The STEREO-funded BELCOLOUR-2 project was carried out by a consortium of Belgian (RBINS, ULB, Ulg, VITO) and international (LOV/France, CSIRO/Australia) partners with the objective of improving the quality of optical remote sensing products for marine, coastal and inland waters applications. Research focussed on the quantification of the concentration of chlorophyll a and suspended particulate matter as primary parameters and on the development and exploitation of higher level products such as eutrophication indicators required by coastal water quality managers and sediment fluxes required for management of coastal dredging operations.

1. © RBINS, BELSPO Space Applications Day, 19th June 2014
Applications of optical remote
sensing in coastal waters
Presented by Kevin RUDDICK (RBINS)

2. © RBINS, BELSPO Space Applications Day, 19th June 2014
Remote Sensing: What is ocean
colour?
Phaeocystis spp.
[F. Jouenne]
[R. Mendes]
Chaetoceros spp.
[J-P. Vogt]
Suspended Particulate Matter
MERIS 2003ave
Chlorophyll a0.0
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
2.5
3.0
400 500 600 700 800
Wavelength (nm)
Absorption(/m)
normalisedat500nm
Diatom
Phaeocystis
Non Algae Particle
[R. Astoreca]

3. © RBINS, BELSPO Space Applications Day, 19th June 2014
Oudenburg, 25th May 2011
“What’s in the water”?
(How much information can we extract?)
• Mass concentration of particles?
• Size distribution of particles?
• Algal or non-algal?
• What species of algae?
• How much carbon is it fixing/day?
• Dissolved CO2 concentration?
• Conc/typ of Dissolved organic matter?
• How transparent?
+ space-time variation (and cause/effect)
BUT
• Viewing through atmosphere
• And through a reflective sea surface
• Possibly also viewing sea bottom
Sediment
transport
Ecosystem
dynamics
(phytoplankton)
Carbon cycle
Water quality
(EU monitoring)
Marine science
(inc. benthos)
Applications

4. © RBINS, BELSPO Space Applications Day, 19th June 2014
Reporting water quality to EU
CHLa 90 percentile (MERIS,2005)
Belgian CHLa 90% Mar-Oct 2005-2010,
Water Framework Directive product
[Processing: D. Vanderzande, RBINS;
L2 data ESA/ACRI]
Remote sensing is neutral, transparent, and
spatially extensive (cross-boundary)
• Satellite-based eutrophication assessment
service (EU Water Framework Directive, MSFD)

5. © RBINS, BELSPO Space Applications Day, 19th June 2014
Algal bloom timing in the North Sea
MAR APR MAY
1. Early blooms in Norwegian coastal current, central North Sea
2. Late blooms in turbid water in east UK coast, German bight, western channel
=>Significant spatial and interannual variabilities in the North Sea
International Council
of the Seas fisheries
working groups
[Park et al, Int. J. Rem Sens. 2011]

6. © RBINS, BELSPO Space Applications Day, 19th June 2014
19th January 2009BELCOLOUR … International
BELCOLOUR-ARGentina project => testing and adaptation of BELCOLOUR
algorithms to other regions
La Plata turbidity mapping [Dogliotti et al, 2011] … relevance for
fisheries? Dredging? Drinking water supply?
300km

7. © RBINS, BELSPO Space Applications Day, 19th June 2014
Total Suspended Matter (g/m3)
Research: Geostationary ocean colour
• What is the main obstacle to operational
applications of ocean colour remote sensing?
MERIS
21.6.2006
(10:05 UTC)
Belgium
CLOUDS!
-
52°N
-
51°N
1°E 4°E

8. © RBINS, BELSPO Space Applications Day, 19th June 2014
Tidal variability of turbidity
[Neukermans et al, Rem Sens Env, 2012; Neukermans, PhD, 2012]
TURBIDITY

9. © RBINS, BELSPO Space Applications Day, 19th June 2014
[Neukermans et al, 2012; Neukermans, 2012]
SEVIRI
In situ
MODIS
TURBIDITY
Tidal variability of turbidity

