A Novel Algorithm to Estimate Phytoplankton Carbon Concentration in Inland Lakes Using Sentinel-3 OLCI Images

Phytoplankton carbon, an important biogeochemical and ecological parameter, plays a critical role in the carbon cycle and in global warming reduction. Estimation of phytoplankton carbon in inland waters on a large scale using remote sensing is useful for understanding, evaluating, and monitoring the carbon dynamics, and, in particular, for determining the spatial–temporal variation of primary production in inland waters. In a correlation analysis of the phytoplankton carbon concentration and water components, the result revealed no significant correlation between the chlorophyll-a concentration and phytoplankton carbon concentration in inland waters. However, the absorption peak height of particles at 675 nm, which is defined as the absorption at 675 nm subtracted by that at 660 nm, was found to be closely correlated with the phytoplankton carbon concentration. Thus, the absorption peak height of particles at 675 nm could be used as an indicator of the phytoplankton carbon concentration. A semianalytical method based on the remote-sensing reflectance in Sentinel-3 Ocean and Land Color Instrument (OLCI) bands 8, 9, and 17 was developed to derive the absorption peak of particles at a wavelength of 675 nm. Finally, an algorithm for estimating the phytoplankton carbon concentration in inland waters using OLCI bands 8, 9, and 17 was constructed. From 2013 to 2018, eight field campaigns were conducted in inland lakes in different seasons, and the optical properties, optically active water components, and phytoplankton carbon concentrations were obtained. An assessment of its accuracy using an independent data set demonstrated that the algorithm performance is acceptable (mean absolute percentage error, 48.6%, and root mean square error, 0.36 mg/L). As a demonstration, the algorithm was successfully applied to map the phytoplankton carbon concentration in Taihu Lake and Chaohu Lake, China, using OLCI images acquired on December 5, 2017, and August 5, 2018 and December 8, 2017, and August 7, 2017, and the spatial variation of the phytoplankton carbon concentration in Taihu Lake and Chaohu Lake was thoroughly examined. A semianalytical remote-sensing method, instead of a traditional time-consuming approach, was developed in this article, which can be used to estimate phytoplankton carbon concentration quickly, and provides an effective way to map the phytoplankton carbon concentration in inland water on a large scale.