Evaluation of derived total suspended matter products from Ocean and
Land Colour Instrument Imagery (OLCI) in the inner and mid-shelf of
Buenos Aires Province (Argentina)
Abstract
The Ocean and Land Colour Instrument Imagery (OLCI) sensor provides
moderate spatial and temporal resolution of marine data, becoming a
promising tool for monitoring environmental changes in coastal waters.
Therefore, it is fundamental to test and validate the resulting products
from diverse algorithms to ensure the quality of the data. The complex
waters of southern Buenos Aires Province inner and mid-shelf,
characterized by the presence of estuaries and river inputs, are highly
influenced by total suspended matter (TSM) variability. In this study,
we evaluate the performance of three TSM products in different waters
(estuarine, coastal and mid-shelf waters) with in situ data. Two
products were obtained using neural networks (NN), i.e. OLCI L2 ESA
standard product (TSM_NN) and Case 2 Regional Coast Colour processing
(C2RCC_STD); and one product using the combination of an alternative
Baseline Residual Atmospheric Correction approach and the Nechad 2010
TSM algorithm (BLR_NCHD). In general, TSM match-up results indicate
that the OLCI TSM_NN and CR2CC_STD products are acceptable (R2 of
0.79-0.74, n=17, RMSE= 21-20 mg/L). The best results were obtained for
BLR_NCHD product (R2=0.86, RMSE=7 mg/L). Future efforts needed to
improve TSM retrieval involves the evaluation of the conversion factor
between backscattering to TSM for the NN approaches and the evaluation
of the atmospheric correction using in situ water reflectance
measurements.