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Mapping inland water carbon content with Landsat 8 data

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DOI: 10.1080/01431161.2016.1186852

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 International Journal of Remote Sensing

ISSN: 0143-1161 (Print) 1366-5901 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/tres20

Mapping inland water carbon content with

Landsat 8 data

Tiit Kutser, Gema Casal Pascual, Claudio Barbosa, Birgot Paavel, Renato
Ferreira, Lino Carvalho & Kaire Toming

To cite this article: Tiit Kutser, Gema Casal Pascual, Claudio Barbosa, Birgot Paavel, Renato
Ferreira, Lino Carvalho & Kaire Toming (2016) Mapping inland water carbon content with
Landsat 8 data, International Journal of Remote Sensing, 37:13, 2950-2961

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 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF REMOTE SENSING, 2016
VOL. 37, NO. 13, 2950–2961
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01431161.2016.1186852

Mapping inland water carbon content with Landsat 8 data

Tiit Kutsera, Gema Casal Pascuala, Claudio Barbosab, Birgot Paavela, Renato Ferreirab,
Lino Carvalhob and Kaire Tominga
a
Estonian Marine Institute, University of Tartu, Tallinn, Estonia; bNational Institute for Space Research, São
José dos Campos, Brazil

ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

Landsat 8 is the first Earth observation satellite with sufficient Received 18 March 2015
radiometric and spatial resolution to allow global mapping of Accepted 28 April 2016
lake CDOM and DOC (coloured dissolved organic matter and
dissolved organic carbon, respectively) content. Landsat 8 is a
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multispectral sensor however, the number of potentially

usable band ratios, or more sophisticated indices, is limited.
In order to test the suitability of the ratio most commonly
used in lake carbon content mapping, the green–red band
ratio, we carried out fieldwork in Estonian and Brazilian lakes.
Several atmospheric correction methods were also tested in
order to use image data where the image-to-image variability
due to illumination conditions would be minimal. None of the
four atmospheric correction methods tested, produced reflec-
tance spectra that matched well with in situ measured reflec-
tance. Nevertheless, the green–red band ratio calculated from
the reflectance data was in correlation with measured CDOM
values. In situ data show that there is a strong correlation
between CDOM and DOC concentrations in Estonian and
Brazilian lakes. Thus, mapping the global CDOM and DOC
content from Landsat 8 is plausible but more data from differ-
ent parts of the world are needed before decisions can be
made about the accuracy of such global estimation.

1. Introduction
Our current knowledge about the role of inland waters in the global carbon cycle
(Tranvik et al. 2009; IPCC 2013) is based on upscaling results from several thousand
lakes on the statistical estimate on global lake abundance. It has been shown (Seekell
and Pace 2011) that the statistical estimate of lake abundance (Downing et al. 2006)
may be wrong due to overestimation of the numbers of small lakes. On the other
hand, several thousand lakes, for which in situ data are available, is a very small
number compared to the 304 million lakes that is the statistical estimate (Downing
et al. 2006). Determining the true role of lakes in the global carbon cycle requires
knowledge of the actual global lake volume and their carbon content. Remote
sensing could potentially be the ideal tool to solve both the volume and carbon

CONTACT Birgot Paavel Birgot.Paavel@ut.ee Estonian Marine Institute, University of Tartu, Mäealuse 14,
Tallinn, Estonia
© 2016 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF REMOTE SENSING 2951

