecutive days from June 28 until July 31 2006. Atmospheric correction of SEVIRI images includes corrections for Rayleigh and aerosol scattering, absorption by atmospheric gases and atmospheric transmittances. The aerosol correction uses assumptions on the ratio of marine reflectances and aerosol reflectances in the red and near-infrared bands. A single band TSM retrieval algorithm, calibrated by non-linear regression of seaborne measurements of TSM and marine reflectance was applied. The effect of the above assumptions on the uncertainty of the marine reflectance and TSM products was analysed. Results show that (1) mapping of TSM in the Southern North Sea is feasible with SEVIRI for turbid waters, though with considerable uncertainties in clearer waters, (2) TSM maps are well correlated with TSM maps obtained from MODIS AQUA and (3) during cloud-free days, high frequency dynamics of TSM are detected. (C) 2009 Optical Society of America
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Optimization and quality control of suspended particulate matter concentration measurement using turbidity measurements
- The dry weight concentration of suspended particulate material, [SPM] (units: mg L-1), is measured by passing a known volume of seawater through a preweighed filter and reweighing the filter after drying. This is apparently a simple procedure, but accuracy and precision of [SPM] measurements vary widely depending on the measurement protocol and experience and skills of the person filtering. We show that measurements of turbidity, T (units: FNU), which are low cost, simple, and fast, can be used to optimally set the filtration volume, to detect problems with the mixing of the sample during subsampling, and to quality control [SPM]. A relationship between T and `optimal filtration volume', V opt, is established where V opt is the volume at which enough matter is retained by the filter for precise measurement, but not so much that the filter clogs. This relationship is based on an assessment of procedural uncertainties in the [SPM] measurement protocol, including salt retention, filter preparation, weighing, and handling, and on a value for minimum relative precision for replicates. The effect of filtration volume on the precision of [SPM] measurement is investigated by filtering volumes of seawater ranging between one fifth and twice V opt. It is shown that filtrations at V opt maximize precision and cost effectiveness of [SPM]. Finally, the 90\% prediction bounds of the T versus [SPM] regression allow the quality control of [SPM] determinations. In conclusion it is recommended that existing [SPM] gravimetric measurements be refined to include measurement of turbidity to improve their precision and quality control.
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The Coastcolour project regional algorithm round robin exercise
- The MERIS instrument delivers a unique dataset of ocean colour measurements of the coastal zone, at 300m resolution and with a unique spectral band set. The motivation for the Coastcolour project is to fully exploit the potential of the MERIS instrument for remote sensing of the coastal zone. The general objective of the project is to develop, demonstrate, validate and intercompare different processing algorithms for MERIS over a global range of coastal water types in order to identify best practices. In this paper the Coastcolour project is presented in general and the Regional Algorithm Round Robin (RARR) exercise is described in detail. The RARR has the objective of determining the best approach to retrieval of chlorophyll a and other marine products (e. g. Inherent Optical Properties) for each of the Coastcolour coastal water test sites. Benchmark datasets of reflectances at MERIS bands will be distributed to algorithm provider participants for testing of both global (Coastcolour and other) algorithms and site-specific local algorithms. Results from all algorithms will be analysed and compared according to a uniform methodology. Participation of algorithm providers from outside the Coastcolour consortium is encouraged.
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Variability of Suspended Particulate Matter in the Bohai Sea from the Geostationary Ocean Color Imager (GOCI)
- This study assesses the performance of the Geostationary Ocean Imager (GOCI) for mapping of suspended particulate matter in the Bohai Sea, a turbid water region. GOCI imagery for remote sensing reflectance and Total Suspended Solids (TSS) is analysed in detail for two days in June 2011 (8 images per day). Both instantaneous and daily composite maps are considered and a comparison is made with corresponding reflectance and TSS products from MODIS-AQUA. Results show TSS distributions corresponding to previous studies of the region. The advantage of the higher acquisition frequency (8 images/day instead of 1) offered by GOCI is clearly demonstrated in the daily composite which is more complete during this period of scattered but moving clouds. Consideration of temporal variation over the day indicates low natural variability but some artificial variability from processing errors - this analysis provides a first indication of how the higher frequency of data from geostationary ocean colour could lead to improved data quality control via temporal coherency outlier detection. While there is room for improvement on the GOCI calibration, atmospheric correction and retrieval algorithms, the current study suggests that the GOCI data can already be used now to study qualitatively sediment dynamics except in the extremely turbid waters which are masked out of the current dataset. In a wider context, it is considered that the technical challenges of geostationary ocean colour have been met by the GOCI concept, and, notwithstanding potential improvements on the concept and data processing methods, it is recommended that this mission serve as a model for future geostationary ocean colour sensors over Europe/Africa and the Americas.
