Improving Remote Sensing Algorithms Towards Inland Water Cyanobacterial Assessment From Space

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)Water is an essential resource for life on Earth, and monitoring its quality is an important task for mankind. However, the amount of water quality data collected by the traditional method is insufficient for the conservation and sustainable management of this important resource. This challenge will be exacerbated by increasing harmful algal blooms at the global scale. To fill this gap, Earth Observations (EO) have been proposed to help stakeholders make their decisions, but the use of EO for monitoring inland water quality is still in development. In this context, the main objective of this study was to improve the estimation of cyanobacteria via remote sensing data. To achieve this goal, the water type classification was first used to identify the dominant optically active constituents within aquatic environments. This information is crucial for understanding the optical properties of inland waters and selecting the best remote sensing algorithm for specific optical water types. The next research question was to develop a universal structure for retrieval of the inherent optical properties of several important aquatic systems around the world, which can be used as a corner stone for developing a globally applicable remote sensing algorithm. The third research topic of this dissertation is about removing the interference of chlorophyll-a with the absorption strength at 620 nm where phycocyanin exhibits its diagnostic absorption so that the estimation of phycocyanin concentration can be improved. Despite the novelty of the proposed remote sensing algorithms which are able to accommodate distinct water optical properties, there are abundant opportunities for improving the parameterization of the proposed models to retrieve inland water quality and optical properties when a global database of optical and water quality measurements is available. Considering the current advancement in spaceborne technology and the existence of a coordinate effort for global calibration and validation of remote sensing algorithms for monitoring inland waters, there is a high potential for operational assessment of harmful cyanobacterial blooms using the remote sensing algorithms proposed in this dissertation