concentration issues, but our study focuses on the possibility to use Landsat 8 in
global lake carbon mapping.
Several issues have hampered lake remote sensing up to recent times. First, there
were technical problems: satellites suitable for water quality remote sensing – MODIS
(Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer), MERIS (Medium Resolution Imaging
Spectrometer), and SeaWiFS (Sea-Viewing Wide Field-of-View Sensor) – have or had a
spatial resolution not suitable for most lakes. On the other hand, sensors with suffi-
cient spatial resolution (such as Landsat series) had 8-bit radiometric resolution. This
means that the entire range of the measured signal to describe objects, from the
darkest water body to the brightest snow, ice, or clouds, was just 256 grey levels. This
meant that the entire variability in optical water properties had to be described using
just a few grey levels. As a consequence, the Landsat water quality products were with
relatively large errors, described general water properties such as water clarity
(Olmanson, Bauer, and Brezonik 2008), or were developed for retrieval of water quality
parameters such as coloured dissolved organic matter (CDOM) in ‘mid-range’ lakes
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(Kallio et al. 2008; Kutser 2012) rather than over the whole range from the brightest to
the optically almost black ones. The launch of Landsat 8 solved these problems as its
radiometric resolution (12-bit or 4096 grey levels) should be sufficient for most water
bodies. One of the aims of our study was to test whether this is true in CDOM-rich
Estonian and Brazilian lakes.
The ocean colour research community has been closely connected with and sup-
ported by government space agencies and large institutes, as well having been funded
by large agencies that design and built Earth-observing satellites. In contrast, inland and
lake remote sensing groups usually involve just a few scientists using satellites that are
suboptimal for lake studies and working at the local scale with scarce funding (Palmer,
Kutser, and Hunter 2015). In this study we combined the efforts of two research groups
from different continents and climate zones to test the suitability of Landsat 8 and the
robustness of a band ratio algorithm in lake carbon estimation.
Determining the area and number of lakes on Earth was possible without appropriate
water colour sensors. Verpoorter, Kutser, and Tranvik (2012) developed a methodology
that allows extraction of lakes from 14.25 m pixel-size GeoCover mosaics made from
Landsat imagery. Combining the image data with a digital elevation model and using
GIS (Geographic Information System) tools in combination with image-processing tech-
niques allowed production of the most accurate global inventory of lakes and their size
(Verpoorter et al. 2014). Processing of the GeoCover product revealed that there are 117
million lakes on Earth that are at least 0.002 km2 in size. These cover about 5 million km2,
which is approximately 3.7% of global unglaciated land mass. This lake database is
currently used to estimate global lake volume.
Unfortunately, the GeoCover data used for global mapping of lakes do not provide
any information about water quality, despite Landsat satellite data as such having been
used in inland water quality remote sensing (Dekker and Peters 1993; Mayo et al. 1995;
Brezonik, Menken, and Bauer 2005). The lower radiometric sensitivity of previous Landsat
series sensors limits their use in lake CDOM remote sensing (Kutser 2012). Following the
launch of Landsat 8 in 2013, which made technically feasible to estimate also global lake
carbon content.
 2952 T. KUTSER ET AL.

More than 90% of carbon in lakes is in dissolved form, DOC (Wetzel 2001). It was
shown using ALI (Advanced Land Imager, Landsat 8 prototype) that mapping of lake
CDOM and DOC from space is possible (Kutser, Pierson, Kallio, et al. 2005, Kutser,
Pierson, Tranvik, et al. 2005; Kutser, Tranvik, and Pierson 2009). ALI was an experimental
sensor with no global coverage, but Landsat 8 now provides global coverage. It will take
a few years before cloud-free Landsat 8 data become available for most of the Earth’s
surface. Therefore, it is timely to test the performance of Landsat 8 in lake carbon remote
sensing and determine whether the current CDOM and DOC retrieval algorithms are
suitable globally.
The aim of our study is to make the first steps towards achieving a global lake DOC
estimation for determining the true role of lakes in the global carbon cycle through
testing different atmospheric correction procedures and the robustness of CDOM and
DOC retrieval algorithms in different climatic zones.
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2. Study sites and methods

2.1. Study sites
The study was carried out at four different water bodies: Lakes Peipsi and Võrtsjärv in
Estonia, and Três Marias Reservoir and Curuai Floodplain Lake in Brazil (Figure 1). Lake
Peipsi is the fourth largest lake in Europe (3555 km2). The optical properties of the lake
are dominated by CDOM. There are frequent algal blooms in the lake during summer

