Suspended matter dynamics in Lake Constance in 2003 derived from MERIS and MODIS satellite data

Abstract

Lake Constance is the third largest lake in Central Europe. The river Rhine, which passes the lake, imports a significant amount of mineralic particles. Their transport and sedimentation within the lake is of importance for a number of applications, for example ship traffic, pumping stations for extraction of drinking water, hydraulic engineering, fishery, and ecology. Only satellites offer a cost-effective way for obtaining time series of the spatial distribution of suspended matter in such a large lake. The potential of satellite based monitoring of suspended matter is investigated using MERIS and MODIS time series from 2003, addressing two specific questions: (1) Are these sensors suited to derive useful time series of medium- and large-scale patterns of suspended matter in Lake Constance? (2) Are the quantitative results from the two sensors comparable?