OPERATIONAL NIR-RED ALGORITHMS FOR ESTIMATING CHLOROPHYLL-a

CONCENTRATION FROM SATELLITE DATA IN INLAND AND COASTAL WATERS

Wesley J. Moses (1), Anatoly A. Gitelson (2), Sergey Berdnikov (3), Jeffrey H. Bowles (1), Vasiliy
Povazhnyi (3), Vladislav Saprygin (3), Ellen J. Wagner (1), and Karen W. Patterson (1)

(1) U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, 4555 Overlook Ave SW, Washington, D.C. 20375, U.S.A.;
Email: wesley.moses@nrl.navy.mil
(2) School of Natural Resources, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 3310 Holdrege St., Lincoln, NE
68503, U.S.A; E-mail: agitelson2@unl.edu
(3) Southern Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Rostov-on-Don, Russia
ABSTRACT Numerous algorithms based on analytical and semi-
analytical spectral inversion techniques and band
We present here results that strongly support the use of NIR- combinations in the red and near infrared (NIR) regions of
red algorithms, developed based on the spectral channels of the spectrum have recently been developed and successfully
MERIS, as standard tools for estimating chlorophyll-a (chl- validated for estimating chl-a concentration in inland and
a) concentration in turbid productive waters. We used an coastal waters (see [3], [4] for a comprehensive review).
extensive set of MERIS imagery and in situ data collected Most of these algorithms were regionally parameterized
between 2008 and 2010 in the Azov Sea and the Taganrog using data from specific water bodies and are limited in their
Bay, Russia. The overall estimation errors were only 5.5% bio-geo-optic scope of application. However, operational
of the total range of chl-a concentrations measured, monitoring of water bodies cannot rely on fresh case-
illustrating the high accuracy of the MERIS-based NIR-red specific re-parameterization, but requires algorithms with
algorithms without the need for case-specific re- stable parameters that can be routinely applied to near-real-
parameterization. The NIR-red algorithms were also applied time satellite data.
to a series of images acquired by HICO over the same It has been previously demonstrated (using a limited a
region in 2012-13, after the demise of MERIS. The results dataset) that two-band and three-band NIR-red algorithms
demonstrated the strong potential of HICO as a reliable tool can be applied to MERIS (Medium Resolution Imaging
for determining coastal water quality. Spectrometer) data to retrieve accurate estimates of chl-a
concentration in the Azov Sea and the Taganrog Bay in
Index Terms— remote sensing, chlorophyll-a, NIR-red, Russia [5]. These algorithms also yielded accurate estimates
MERIS, HICO of chl-a concentration when applied to reflectances
measured with a field spectrometer from several lakes in
1. INTRODUCTION Nebraska [6], [7] and Lake Kinneret in Israel [8] and
reflectances simulated using the radiative transfer model
As important components of the global ecosystem, inland Hydrolight [9].
and coastal waters provide resources that serve a variety of The objective of this study was two-folded: (i) test the
critical purposes, such as maintaining global biodiversity, operational capability of MERIS-based two-band and three-
providing trafficable routes for lacustrine and maritime band NIR-red algorithms by applying them to a large dataset
navigation, and serving as spots for touristic and collected from the Azov Sea and the Taganrog Bay over a
recreational activities, which promotes regional economic three-year period, 2008-10, and (ii) test the potential of the
development. Continual monitoring of these waters and Hyperspectral Imager for the Coastal Ocean (HICO) as a
timely execution of remedial measures are crucial to tool for determining coastal water quality, which is
maintaining the ecological functions of these ecosystems. especially important after the demise of MERIS.
Water quality analysis through remote sensing is often
done by estimating the concentration of chlorophyll-a (chl- 2. DATA & METHODS
a), which is a key indicator of the trophic status of a water
2.1. Study Area and In Situ Measurements
body (e.g., [1]). The optical complexity of turbid, productive
coastal waters renders conventional blue-green algorithms The Azov Sea is a shallow inland sea adjoined by Ukraine
unreliable for estimating chl-a concentration (e.g., [2]). on the west and Russia on the east (Fig. 1). The Taganrog
Bay is on the northeastern part of the Azov Sea. The
Taganrog Bay and the Sea of Azov are characterized by low
salinity, shallow bottom, and high influx of nutrients HICO images were atmospherically corrected using Tafkaa
through runoff from several rivers, resulting in conditions [14].
that are typically encountered in eutrophic lakes [10]. Algal
2.3. NIR-red Algorithms
blooms are common in the bay and occur throughout the
year, especially in summer. Intense eutrophication has NIR-red algorithms based on the spectral bands of
caused drastically adverse effects on the fish population and MERIS were previously calibrated using a limited dataset
consequently on the local economy in the region [11]. [5], as follows:
Researchers at the Southern Scientific Center of the Two-band MERIS NIR-red algorithm:
Russian Academy of Sciences, in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, 1
Chl-a 61.324 R665 u R708  37.94 (1)
undertook 18 data collection campaigns on the Azov Sea
and the Taganrog in 2008-10 and five campaigns on the Three-band MERIS NIR-red algorithm:
Taganrog Bay in 2012-13. Water samples were collected at
each station and filtered through Whatman GF/F glass Chl-a >
1
232.29 R665 1
 R708 @
u R754  23.174 (2)
filters. Chl-a was extracted from the filters using hot
where Rx is the remote sensing reflectance in the spectral
ethanol, and its concentration was determined
band centered at x nm.
spectrophotometrically using the trichromatic equations of
Using reflectances generated synthetically by the
Jeffrey and Humphrey [12]. Table 1 contains the basic
radiative transfer model, Hydrolight [15], Gilerson et al. [9]
statistics of the in situ chl-a data.
investigated the sensitivity of the NIR-red models to
UKRAINE
variations in the absorption and scattering coefficients of the
RUSSIA
Descending constituents in water and developed advanced versions of
View
the two-band and three-band NIR-red algorithms, as
follows:
Taganrog
T
Tag
Ta
a
agganr gB
an og
an Bay
Ba
ay
ay Ascending
Ascending Advanced two-band MERIS NIR-red algorithm:
V iew
View
Sea
S a off
Se
Az
Azov Chl-a >35.75 u R 1
665 u R708  19.3 @1.124
(3)
Fig. 1. Map showing the Taganrog Bay and a portion of the Azov Sea, with Advanced three-band MERIS NIR-red algorithm:
screenshots of HICO images taken from the sensor's ascending and
descending orbits overlaid. The yellow dots represent the stations where in
situ measurements were taken in 2012-2013. >
Chl-a 113.36 u R665 ^
1 1
 R708 `
u R753  16.45 @
1.124
(4)
HICO does not have a spectral channel centered at 665
TABLE I nm but has channels centered at 662 nm and 668 nm.
BASIC STATISTICS OF THE IN SITU CHL-a DATA
Therefore, the average of the reflectances at 662 nm and 668
Minimum Maximum Median Mean nm was taken as RO1 . HICO has spectral channels centered
Year N
(mg m-3) (mg m-3) (mg m-3) (mg m-3)
2008-10 113 1.09 107.82 22.39 31.74 at 708 nm ( O2 ) and 754 nm ( O3 ). The NIR-red models
2012-13 37 8.1 172.77 84.41 82.49
based on the spectral channels of HICO were,

