Performance of Landsat-8 and Sentinel-2 surface reflectance products for river remote sensing retrievals of chlorophyll-a and turbidity

Author(s):Show less -

Kuhn, Catherine ^[1] ; Valerio, Aline de Matos ^[2] ; Ward, Nick ^{[3, 4]} ; Loken, Luke ^{[5, 6]} ; Sawakuchi, Henrique Oliveira ^{[7, 8]} ; Karnpel, Milton ^[2] ; Richey, Jeffrey ^[3] ; Stadler, Philipp ^[9] ; Crawford, John ^[10] ; Striegl, Rob ^[10] ; Vermote, Eric ^[11] ; Pahlevan, Nima ^{[11, 12]} ; Butman, David ^{[1, 13]}

Affiliation:Show less -

^[1] Univ Washington, Dept Forestry & Environm Sci, Seattle, WA 98195 - USA

^[2] Inst Nacl Pesquisas Espaciais, Div Sensoriamento Remoto, Sao Jose Dos Campos, SP - Brazil

^[3] Univ Washington, Sch Oceanog, Seattle, WA 98195 - USA

^[4] Pacific Northwest Natl Lab, Marine Sci Lab, Sequim, WA - USA

^[5] Univ Wisconsin, Ctr Limnol, Madison, WI 53706 - USA

^[6] US Geol Survey, Wisconsin Water Sci Ctr, Middleton, WI - USA

^[7] Univ Sao Paulo, Ctr Energia Nucl Agr, Piracicaba, SP - Brazil

^[8] Umea Univ, Dept Ecol & Environm Sci, KBC Huset, Linnaeus Vag 6, S-90187 Umea - Sweden

^[9] TU Wien, Ctr Water Resource Syst, Karlspl 13, A-1040 Vienna - Austria

^[10] USGS, Water Mission Area, Boulder, CO - USA

^[11] NASA, Goddard Space Flight Ctr, 8800 Greenbelt Rd, Greenbelt, MD 20771 - USA

^[12] Sci Syst & Applicat Inc, 10210 Greenbelt Rd, Lanham, MD - USA

^[13] Univ Washington, Dept Civil & Environm Engn, Seattle, WA 98195 - USA

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: REMOTE SENSING OF ENVIRONMENT; v. 224, p. 104-118, APR 2019.
• Web of Science Citations: 10

Abstract

Rivers and other freshwater systems play a crucial role in ecosystems, industry, transportation and agriculture. Despite the > 40 years of inland water observations made possible by optical remote sensing, a standardized reflectance product for inland waters is yet forthcoming. The aim of this work is to compare the standard USGS land surface reflectance product to two Landsat-8 and Sentinel-2 aquatic remote sensing reflectance products over the Amazon, Columbia and Mississippi rivers. Landsat-8 reflectance products from all three routines are then evaluated for their comparative performance in retrieving chlorophyll-a and turbidity in reference to ship borne, underway in situ validation measurements. The land surface product shows the best agreement (4% Mean Absolute Percent Difference) with field measurements of radiometry collected on the Amazon River and generates 36% higher reflectance values in the visible bands compared to aquatic methods (ACOLITE and SeaDAS) with larger differences between land and aquatic products observed in Sentinel-2 (0.01 sr(-1)) compared to Landsat-8 (0.001 sr(-1)). Choice of atmospheric correction routine can bias Landsat-8 retrievals of chlorophyll-a and turbidity by as much as 59% and 35% respectively. Using a more restrictive time window for matching in situ and satellite imagery can reduce differences by 5-31% depending on correction technique. This work highlights the challenges of satellite retrievals over rivers and underscores the need for future optical and biogeochemical research aimed at improving our understanding of the absorbing and scattering properties of river water and their relationships to remote sensing reflectance. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 14/21564-2 - Biogeochemistry of the lower Amazon
• Grantee: Henrique Oliveira Sawakuchi
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• FAPESP's process: 12/51187-0 - Net ecosystem exchange of lower Amazon River: from land to the ocean and atmosphere
• Grantee: Jeffrey Edward Richey
• Support Opportunities: Research Program on Global Climate Change - SPEC