Autonomous Shipborne In Situ Reflectance Data in Optically Complex Coastal Waters: A Case Study of the Salish Sea, Canada

Present limitations on using satellite imagery to derive accurate chlorophyll concentrations and phytoplankton functional types arise from insufficient in situ measurements to validate the satellite reflectance, Rrs0+. We installed a set of hyperspectral radiometers with autonomous solar tracking capability, collectively named SAS Solar Tracker (Satlantic Inc./Sea-Bird), on top of a commercial ferry, to measure the in situ reflectance as the ferry crosses the Salish Sea, Canada. We describe the SAS Solar Tracker installation procedure, which enables a clear view of the sea surface and minimizes the interference caused by the ship superstructure. Corrections for residual ship superstructure perturbations and non-nadir-viewing geometry are applied during data processing to ensure optimal data quality. It is found that the ship superstructure perturbation correction decreased the overall Rrs0+ by 0.00055 sr−1, based on a black-pixel assumption for the infrared band of the lowest acquired turbid water. The BRDF correction using the inherent optical properties approach lowered the spectral signal by ∼5–10%, depending on the wavelength. Data quality was evaluated according to a quality assurance method considering spectral shape similarity, and ∼92% of the acquired reflectance data matched well against the global database, indicating high quality