Figure 1. Locations of (a) lakes Peipsi and Võrtsjärv in the Landsat 8 image used in this study, (b)
Curuai floodplain lakes, and (c) Três Marias reservoir sampling stations.
 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF REMOTE SENSING 2953

and water turbidity can be high during high wind speed conditions, i.e. resuspension of
sediments from the bottom, as the lake is shallow (mean depth 7.1 m).
Võrtsjärv is the second largest lake in Estonia (270 km2). It is a very shallow (mean
depth 2.7 m) lake with relatively high concentrations of chlorophyll-a, CDOM, and
suspended matter.
Três Marias is a tropical hydroelectric reservoir located in the central region
(18º12ʹ52ʹʹ S; 45º15ʹ1ʹʹ W) of Minas Gerais state, Brazil (Figure 1(c)). The Três Marias
dam in the upper São Francisco River basin flooded an area of about 927 km2 and has a
maximum depth of 56 m (Sperling 1997). Três Marias water has low average turbidity
(1.02 NTU) and relatively high Secchi depth (2.65 m). The Curuai floodplain, located
along the Amazon River (1.5° S; 55.4° W), 900 km upstream from the river mouth at the
Atlantic Ocean (Figure 1(b)), is a complex system of 30 interconnected shallow lakes
which at flood peak are collapsed into a single water body of nearly 2000 km2. Due to
the flood pulse, the floodplain waters undergo a period of strong transition in their
range of water constituent concentrations. Barbosa et al. (2010) described large seasonal
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and spatial variations in total suspended sediment and chlorophyll-a across the Curuai
floodplain. For example, the chlorophyll-a concentration varies between 0.21 and 350 µg
l–1 while suspended matter concentration varies between 5.5 and 360 mg l–1.

2.2. Field measurements

At Lake Peipsi the field measurements were carried out on 8 July 2013 simultaneously
with the Landsat 8 overpass. Lake Võrtsjärv measurements took place on 10 July 2013.
There were nine sampling stations at Lake Peipsi and three at Võrtsjärv. Water reflec-
tance was measured with two Ramses spectrometers (one measuring downwelling
irradiance and one measuring upwelling radiance). The reflectance measurements
were carried out in two different ways – both sensors above the water, as well as with
the upwelling radiance sensor just below the water surface to avoid sun and sky glint
(methodology described in Kutser et al. 2013). The spectral range of the Ramses sensor is
350–950 nm and the sampling interval is 3.3 nm. Absorption and attenuation coefficient
spectra were measured with a 10 cm path length AC–S, backscattering coefficient with
ECO–BB3, and volume scattering function at three angles and three wavelengths with
ECO–VSF3 (all are WetLabs instruments). It is possible to calculate the backscattering
coefficient from ECO–VSF3. Combining BB3 and VSF3 data allows the acquisition of
backscattering coefficient values at six wavelengths. Chlorophyll-a, CDOM, and phyco-
cyanin concentrations were measured in situ fluorometrically (microFLU by TriOS) and
water samples were taken for laboratory analysis of chlorophyll-a, CDOM, TSM (total
suspended matter), SPIM (suspended particulate inorganic matter), and SPOM (sus-
pended particulate organic matter).
Water samples were collected from the surface layer (0.2 m) with a standard Ruttner
water sampler (Hydrobios GmbH, Germany) and stored in the dark and cold for less than
10 h before filtering. Depending on particle concentration in the water, 0.1–1 l was
filtered through GF/F-filters (Whatman). Phytoplankton pigments were extracted from
the filters with 96% ethanol at 20°C for 24 h and measured spectrometrically (Hitachi
Ltd, Spectrophotometer model U–3010). Later, optical density value was converted to
chlorophyll-a concentration, Cchl-a, according to the Lorenzen (1967) formula. The
 2954 T. KUTSER ET AL.

concentration of total suspended matter, CTSM, was measured gravimetrically after

filtration of the same amount of water through pre-weighed and pre-combusted (103–
105°C for 1 h) filters; the inorganic fraction, CSPIM, was measured after combustion at
550°C for 30 min. The organic fraction, CSPOM, was determined by subtraction of CSPIM
from CTSM (ESS method, 340.2. 1993). The absorption by coloured dissolved organic
matter, aCDOM(λ), was measured with a spectrometer (Hitachi Ltd, in the range
380–700 nm) in water filtered through a Millipore 0.2 μm filter, in a 5 cm cuvette against
distilled water and corrected for residual scattering according to Davies-Colley and Vant
(1987).
In Três Marias reservoir a field campaign was conducted on 17–22 June 2013 at 22
sampling stations. Each station was profiled using an instrument package that included
a 25 cm path length AC-S attenuation-absorption meter (WET Labs) and a Hydroscat-6P
backscattering meter (HOBILABS), along with six module Ramses radiometers (TriOS).
In the Curuai floodplain, 31 stations, representative of optically distinct water masses,
were sampled on 11–17 August 2013. The distribution of the sampling stations was
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based on the analysis of historical Landsat-TM images acquired at a similar hydrograph

