Landscape Scale Variability in Optical Water Quality Indicators at NEON Sites
Abstract
Recent advances in remote sensing are enabling characterization of aquatic ecosystems at unprecedented spatial scales. The National Ecological Observatory Networks Airborne Observation Platform collects 1 meter resolution hyperspectral and Lidar data that covers a minimum of 100 km2 at 81 field sites. These areas include more than 220 km2 of surface water, 12,000 km of streams and rivers ,1700 water bodies larger than 1 hectare, 1,000 km2 of wetlands, and 3 coastal zones. 6 sites have more than 10 km2 of inland waters each and 20 sites contain at least 1 active USGS monitoring station. We use these data to quantify the range and variability of optical indicators of water quality at the scale of water bodies, landscapes, and across NEONs regional domains. We compare indicators of dissolved organic matter, phytoplankton communities, and suspended material in more than 250 reflectance spectra with corresponding closest-in-time field measurements from monitoring sites at lakes and large rivers. We identify challenges to application of these remote sensing data to freshwater ecosystems, including canopy cover over small streams, potential sun glint contamination, and limited temporal frequency. Finally, we describe opportunities for utilizing NEONs airborne data for ecosystem-scale water quality analysis including the abundance of standardized complementary field measurements and improved ground sampling coordination, as well as new tools for accessing these data.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2021
- Bibcode:
- 2021AGUFM.H23G..08H