Science and applications of hyperspectral remote sensing of inland and coastal waters

Kurzfassung

There is an increasing need for regular monitoring of inland and coastal waters to support national and international directives and conventions such as the European Water Framework Directive. Information on the state and development of water bodies is also a prerequisite to meet the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal No. 6 to " ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation of all " by 2020. Earth Observation may be used for acquiring timely, frequent synoptic information from local to global scales, of inland and coastal waters. Satellite data have been successfully applied for mapping inland and coastal waters for about 50 years. Nevertheless, the current satellite radiometers are designed for observing the global ocean or land surface and thus not specifically suited for observing coastal and inland waters, so that deriving coastal and inland aquatic applications from existing multispectral sensors remains challenging. We will review the science and applications of hyperspectral remote sensing of inland and coastal waters. A focus will be given on derived accurate information products including estimates of turbidity and transparency measures, chlorophyll, suspended matter and coloured dissolved organic matter concentration, and sophisticated products such as particle size distributions, phytoplankton functional types of composition of suspended and coloured dissolved matter, estimating waters depth and mapping types of heterogeneous substrates. As the space-borne, but also airborne and in situ optical hyperspectral sensors, become increasingly available and appropriate for aquatic ecosystem detection, monitoring and assessment, the science-based applications will need to be further developed to an operational level.