phase. A set of instruments similar to those used in Três Marias was also used in Curuai,
except for the AC-S which was replaced by a 10 cm path length instrument due to the
high lake turbidity.
In both Brazilian sites, in situ measurements of pH, turbidity, water temperature,
dissolved oxygen, conductivity, and Secchi depth (the relative transparency of water
measured by white Secchi disc) were carried out at each station. Water samples were
taken for subsequent laboratory analysis of chlorophyll-a, CDOM, DOC, TSM, SPIM, and
SPOM concentrations and specific absorption of chlorophyll and NAP (non-algal
particles).
Water samples were collected at each station at the sub-surface (0.2 m depth) and
kept in the dark and cooled for a maximum of 4 h before being vacuum-filtered. For
CDOM absorption coefficient, aCDOM(λ), water samples were filtered through Whatman
GF/F (0.7 μm pore size) filters and then by 0.22 μm pore size polycarbonate filters,
whereas for DOC concentration, CDOC, samples were filtered through Whatman GF/F
filters. The filtrate samples were stored in amber Qorpak bottles, previously cleaned and
sterilized, and kept cold until laboratory analysis. To determine DOC concentrations,
infrared gas analysis was carried out using a Shimadzu, TOC-5000 analyser with high-
temperature combustion. CDOM absorption was measured with a dual-beam spectro-
photometer (UV-2600 Shimadzu) using a 10 cm cuvette in a 280–800 nm wavelength
interval. The median optical density from 750 to 800 nm was subtracted from the data as
a baseline correction (Tilstone et al. 2002).

2.3. Landsat 8 imagery and atmospheric correction

The Estonian Landsat image was acquired on 8 July 2013 (Path 186, Row 19). Lake
Võrtsjärv area was completely cloud free (see Figure 1(a)), whereas Lake Peipsi area had
some haze and a few very small cumulus and cirrus clouds, but these covered an almost
negligible part of the lake.
The Três Marias reservoir Landsat image was acquired on 13 June 2013 (Path 219,
Row 73). The sky over the reservoir was completely cloud free. Although the field
 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF REMOTE SENSING 2955

campaign in Curuai floodplain was carried out in August 2013, the Landsat image
analysed was acquired on 28 June 2013 (Path 228, Row 61) due to the presence of
clouds in the image collected simultaneously with the fieldwork. Even the image
analysed had some cloud coverage. However, most of the sampling points were located
in zones with no cloud influence.
We tested several atmospheric correction procedures, for example, FLAASH (Fast
Line-of-sight Atmospheric Analysis of Hypercubes) and Quick Atmospheric Correction
available in ENVI image processing software, as well as GRASS (Geographic Resources
Analysis Support System) and ATCOR23 (Atmospheric and Topographic Correction for
Satellite Images). In particular, if our aim is to create a global lake CDOM map from tens
of thousands of Landsat scenes collected in variable illumination conditions. The per-
formance of these atmospheric correction methods was tested by comparing in situ and
Landsat reflectance spectra. For this comparison, Ramses reflectance spectra were
recalculated to Landsat bands using Landsat 8 bands’ spectral response functions.
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3. Results and discussion

