About this Research Topic
Satellite data can be applied to monitor the color of the ocean, as confirmed by CZCS aboard the proof-of-concept mission Nimbus-7 in 1978. Through decades of effort, satellite data has been widely used to study ocean environments and climate change at large scales. While for coastal and inland waters, due to the high variation of water’s optical properties at temporal and spatial scales, the widely used ocean color sensors with a spatial resolution of hundred or thousand meters and revisit frequency of 1-2 days are not applicable. To address these issues, many current and ongoing satellite missions are designed to have higher spatial resolutions. Meanwhile, wide bandwidth is often required to improve the signal-to-noise ratio due to high spatial resolution. Unfortunately, the broadband designation poses substantial uncertainties and challenges to the remote sensing of water color.
This Topic aims to capture the progress that has been made to address the uncertainties and challenges in the application of remotely sensed data with wide bandwidth and/or high spatial resolution to coastal and inland waters. Through comparisons with in situ data, different atmospheric correction algorithms and bio-optical models for water components such as phytoplankton pigment, CDOM and detritus can be evaluated, with the potential to identify the ones with better performance across different optical water types. This includes evaluating the land adjacency effects on water color retrievals and the possible methods to reduce such effects.
Topics can include but are not limited to:
(1) Development of novel atmospheric correction algorithms and bio-optical models for water components including phytoplankton pigment, CDOM, and detritus for the application of satellite data with a wide bandwidth (or limited bands) to coastal and inland waters;
(2) Evaluation of the existing atmospheric correction algorithms and bio-optical models for coastal and inland waters;
(3) Land adjacency effects in water color products and approaches to reduce such effects;
(4) Uncertainties in water color products resulted from the challenges, including wide bandwidth, high spatial resolution, land adjacency, etc.
(5) Other related topics in the uncertainties and challenges in water color remote sensing.
This Topic aims to capture the progress that has been made to address the uncertainties and challenges in the application of remotely sensed data with wide bandwidth and/or high spatial resolution to coastal and inland waters. Through comparisons with in situ data, different atmospheric correction algorithms and bio-optical models for water components such as phytoplankton pigment, CDOM and detritus can be evaluated, with the potential to identify the ones with better performance across different optical water types. This includes evaluating the land adjacency effects on water color retrievals and the possible methods to reduce such effects.
Topics can include but are not limited to:
(1) Development of novel atmospheric correction algorithms and bio-optical models for water components including phytoplankton pigment, CDOM, and detritus for the application of satellite data with a wide bandwidth (or limited bands) to coastal and inland waters;
(2) Evaluation of the existing atmospheric correction algorithms and bio-optical models for coastal and inland waters;
(3) Land adjacency effects in water color products and approaches to reduce such effects;
(4) Uncertainties in water color products resulted from the challenges, including wide bandwidth, high spatial resolution, land adjacency, etc.
(5) Other related topics in the uncertainties and challenges in water color remote sensing.
Keywords: Bio-optical models, Land adjacency, Coastal waters, Inland waters, Uncertainties
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