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Detection and correction of adjacency effects in hyperspectral airborne data of coastal and inland waters: the use of the near infrared similarity spectrum
- A method for the detection and correction of water pixels affected by adjacency effects is presented. The approach is based on the comparison of spectra with the near infrared (NIR) similarity spectrum. Pixels affected by adjacency effects have a water-leaving reflectance spectrum with a different shape to the reference spectrum. This deviation from the similarity spectrum is used as a measure for the adjacency effect. Secondly, the correspondence with the NIR similarity spectrum is used to quantify and to correct for the contribution of the background radiance during atmospheric correction. The advantage of the approach is that it requires no a priori assumptions on the sediment load or related reflectance values in the NIR and can therefore be applied to turbid waters. The approach is tested on hyperspectral airborne data (Compact Airborne Spectrographic Imager (CASI), Airborne Hyperspectral Scanner (AHS)) acquired above coastal and inland waters at different flight altitudes and under varying atmospheric conditions. As the NIR similarity spectrum forms the basis of the approach, the method will fail for water bodies for which this similarity spectrum is no longer valid.
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Variability in specific-absorption properties and their use in a semi-analytical ocean colour algorithm for MERIS in North Sea and Western English Channel Coastal Waters
- Coastal areas of the North Sea are commercially important for fishing and tourism, and are subject to the increasingly adverse effects of harmful algal blooms, eutrophication and climate change. Monitoring phytoplankton in these areas using Ocean Colour Remote Sensing is hampered by the high spatial and temporal variations in absorption and scattering properties. In this paper we demonstrate a clustering method based on specific-absorption properties that gives accurate water quality products from the Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS). A total of 468 measurements of Chlorophyll a (Chla), Total Suspended Material (TSM), specific- (sIOP) and inherent optical properties (IOP) were measured in the North Sea between April 1999 and September 2004. Chla varied from 0.2 to 35 mg m(-3). TSM from 0.2 to 75 g m(-3) and absorption properties of coloured dissolved organic material at 442 nm (a(CDOM)(442)) was 0.02 to 0.26 m(-1). The variation in absorption properties of phytoplankton (a(ph)) and non-algal particles (a(NAP)) were an order of magnitude greater than that for a(ph) normalized to Chla (a(ph)*) and a(NAP) normalized to TSM (a(NAP)*). Hierarchical cluster analysis on a(ph)*, a(NAP). and a(CDOM) reduced this large data set to three groups of high a(NAP)*-a(CDOM). low a(ph)* situated close to the coast, medium values further offshore and low a(NAP)* a(CDOM), high a(ph)* in open ocean and Dutch coastal waters. The median sIOP of each cluster were used to parameterize a semi-analytical algorithm to retrieve concentrations of Chla, TSM and a(CDOM)(442) from MERIS data. A further 60 measurements of normalized water leaving radiance (nL(w)), Chla, TSM, a(CDOM)(442) and a(NAP)(442) collected between 2003 and 2006 were used to assess the accuracy of the satellite products. The regionalized MERIS algorithm showed improved performance in Chla and a(CDOM)(442) estimates with relative percentage differences of 29 and 8\% compared to 34 and 134\% for standard MERIS Chla and a(dg)(442) products, and similar retrieval for TSM at concentrations 1 g(-3). Crown Copyright (C) 2011 Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Synergy between polar-orbiting and geostationary sensors: Remote sensing of the ocean at high spatial and high temporal resolution
- Ocean colour sensors have been capturing the state of the world's oceans for over a decade. They are typically installed on polar-orbiting satellites and cover the entire earth every 1 to 2 days. This temporal resolution is insufficient to observe oceanic processes occurring at a higher frequency, especially when taking cloud cover into account. Data from geostationary platforms can be obtained with a much better temporal resolution (images every 15 or 60 min), and thus are useful to study those processes. We show that by synergistically combining marine reflectance data from SEVIRI, a geostationary sensor, and MODIS Aqua, a polar orbiter, the resulting product is an improvement over both data sources. The synergy approach takes the reflectance from MODIS, with high quality and high spatial resolution, and modulates this over the day by the temporal variability of the SEVIRI reflectance, normalized to the SEVIRI reflectance at the time of MODIS overpass. The temporal frequency of the synergy product is much better than that of MODIS, and by using the latter's high quality data, the limited spatial and radiometric resolution of SEVIRI is enhanced. As the SEVIRI data is limited to a single broad red band (560-710 nm), the applications of the synergy product are limited to parameters that can be derived from this band, such as suspended particulate matter (SPM), turbidity (T) and the diffuse attenuation of photosynthetically available radiation (Kpar) in turbid waters. A geostationary ocean colour sensor over Europe will provide invaluable data concerning our marine environment. The cost of increasing the spatial resolution of a geostationary sensor is very high, and this study illustrates that a lower resolution geostationary ocean colour sensor combined with a high resolution polar orbiting sensor, can provide a high frequency synergetic product with high spatial resolution. (C) 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc All rights reserved.