Concentrations of optically active substances in the studied lakes were quite variable. For
example, in Lake Peipsi chlorophyll-a varied between 6.3 and 13.2 mg m–3; aCDOM(400)
varied between 5.67 and 9.47 m–1; and total suspended matter varied between 0.75 and
8.0 mg l–1. At five stations, CTSM consisted only of organic particles while at four stations
the contribution of inorganic material reached up to 50% of the total weight. The
concentrations were mostly higher for Lake Võrtsjärv. For example, Cchl–a varied between
30.27 and 36.47 mg m–3 and CTSM between 12.5 and 17.5 mg l–1, while aCDOM(400) was
stable over the lake (5.91–6.01 m–1).
In Três Marias reservoir chlorophyll-a varied between 1.17 and 13.22 mg m–3, with a
mean value of 5.47 mg m–3. Lower values occurred in the upper part of the reservoir and
near the dam. CDOM absorption at 400 nm varied between 0.39 and 2.72 m–1, with a
mean value of 0.83 m–1; CTSM varied between 1.33 and 11.93 mg l–1, with a mean value
of 4.34 mg l–1; and CDOC was stable across the reservoir, ranging from 0.93 to 2.71 mg l–1
with a mean value 1.95 mg l–1.
In Curuai floodplain, chlorophyll-a varied between 2.28 and 91 mg m–3 with a mean
value of 13.05 mg m–3. CDOM absorption at 400 nm varied between 0.70 and 3.5 m–1,
with a mean value of 2.97 m–1; CTSM varied between 1.25 and 19.5 mg l–1, with a mean
value of 9.64 mg l–1; and CDOC ranged between 2.11 and 7.01 mg l–1, with a mean value
of 4.73 mg l–1.
In general there is a strong correlation between aCDOM and CDOC in boreal lakes
(Tranvik 1990; Kallio 1999). We did not measure CDOC in Estonian lakes during the optical
field campaign. Our studies in Lake Peipsi (unpublished) show that the correlation
between aCDOM(400) and CDOC is significant. For Lake Võrtsjärv we have monthly data
from 2010 to 2014. For the whole data set the correlation between aCDOM(400) and CDOC
is not very strong (R2 = 0.51). This is mainly due to low (R2 = 0.46) correlation during
winter when the lake is covered by ice and no water quality remote sensing can be
carried out anyway. During spring, summer, and autumn (when water remote sensing is
possible) R2 was higher (0.49, 0.67, and 0.81, respectively). The results of Toming et al.
(forthcoming) show that in Lake Võrtsjärv there are better proxies for remote sensing
 2956 T. KUTSER ET AL.

retrieval of CDOC than aCDOM(400). For example, Secchi depth and total suspended
matter concentrations have a stronger correlation with CDOC than aCDOM. Nevertheless,
combining the Võrtsjärv results with those from lakes Taihu (China), Balaton (Hungary),
Miastro and Batorino (both Belarus), and Kinneret (Israel), Toming et al. showed that
aCDOM(400) is the best proxy for CDOC on a larger scale.
The correlation between CDOC and aCDOM(400) in Brazil is shown in Figure 2. From the
statistical point of view it is not correct to calculate correlation between data points that are
distributed in two separate clouds. On the other hand, it was our intention to find two
distinctly different water bodies for our study. Therefore, we think that Figure 2 illustrates
the fact that aCDOM(400) is a reasonable proxy for estimating CDOC from satellite data.
Atmospheric correction of lake imagery is an unresolved issue, and several authors
(Kallio et al. 2008; Kutser 2012) have shown that data from previous Landsat sensors
provided better results in lake research when atmospherically uncorrected Landsat
imagery was used. This is typical to previous Landsat sensors due to their low radio-
metric resolution (8-bit). The Landsat 8 OLI (Operational Land Imager) sensor has 12-bit
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radiometric resolution and improved signal-to-noise ratio compared with its predeces-
sors (Pahlevan et al. 2014). Therefore, we hoped that the atmospheric correction of
Landsat 8 would provide better results. Four different atmospheric correction proce-
dures were tested – FLAASH and QAC (Quick Atmospheric Correction) available in ENVI
image processing software, as well as GRASS and ATCOR23. The atmospheric correction
results were compared to Ramses field spectra recalculated to Landsat 8 spectral bands.
Figure 3 illustrates the performance of these atmospheric correction procedures for one
station each at Lake Peipsi and Lake Võrtsjärv.
It is obvious that the major problems are related to atmospheric correction of the blue
band (443 nm). This is the reason why we cannot use this band in CDOM-retrieval algorithms
despite the fact that the impact of aCDOM(λ) on the remote sensing signal is strongest in this
band and decreases exponentially with increasing wavelength. It is also seen that all atmo-
spheric correction procedures work better in the case of the more turbid (i.e. higher
reflectance) Lake Võrtsjärv (Figure 3(b)) than in the case of darker Lake Peipsi (Figure 3(a)).

