Water property monitoring and assessment for China's inland Lake Taihu from MODIS-Aqua measurements

We provide results of quantitative measurements and characterization for inland freshwater Lake Taihu from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the satellite Aqua. China's Lake Taihu, which is located in the Yangtze River delta in one of the world's most urbanized and heavily populated areas, contains consistently highly turbid waters in addition to frequent large seasonal algae blooms in various lake regions. Thus, satellite data processing requires use of the shortwave infrared (SWIR) atmospheric correction algorithm. Specifically for Lake Taihu, an iterative SWIR-based atmospheric correction algorithm has been developed and proven to provide reasonably accurate water-leaving radiance spectra data. Using MODIS-Aqua measurements, the blue-green algae bloom in Lake Taihu in 2007 has been studied in detail, demonstrating the importance and usefulness of satellite water color remote sensing for effectively monitoring and managing a bloom event.Seasonal and interannual variability, as well as spatial distributions, of lake water properties were studied and assessed using the MODIS-Aqua measurements from 2002 to 2008. Results show that overall waters in Lake Taihu are consistently highly turbid all year round, with the winter and summer as the most and least turbid seasons in the lake, respectively. Extremely turbid waters in the winter are primarily attributed to strong winter winds that lead to significant amounts of total suspended sediment (TSS) in the water column. In addition, MODIS-Aqua–measured water-leaving radiance at the blue band is consistently low in various bay regions in Lake Taihu, indicating high algae concentration in these regions. Climatological water property maps, including normalized water-leaving radiance spectra nLw(λ), chlorophyll-a concentration, and water diffuse attenuation coefficient at the wavelength of 490 nm (Kd(490)), are derived from all MODIS-Aqua data from 2002 to 2008 for Lake Taihu, showing overall spatial distribution features for the lake water property.

Research highlights
► Satellite remote sensing of inland freshwater optical and biological properties.
► Improved water property products using the SWIR atmospheric correction algorithm.
► Quantitative characterization of water properties for China's inland Lake Taihu.
► Monitoring inland freshwater water quality using satellite measurements.