2.2. Satellite Data > 1

Two-band HICO model: Chl-a v R665 u R708 @ (5)
Full resolution (260 m u 290 m) level-2 MERIS images Three-band HICO model: Chl-a v > R 1
665
1
 R708 u R754 @ (6)
corresponding to the 2008-10 in situ dataset were obtained
from the European Space Agency (ESA). Hyperspectral where R665 is the average of the reflectances at 662 nm and
HICO images, with 100 m spatial resolution, corresponding
668 nm.
to the 2012-13 in situ dataset were obtained from NRL.
Same-day satellite images were available for most of the in
3. RESULTS & DISCUSSION
situ measurements; in cases where a same-day image was
not available, images acquired up to two days before/after
The in situ data collected in 2008-10 were used to test the
the in situ data collection were considered.
operational applicability of the MERIS-based NIR-red
The level-2 MERIS images were already
algorithms. The in situ data collected in 2012-13 were used
atmospherically corrected through ESA’s automatic data
to test the potential of HICO to yield accurate estimates of
processing system. The pixels corresponding to the in situ
chl-a concentration.
stations were identified as turbid pixels and subjected to the
Bright Pixel Atmospheric Correction procedure [13]. The
2.4. Operational Applicability of MERIS-Based NIR-red 2.5. Potential of HICO for Estimating Chl-a Concentration
Algorithms The data collected from five campaigns in 2012-13 were
The MERIS-based NIR-red algorithms (Eqns. (1) – (4)) split into two categories – the data from the first two
were applied to MERIS reflectances from the 113 stations in campaigns were used to calibrate the HICO-based NIR-red
the 2008-10 dataset. All four algorithms yielded remarkably models (Eqns. (4) and (5)) and the rest were used for
accurate estimations of chl-a concentration (figures 2 and validation. Both NIR-red models showed strong linear
3), with very low magnitudes of the root mean square error relationships with the in-situ chl-a concentrations in the
(RMSE) and the mean absolute error (MAE). The RMSE of calibration dataset, with determination coefficients of 0.84
the advanced NIR-red algorithms (Eqns. (3) and (4)) was and 0.87, leading to the following algorithms:
only 5.5% of the range of chl-a concentrations in the
Two-Band HICO NIR-red Algorithm:
dataset. 1
120 (a) (b) Chl-a 318.33 R665 u R708  278.15 (7)
1:1 Line 120 1:1 Line
In Situ Chl-a (mg m )
In Situ Chl-a (mg m )

Three-Band HICO NIR-red Algorithm:

-3
-3

> @
90
90
1 1
60 60
Chl-a 505.05 R665  R708 u R754  38.916 (8)
30 RMSE = 6.04 mg m-3 30 RMSE = 6.68 mg m-3 The differences between the regression coefficients of
MAE = 4.57 mg m-3 MAE = 5.12 mg m-3
0 0 the MERIS-based and HICO-based algorithms could be due
0 30 60 90 120 0 30 60 90
Estimated Chl-a (mg m-3 )
120
to differences in the radiometric calibration of the sensors
Estimated Chl-a (mg m-3 )
and the atmospheric correction of the data. The calibrated
Fig. 2. Chl-a concentrations measured in situ versus chl-a concentrations
estimated by (a) the two-band NIR-red algorithm, (Eq. (1)) and (b) the
NIR-red algorithms yielded accurate estimates of chl-a
three-band NIR-red algorithm (Eq. (2)). concentration when applied to the validation dataset (Fig. 5).
The RMSE and MAE of the two-band NIR-red algorithm
Fig. 4 contains chl-a maps produced using the two-band (Eq. (7)) were only 14.06% and 10.92%, respectively, of the
NIR-red (Eq. (1)) algorithm for 03 Sep 2008 and 02 Oct range of chl-a concentrations in the validation dataset. The
2008. As expected, the chl-a concentration is significantly corresponding figures for the three-band NIR-red algorithm
lower on 02 Oct 2008 compared with 03 Sep 2008, (Eq. (8)) were 12.39% and 9.58%, respectively.
especially in the Taganrog Bay region, due to the lower
water temperature caused by the approaching winter.
120 (a) 120 (b)
1:1 Line 1:1 Line
In Situ Chl-a (mg m )

In Situ Chl-a (mg m )

-3

-3

90 90

60 60

30 RMSE = 5.92 mg m -3
30 RMSE = 5.91 mg m-3
MAE = 4.32 mg m-3 MAE = 4.71 mg m-3
0 0
0 30 60 90 120 0 30 60 90 120
Estimated Chl-a (mg m-3 ) Estimated Chl-a (mg m-3 )
Fig. 5. Plots of chl-a concentrations measured in situ versus chl-a
Fig. 3. Chl-a concentrations measured in situ versus chl-a concentrations concentrations estimated using the HICO-based (a) two-band (Eq. (7)) and
estimated by the advanced versions of (a) the two-band NIR-red algorithm (b) three-band NIR-red (Eq. (8)) algorithms for the validation dataset.
(Eq. (3)) and (b) the three-band NIR-red algorithm (Eq. (4)).
Though the errors are higher in terms of absolute
magnitudes and percentages than what were obtained from
MERIS for the 2008-10 data, the results are still remarkable,
considering the range and temporal variations of the chl-a
concentrations in the bay and the uncertainties in the
radiometric stability and integrity of the HICO data [16].
The 2012-13 dataset contained higher and a wider range of
chl-a concentrations than the 2008-10 dataset. The spatial
and temporal variations of chl-a concentration in the bay
Fig. 4. Chl-a maps generated using the two-band NIR-red algorithm (Eq.
(1)), for the Azov Sea and Taganrog Bay for (a) 03 Sep 2008 and (b) 02
were also higher in 2012-13 than in 2008-10. Such high
Oct 2008. temporal variations make the calibration and validation of
algorithms inherently challenging. For more than 90% of the
stations in this study, the time difference between in situ and
satellite data was a day or less, which helped mitigate the
effects of high temporal variation.
 4. CONCLUSION
The results from the 2008-10 dataset present a strong case
for using the MERIS-based NIR-red algorithms as standard
tools for estimating chl-a concentration in the Azov Sea and
the Taganrog Bay region, without the need for re-
parameterization of the algorithms. This offers tremendous
promise for developing similar algorithms for use with data
from the future Ocean Land Colour Instrument (OLCI)
onboard Sentinel-3, containing all the spectral channels of
MERIS, and the future Multi-Spectral Instrument (MSI)
onboard Sentinel-2, with red and NIR bands at 10 m and 20
m spatial resolutions, respectively. Such OLCI- and MSI-
based algorithms will be valuable assets for near-real-time
remote monitoring of ecologically sensitive inland, coastal,
and estuarine waters.
The accuracy of the results obtained from HICO for the
2012-13 dataset demonstrates the robustness of the simple
two-band and three-band NIR-red models in spite of the
data quality issues inherent in HICO data [16] and the
potential of HICO for estimating chl-a concentration in
optically complex productive coastal waters. It should be
noted that the specific two-band (Eq. (7)) and three-band
(Eq. (8)) algorithms developed here are primarily meant for
demonstrative purposes and proper caution needs to be
exercised in applying them to future HICO data from the
Taganrog Bay or elsewhere. The validity of the coefficients
of these algorithms is contingent on the validity of the
radiometric corrections and the assumptions contained in the
atmospheric correction of the HICO data. The ISS platform
does not permit frequent, repeat coverage of the same area
at regular time intervals. Image acquisitions of the same area
are intermittent, with time intervals sometimes as short as a
day or as long as several weeks, which places a constraint
on the ability to monitor short-term phytoplankton dynamics
in coastal waters. Nevertheless, the results presented here
demonstrate the utility of HICO in estimating water quality
in productive coastal waters, which is of critical value,
especially with the demise of MERIS.
5. ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The contents of this paper were published partially in [17, 18].
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