Figure 2. Correlation between DOC and CDOM absorption coefficients at 400 nm measured from
water samples taken during Brazilian fieldwork campaigns.
 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF REMOTE SENSING 2957

Figure 3. Reflectance spectra of Lake Peipsi sampling station A6 and Lake Võrtsjärv sampling station
V3, calculated from Ramses field spectra (Ram) and obtained from simultaneous Landsat 8 image by
means of Quick Atmospheric Correction (QAC), FLAASH, GRASS, and ATCOR23 atmospheric correc-
tion procedures. Results for the first five Landsat bands are shown in the figure.
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Note that the Ramses in situ reflectance spectra are remote sensing reflectance (sr–1) and in
percentage (right axis) while the Landsat reflectance is unitless (left axis).
The effect of aCDOM(λ) on reflectance spectra is highest at shorter wavelengths and
decreases exponentially with increasing wavelength. Therefore, it is reasonable for
CDOM mapping to use band ratio algorithms where one of the bands is selected in
the blue part of spectrum and a reference band is taken from the red part of spectrum,
where the effect of aCDOM(λ) should be negligible. However, our results from extremely
CDOM-rich lakes (Kutser et al., forthcoming) show that the water-leaving signal may be
negligible for a wavelength range up to 600 nm in black lakes and that the signal
measured in this wavelength range is glint from the surface not water-leaving radiation.
In moderately CDOM-rich lakes the reflectance may be below detection limits of most
sensors in the blue part of the spectrum (Kutser et al. 2013). Therefore, many CDOM and
DOC algorithms use the green–red rather than the blue–red ratio (Kutser, Pierson, Kallio,
et al. 2005; Kutser, Pierson, Tranvik, et al. 2005; Kutser, Tranvik, and Pierson 2009; Zhu
et al. 2014). It is obvious from Figure 3 that the 443 nm band cannot be used in any
remote sensing algorithms as its reflectance values are wrong. The reason may be poor
atmospheric correction, presence of glint (which should be highest in the blue part of
the spectrum), or sensor calibration error. The latter should not be a problem according
to Pahlevan et al. (2014). None of the atmospheric correction methods used to produce
reflectance spectra match consistently well with the in situ-measured reflectance. On the
other hand, the use of band ratios allows removal of atmospheric correction errors to a
certain extent. Therefore, we chose ATCOR23 atmospheric correction and applied it to
both Estonian and Brazilian images for consistency of results. A green–red (band 3/band
4) ratio was then calculated for each sampling station and the results were compared
with in situ data (Figure 4).
The results can be interpreted in several ways. First, the correlation between band
ratio and aCDOM(400) is reasonable (R2 = 0.63) for the whole database. This is an
indication that using a band-ratio-type algorithm for global CDOM retrieval is plausible.
However, it is evident that neither Estonian or Curuai data fit the general picture very
well. Excluding the Curuai stations increased correlation between band ratio and aCDOM
(400) significantly (R2 = 0.91). However, excluding the Estonian lakes also resulted in a
 2958 T. KUTSER ET AL.

Figure 4. Relationship between in situ-measured CDOM and Landsat 8 band ratio at three study
sites – Tres Marias and Curuai floodplain in Brazil and Estonian lakes Peipsi and Võrtsjärv. The red
dashed line shows the power law relationship for this study, the dotted line shows the relationship
for Swedish and Finnish lakes (Kutser, Pierson, Tranvik, et al. 2005), and the green dashed line is
Downloaded by [Birgot Paavel] at 05:34 29 June 2016

based on modelling results for a wide variety of lakes (Kutser, Pierson, Kallio, et al. 2005).

