scholarly journals Application of Deep Learning for Speckle Removal in GOCI Chlorophyll-a Concentration Images (2012–2017)

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 585
Author(s):  
Ji-Eun Park ◽  
Kyung-Ae Park

The detection and removal of erroneous pixels is a critical pre-processing step in producing chlorophyll-a (chl-a) concentration values to adequately understand the bio-physical oceanic process using optical satellite data. Geostationary Ocean Color Imager (GOCI) chl-a images revealed that numerous speckle noises with enormously high and low values were randomly scattered throughout the seas around the Korean Peninsula as well as in the Northwest Pacific. Most of the previous methods used to remove abnormal chl-a concentrations have focused on inhomogeneity in spatial features, which still frequently produce problematic values. Herein, a scheme was developed to detect and eliminate chl-a speckles as well as erroneous pixels near the boundary of clouds; for the purpose, a deep neural network (DNN) algorithm was applied to a large-sized GOCI database from the 6-year period of 2012–2017. The input data of the proposed DNN model were composed of the GOCI level-2 remote-sensing reflectance of each band, chl-a concentration image, median filtered, and monthly climatology chl-a image. The quality of the individual images as well as the monthly composites of chl-a data was improved remarkably after the DNN speckle-removal procedure. The quantitative analyses showed that the DNN algorithm achieved high classification accuracy with regard to the detection of error pixels with both very high and very low chl-a values, and better performance compared to the general arithmetic algorithms of the median filter and threshold scheme. This implies that the implemented method can be useful for investigating not only the short-term variations based on hourly chl-a data but also long-term variabilities with composite products of the GOCI chl-a concentration over the span of a decade.

Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 2192
Author(s):  
Xujie Yang ◽  
Yan Jiang ◽  
Xuwei Deng ◽  
Ying Zheng ◽  
Zhiying Yue

Chlorophyll a (Chl-a) concentration, which reflects the biomass and primary productivity of phytoplankton in water, is an important water quality parameter to assess the eutrophication status of water. The band combinations shown in the images of Donghu Lake (Wuhan City, China) captured by Landsat satellites from 1987 to 2018 were analyzed. The (B4 − B3)/(B4 + B3) [(Green − Red)/(Green + Red)] band combination was employed to construct linear, power, exponential, logarithmic and cubic polynomial models based on Chl-a values in Donghu Lake in April 2016. The correlation coefficient (R2), the relative error (RE) and the root mean square error (RMSE) of the cubic model were 0.859, 9.175% and 11.194 μg/L, respectively and those of the validation model were 0.831, 6.509% and 19.846μg/L, respectively. Remote sensing images from 1987 to 2018 were applied to the model and the spatial distribution of Chl-a concentrations in spring and autumn of these years was obtained. At the same time, the eutrophication status of Donghu Lake was monitored and evaluated based on the comprehensive trophic level index (TLI). The results showed that the TLI (∑) of Donghu Lake in April 2016 was 63.49 and the historical data on Chl-a concentration showed that Donghu Lake had been eutrophic. The distribution of Chl-a concentration in Donghu Lake was affected by factors such as construction of bridges and dams, commercial activities and enclosure culture in the lake. The overall distribution of Chl-a concentration in each sub-lake was higher than that in the main lake region and Chl-a concentration was highest in summer, followed by spring, autumn and winter. Based on the data of three long-term (2005–2018) monitoring points in Donghu Lake, the matching patterns between meteorological data and Chl-a concentration were analyzed. It revealed that the Chl-a concentration was relatively high in warmer years or rainy years. The long-term measured data also verified the accuracy of the cubic model for Chl-a concentration. The R2, RE and RMSE of the validation model were 0.641, 2.518% and 22.606 μg/L, respectively, which indicated that it was feasible to use Landsat images to retrieve long-term Chl-a concentrations. Based on longitudinal remote sensing data from 1987 to 2018, long-term and large-scale dynamic monitoring of Chl-a concentrations in Donghu Lake was carried out in this study, providing reference and guidance for lake water quality management in the future.


Author(s):  
G. Casal ◽  
T. Furey ◽  
T. Dabrowski ◽  
G. Nolan

The use of remote sensing has increased greatly in recent years due to technological advances and its advantages in comparison with traditional methods. In the case of Ireland however the use of these techniques is not well established and only 17% of remote sensing studies are related to marine and coastal environments. As a first step, and taking into account that fisheries and aquaculture plays an important economic and social role in Ireland, a database of Sea Surface Temperature (SST) and Chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) relating to the ICES fisheries management areas is being generated. Up to now three different products have been produced. These products correspond to the annual SST Climatology and annual SST Anomalies from 1982 to 2014, as well as the annual Chl-a Climatology taking into account the different life span of CZCS (1982–1986), SeaWIFS (1997–2010), MERIS (2002–2012) and MODIS-Aqua (2002–2014). Initially, the Chl-a Climatology was produced for each sensor individually while the creation of a continuous Chl-a series will be investigated in the future. Analysing the SST trends highlighted an increasing trend in SST values in Irish waters, a trend which was more pronounced in the northern areas (+0.54 °C in the last 10 years). Although there are differences between sensors, Chl-a concentration seems to present higher values in the Celtic Sea since 2009. Analysing the ICES Divisions individually highlighted that coastal areas presented the highest Chl-a concentrations, involving a clear differentiation in the optical properties of coastal and oceanic waters.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hongyan Xi ◽  
Svetlana N. Losa ◽  
Antoine Mangin ◽  
Philippe Garnesson ◽  
Marine Bretagnon ◽  
...  

