Retrieval of water quality from airborne imaging spectrometry of various lake types in different seasons

The suitability of the AISA airborne imaging spectrometer for monitoring la ke water quality was tested in four surveys carried out in southern Finland in 1996-1998. Altogether, 11 lakes were surveyed and the total number of s tations with concurrent remote sensing and limnological measurements was 12 7. The ranges of the water quality variables were: the sum of chlorophyll a and phaeophytin a 1-100 mug l(-1), turbidity 0.4-26 FNU, total suspended s olids 0.7-32 mg l(-1). absorption coefficient of aquatic humus at 400 nm 1. 2-14 m(-1) and secchi disc transparency 0.4-7 m, For the retrieval analyses , 24 AISA channels in the 450-786 nm range with a channel width of 6-14 nm were used. The agreement between estimated and observed water quality varia bles M;as generally good and R-2 for the best algorithms was in the range o f 0.72-0.90 over the whole dataset. The channels used for May were, in most cases, the same as those for August, but the empirical parameters of the a lgorithms were different. After seasonal grouping, R-2 varied from 0.84 to 0.95. The use of apparent reflectance: instead of radiance improved the est imation of water quality in the case of total suspended solids and turbidit y. In the most humic lake, the empirical algorithms tested were suitable on ly fur the interpretation of total suspended solids and turbidity. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.