10. © RBINS, BELSPO Space Applications Day, 19th June 2014
SEVIRI daily composite of 34 images
Quasi cloudfree
MODIS: 1 image
60% clouded
remotely sensed ( ) vs. in-situ ( , ) diurnal variability of turbidity
SB
maxT
t(Tmax)
t( )
[Neukermans et al, 2012; Neukermans, 2012]
SEVIRI
In situ
MODIS
TURBIDITY

11. © RBINS, BELSPO Space Applications Day, 19th June 2014
 Online time-series extraction tool
 “SNC” region
 SeaWiFS/MODIS/MERIS
 1997 – 2012 archive
Remote Sensing support for marine scientists
http://www2.mumm.ac.be/remsem/timeseries/
[Vanhellemont and Ruddick, 2011]
CHL
Total Suspended matter
1997 2011
Spring blooms
Winter storms
• Environmental baseline for offshore wind farms
• Input to mussel growth models
• Context for marine benthos (bottom animals) studies
• Real time support for Belgica cruises
• Optimisation of diving operations, etc. etc.

12. © RBINS, BELSPO Space Applications Day, 19th June 2014
Offshore Environmental Impact Assessment
Sediment wakes in
direction of tidal
current [(c) RBINS,
J-P. Vogt]
Environmental Impacts
Assessment
legal obligation for offshore
wind farm construction
LANDSAT-8 and high spatial resolution
=> new Environmental Impacts visible
[Vanhellemont & Ruddick K (2014). Turbid wakes associated with offshore wind
turbines observed with Landsat 8. Remote Sensing of Environment, 145, pp. 105–
115. Open Access]

13. © RBINS, BELSPO Space Applications Day, 19th June 2014
Landsat-8 30.10.2013
[Vanhellemont Q. & Ruddick K. (2014). Landsat-8 as a Precursor to Sentinel-2: Observations of Human Impacts
in Coastal Waters. In: Proceedings of the Sentinel-2 for Science Workshop ESA Special Publication SP-726]
Dredging operations and dumping of sediments
Dredging ship
(AIS-identified)
Black sediment
wake
Port discharge
Spuikom
(tourism,
aquaculture)
[JP. Vogt, RBINS,
28.1.2014]

14. © RBINS, BELSPO Space Applications Day, 19th June 2014
Future: ZOOZOOM proposal (RBINS, VITO, VLIZ, Umons)
[Dredgingtoday.com]
In/Out Water and Sediment
flux (and jellyfish … ?)
Black (anoxic?)
sediments
Ships and wakes
Bird sanctuary
+Around port:
Beach change and tourism
Dumped WWI munitions
[© RBINS, A. Norro]
Very high
resolution
Remote sensing
of marine
animals (whales,
jellyfish, etc.)

15. © RBINS, BELSPO Space Applications Day, 19th June 2014
Conclusions
• Optical Remote Sensing applications in coastal
waters:
– Water quality monitoring: algal blooms, turbidity
– Sediment transport: dredging, offshore constructions
– Support for marine science and modelling
• The future:
– Higher temporal resolution: from 1/day to every 2.5 mins
– Affordable Higher spatial resolution: Landsat-8, Pléiades,
Sentinel-2
– Belgium now has a leading R&D position for optical remote
sensing of coastal waters

16. © RBINS, BELSPO Space Applications Day, 19th June 2014
Acknowledgements
• Acknowledgments:
– BELSPO STEREO programme, esp. BELCOLOUR-2
project (RBINS, VITO, ULB, Ulg, CSIRO-Aus, LOV-Fr)
– ESA GMES Services Element MARCOAST project
– NASA for MODIS and SeaWiFS data
– ESA for MERIS data
– USGS for Landsat-8 data
– EUMETSAT/RMI for SEVIRI data
• More information and publications:
– http://www2.mumm.ac.be/remsem/publications.php
– http://www.mumm.ac.be/BELCOLOUR/EN/Publications/index.php (to 2012)