<p>With the extensive use of ocean color (OC) satellite products, diverse algorithms have been developed in the past decades to observe the phytoplankton community structure in terms of functional types, taxonomic groups and size classes. There is a need to combine satellite observations and biogeochemical modelling to enable comprehensive phytoplankton groups time series data and predictions under the changing climate. A prerequisite for this is continuous long-term satellite observations from past and current OC sensors with quantified uncertainties are essential to ensure their application. Previously we have configured an approach, namely OLCI-PFT (v1), to globally retrieve total chlorophyll a concentration (TChl-a), and chlorophyll a concentration (Chl-a) of multiple phytoplankton functional types (PFTs). This algorithm is developed based on empirical orthogonal functions (EOF) using satellite remote sensing reflectance (Rrs) products from the GlobColour archive (https://www.globcolour.info/). The algorithm can be applied to both, merged OC products and Sentinel 3A OLCI data. Global PFT Chl-a products of OLCI-PFT v1 are available on CMEMS under Ocean Products since July 2020. Lately we have updated the approach and established the OLCI-PFT v2 by including sea surface temperature (SST) as input data. The updated version delivers improved global products for the aforementioned PFT quantities. The per-pixel uncertainty of the retrieved TChl-a and PFT Chl-a products is estimated and validated by taking into account the uncertainties from both input data (satellite Rrs and SST) and model parameters through Monte Carlo simulations and analytical error propagation. The uncertainty of the OLCI-PFT products v2 was assessed on a global scale. For PFT Chl-a products this has been done for the first. The uncertainty of OLCI-PFT v2 TChl-a product is in general much lower than that of the TChl-a product generated in the frame of the ESA Ocean Colour Climate Change Initiative project (OC-CCI). The OLCI-PFT algorithm v1 and v2 have also been further adapted to use a merged MODIS-VIRRS input. Good consistency has been found between the OLCI-PFT products derived from using input data from the different OC sensors. This sets the ground to realize long-term continuous satellite global PFT products from OLCI-PFT. Satellite PFT uncertainty, as provided for our products, is essential to evaluate and improve coupled ecosystem-ocean models which simulate PFTs, and furthermore can be used to improve these models directly via data assimilation.</p>


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emmanuel Devred ◽  
Andrea Hilborn ◽  
Cornelia den Heyer

Abstract. Elevated surface chlorophyll-a concentration, an index of phytoplankton biomass, has been previously observed and documented by remote sensing in the waters to the southwest of Sable Island (SI) on the Scotian Shelf in eastern Canada. Here, we present a detailed analysis of this phenomenon using a 20-year time series of satellite-derived chlorophyll-a concentration (chl-a), paired with information on the particle backscattering coefficient at 443 nm (bbp(443)) and the detritus/gelbstoff absorption coefficient at 443 nm (adg(443) ) in an attempt to explain the possible mechanisms that lead to the increase in surface biomass in the surroundings of SI. We compared the seasonal cycle, climatology and trends of surface waters near SI to two control regions located both upstream and downstream of the island, away from terrigenous inputs. Application of the self-organizing maps approach (SOMs) to the time series of satellite-derived chl-a over the Scotian Shelf revealed the annual spatio-temporal patterns around SI and, in particular, persistently high phytoplankton biomass during winter and spring in the leeward side of SI, a phenomenon that is not observed in the control boxes. Time series analysis of the satellite archive evidenced a long-term increase in chl-a and adg(443), and a long-term decrease in bbp(443) in all regions. In the close vicinity of SI, the increase of chl-a and adg(443) during the winter months occurred at a rate twice that of the ones observed in the control boxes. In addition to the increase of the chl-a and adg(443) within the plume southward of SI, the surface area of the plume itself has also expanded by a factor of five over the last 20 years. While the island mass effect (IME) is certainly contributing to the enhanced biomass around SI, we hypothesize that the large increase in chl-a over the last 20 years is due to an injection of nutrients by the island’s grey seal colony, which has increased by about 300 % over the last twenty years. The contribution of nutrients from seals may sustain high phytoplankton biomass at a time of year when it is usually low. A conceptual model was developed to describe the annual variation of seal abundance on SI and estimate the standing stock of chl-a concentration that can be sustained by the release of nitrogen. Comparison between satellite observations and model simulations showed a very good agreement between the seal population increase on SI during the breeding season and the phytoplankton biomass increase during the winter. In addition, the 20-year satellite-derived trend in chlorophyll-a concentration showed a good agreement with the increasing trend in seal population on SI during the same time period. The satellite data analysis supports the concept of top-down control of marine mammals over lower trophic levels through a fertilisation mechanism, although these results could not be confirmed without in situ measurements for ground truthing. Our findings challenge the idea that the IME is restricted to islands with strong bathymetric slope located in oligotrophic waters of mid-latitudes and tropics, and demonstrate that enhanced marine production can occur in other oceanic regions, with potentially substantial implications for conservation and fisheries.