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Generalized satellite image processing: eight years of ocean colour data for any region on earth
- During the past decade, the world's oceans have been systematically observed by orbiting spectroradiometers such as MODIS and MERIS. These sensors have generated a huge amount of data with unprecedented temporal and spatial coverage. The data is freely available, but not always accessible for marine researchers with no image processing experience. In order to provide historical and current oceanographic parameters for the jellyfish forecasting in the JELLYFOR project, a tool for the generalized processing and archiving of satellite data was created (GRIMAS). Using this generalized software, the large amount of remote sensing data can be accessed, and parameters such as chlorophyll a concentration (CHL), sea surface temperature (SST) and total suspended matter concentration (TSM) can be extracted and gridded for any region on earth. Time-series and climatologies can be easily extracted from this data archive. The products generated can be based on the standard products, as supplied by space agencies, or can be new or regionally calibrated products. All available MODIS and MERIS L2 images from an eight year period (2003-2010) were processed in order to create a gridded dataset of CHL, SST (MODIS only) and of TSM for the three JELLYFOR regions. For two of the regions, data for an extended region was also processed. Multi-year composites (climatologies) of satellite data and time-series can provide a wealth of information for different projects in any region. Climatologies from the two sensors are in good agreement, while significant differences can occur on a scene per scene basis. Total suspended matter concentrations match favourably with in situ data derived from sensors on autonomous buoys. MODIS sea surface temperature corresponds closely to temperature continuously measured underway on research vessels.
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In situ determination of the remote sensing reflectance: an inter-comparison
- Inter-comparison of data products from simultaneous measurements performed with independent systems and methods is a viable approach to assess the consistency of data and additionally to investigate uncertainties. Within such a context the inter-comparison called Assessment of In Situ Radiometric Capabilities for Coastal Water Remote Sensing Applications (ARC) was carried out at the Acqua Alta Oceanographic Tower in the northern Adriatic Sea to explore the accuracy of in situ data products from various in- and above-water optical systems and methods. Measurements were performed under almost ideal conditions, including a stable deployment platform, clear sky, relatively low sun zenith angles and moderately low sea state. Additionally, all optical sensors involved in the experiment were inter-calibrated through absolute radiometric calibration performed with the same standards and methods. Inter-compared data products include spectral waterleaving radiance L-w(lambda), above-water downward irradiance E-d(0(+),lambda) and remote sensing reflectance R-rs(lambda). Data products from the various measurement systems/methods were directly compared to those from a single reference system/method. Results for R-rs(lambda) indicate spectrally averaged values of relative differences comprised between - 1 and +6 \%, while spectrally averaged values of absolute differences vary from approximately 6\% for the above-water systems/methods to 9 \% for buoy-based systems/methods. The agreement between R-rs(lambda) spectral relative differences and estimates of combined uncertainties of the inter-compared systems/methods is noteworthy.
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A model study of the Rhine discharge front and downwelling circulation
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Variability of the inherent and apparent optical properties in a highly turbid coastal area: impact for the calibration of remote sensing algorithms
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Estimating PCO2 from remote sensing in the Belgian Coastal Zone.
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Net ecosystem production and carbon dioxide fluxes in the Scheldt estuarine plume
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Optical remote sensing in support of eutrophication monitoring in the Southern North Sea
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A generalised vertical coordinate for 3D marine models
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Calibration and validation of an algorithm for remote sensing of turbidity over La Plata River estuary, Argentina
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Improving water reflectance retrieval from MODIS imagery in the highly turbid waters of La Plata River
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Visible and near infrared spectral variations of light backscattering by hydrosols
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SIMEC, an environmental correction for MERIS based on the NIR similarity spectrum
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Modelling the relative impact of the rivers Scheldt, Rhine, Meuse and Seine on the availability of nutrients in Belgian waters (Southern North Sea) using the 3D coupled physical-biological model MIRO&CO-3D.