very high correlation (R2 = 0.83). The question arises as to which data points do not fit
the general picture, and why?
Fitting a power law function (red dashed line in Figure 4) through all our data points
indicates that the band ratio values of Estonian lakes are too high. Indeed, calculating
the same band ratios from field reflectance data collected simultaneously with the
Landsat 8 overpass produced about 10% lower values. This, however, does not produce
significant change compared to the results shown in Figure 4. Potential reasons for the
slightly elevated values of the Landsat 8 band ratio for Estonian lakes may be the slight
haze seen in the Landsat 8 image (Figure 1(a)) and/or atmospheric correction issues.
We plotted power law functions produced based on Finnish and Swedish lake data
(dashed line, formula from Kutser, Pierson, Tranvik, et al. 2005) and modelling results (dotted
line, equation from Kutser, Pierson, Kallio, et al. 2005). The modelling was carried out with a
wide range of combinations of chlorophyll-a, CDOM, SPOM, and SPIM concentrations using
the model described by Pierson and Strömbeck (2001) and simulating the performance of an
11-bit multispectral satellite. Both the modelling results (supposedly covering the properties
of most lakes throughout the world) and the results of Kutser, Pierson, Kallio, et al. (2005) are
quite close and fit with the data from Tres Marias and the Estonian lakes.
One may conclude that the Curuai floodplain lake data do not fit the general picture.
These lakes are quite unusual. First, the lakes are in a floodplain and they are shallow.
This suggests that there may be some influence from bottom vegetation with the
bottom signal causing deviation of the Curuai data from the other measurements.
However, the lakes are still optically deep due to water turbidity. Therefore, it is hard
to understand what may be the problem. One of the potential reasons may be iron
associated with organic matter, as it has been shown that one effect of iron is to colour
the water in rivers and river-like waters (such as the Curuai floodplain lakes) than in lakes
(Kutser, Alikas, et al. 2015). Unfortunately, we do not have any data on iron from any of
the investigated lakes to study this hypothesis.
 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF REMOTE SENSING 2959

Our results, which are based on Landsat 8 data, field data based algorithms assessment
by Zhu et al. (2014), and other CDOM remote sensing studies (Kutser, Pierson, Kallio, et al.
2005, Kutser, Pierson, Tranvik, et al. 2005; Del Castillo and Miller 2008; Ficek, Zapadka, and
Dera 2011), suggest that global mapping of lake CDOM with a simple green–red band ratio
calculated from multispectral satellites (such as Landsat 8) data is plausible. Many studies
have shown that there is often good correlation between lake aCDOM(400) and CDOC (Tranvik
1990; Kallio 1999; Brezonik et al. 2015; Kutser, Verpoorter, et al. 2015; Toming et al., forth-
coming), even if this is not the case for a single lake. This suggests that mapping of global
lake carbon content using CDOM as a proxy is possible. However, some studies (Brezonik
et al. 2015; Hestir et al. 2015) show that there are waterbodies where the CDOM–DOC
relationship does not hold. Moreover, there are indications that iron associated with organic
matter has an impact on the colour of water and consequently our ability to map lake CDOM
and DOC using remote sensing (Kutser, Alikas, et al. 2015).
The results of our study are consistent with the recommendations of Palmer, Kutser,
and Hunter (2015), that there is a strong need to unite limnologists and lake remote
Downloaded by [Birgot Paavel] at 05:34 29 June 2016

sensing scientist around the world to combine in situ data, local knowledge, and remote
sensing experience from as many and as different lakes as possible in order to achieve a
breakthrough in global lake research.

Acknowledgements
Estonian fieldwork and data analysis funding were covered by Estonian Science Foundation Grants
8576 and 8654, KESTA program project VeeObs, Estonian Basic Science Research Grant SF0180009s11,
and Swedish FORMAS project ‘The Color of water – interplay with climate, and effects on drinking
water supply’. The Brazilian Electricity Regulatory Agency (Agência Nacional de Energia Elétrica –
ANEEL grant no. 8000003629) and FAPESP (Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo –
grant no. 2011/23594–8) provided instrumentation and funding for fieldwork campaigns in Brazil.

Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Funding
This work was supported by Estonian Science Foundation Grants [8576 and 8654], KESTA program
project VeeObs, Estonian Basic Science Research Grant [SF0180009s11], and Swedish FORMAS
project ‘The Color of water – interplay with climate, and effects on drinking water supply’, the
Brazilian Electricity Regulatory Agency (Agência Nacional de Energia Elétrica – ANEEL grant no.
[8000003629] and FAPESP (Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo – grant no.
[2011/23594–8].

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