This study investigated the use of frequent metre-scale resolution Pléiades satellite imagery to monitor water quality parameters in the highly turbid Gironde Estuary (GE, SW France). Pléiades satellite data were processed and analyzed in two representative test sites of the GE: 1) the maximum turbidity zone and 2) the mouth of the estuary. The main objectives of this study were to: (i) validate the Dark Spectrum Fitting (DSF) atmospheric correction developed by Vanhellemont and Ruddick (2018) applied to Pléiades satellite data recorded over the GE; (ii) highlight the benefits of frequent metre-scale Pléiades observations in highly turbid estuaries by comparing them to previously validated satellite observations made at medium (250/300 m for MODIS, MERIS, OLCI data) and high (20/30 m for SPOT, OLI and MSI data) spatial resolutions. The results show that the DSF allows for an accurate retrieval of water turbidity by inversion of the water reflectance in the near-infrared (NIR) and red wavebands. The difference between Pléiades-derived turbidity and field measurements was proven to be in the order of 10%. To evaluate the spatial variability of water turbidity at metre scale, Pléiades data at 2 m resolution were resampled to 20 m and 250 m to simulate typical coarser resolution sensors. On average, the derived spatial variability in the GE is lower than or equal to 10% and 26%, respectively, in 20-m and 250-m aggregated pixels. Pléiades products not only show, in great detail, the turbidity features in the estuary and river plume, they also allow to map the turbidity inside ports and capture the complex spatial variations of turbidity along the shores of the estuary. Furthermore, the daily acquisition capabilities may provide additional advantages over other satellite constellations when monitoring highly dynamic estuarine systems.
Are visibility-derived AOT estimates suitable for parameterizing satellite data atmospheric correction algorithms?