Author(s):  
David M. Willumsen

The central argument of this book is that voting unity in European legislatures is not primarily the result of the ‘disciplining’ power of the leadership of parliamentary parties, but rather the result of a combination of ideological homogeneity through self-selection into political parties and the calculations of individual legislators about their own long-term benefits. Despite the central role of policy preferences in the subsequent behaviour of legislators, preferences at the level of the individual legislator have been almost entirely neglected in the study of parliaments and legislative behaviour. The book measures these using an until now under-utilized resource: parliamentary surveys. Building on these, the book develops measures of policy incentives of legislators to dissent from their parliamentary parties, and show that preference similarity amongst legislators explains a very substantial proportion of party unity, yet alone cannot explain all of it. Analysing the attitudes of legislators to the demands of party unity, and what drives these attitudes, the book argues that what explains the observed unity (beyond what preference similarity would explain) is the conscious acceptance by MPs that the long-term benefits of belonging to a united party (such as increased influence on legislation, lower transaction costs, and better chances of gaining office) outweigh the short-terms benefits of always voting for their ideal policy outcome. The book buttresses this argument through the analysis of both open-ended survey questions as well as survey questions on the costs and benefits of belonging to a political party in a legislature.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 189
Author(s):  
Hyeonji Bae ◽  
Dabin Lee ◽  
Jae Joong Kang ◽  
Jae Hyung Lee ◽  
Naeun Jo ◽  
...  

The cellular macromolecular contents and energy value of phytoplankton as primary food source determine the growth of higher trophic levels, affecting the balance and sustainability of oceanic food webs. Especially, proteins are more directly linked with basic functions of phytoplankton biosynthesis and cell division and transferred through the food chains. In recent years, the East/Japan Sea (EJS) has been changed dramatically in environmental conditions, such as physical and chemical characteristics, as well as biological properties. Therefore, developing an algorithm to estimate the protein concentration of phytoplankton and monitor their spatiotemporal variations on a broad scale would be invaluable. To derive the protein concentration of phytoplankton in EJS, the new regional algorithm was developed by using multiple linear regression analyses based on field-measured data which were obtained from 2012 to 2018 in the southwestern EJS. The major factors for the protein concentration were identified as chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) and sea surface nitrate (SSN) in the southwestern EJS. The coefficient of determination (r2) between field-measured and algorithm-derived protein concentrations was 0.55, which is rather low but reliable. The satellite-derived estimation generally follows the 1:1 line with the field-measured data, with Pearson’s correlation coefficient, which was 0.40 (p-value < 0.01, n = 135). No remarkable trend in the long-term annual protein concentration of phytoplankton was found in the study area during our observation period. However, some seasonal difference was observed in winter protein concentration between the 2003–2005 and 2017–2019 periods. The algorithm is developed for the regional East/Japan Sea (EJS) and could contribute to long-term monitoring for climate-associated ecosystem changes. For a better understanding of spatiotemporal variation in the protein concentration of phytoplankton in the EJS, this algorithm should be further improved with continuous field surveys.


2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 30
Author(s):  
Wenlong Xu ◽  
Guifen Wang ◽  
Long Jiang ◽  
Xuhua Cheng ◽  
Wen Zhou ◽  
...  

The spatiotemporal variability of phytoplankton biomass has been widely studied because of its importance in biogeochemical cycles. Chlorophyll a (Chl-a)—an essential pigment present in photoautotrophic organisms—is widely used as an indicator for oceanic phytoplankton biomass because it could be easily measured with calibrated optical sensors. However, the intracellular Chl-a content varies with light, nutrient levels, and temperature and could misrepresent phytoplankton biomass. In this study, we estimated the concentration of phytoplankton carbon—a more suitable indicator for phytoplankton biomass—using a regionally adjusted bio-optical algorithm with satellite data in the South China Sea (SCS). Phytoplankton carbon and the carbon-to-Chl-a ratio (θ) exhibited considerable variability spatially and seasonally. Generally, phytoplankton carbon in the northern SCS was higher than that in the western and central parts. The regional monthly mean phytoplankton carbon in the northern SCS showed a prominent peak during December and January. A similar pattern was shown in the central part of SCS, but its peak was weaker. Besides the winter peak, the western part of SCS had a secondary maximum of phytoplankton carbon during summer. θ exhibited significant seasonal variability in the northern SCS, but a relatively weak seasonal change in the western and central parts. θ had a peak in September and a trough in January in the northern and central parts of SCS, whereas in the western SCS the minimum and maximum θ was found in August and during October–April of the following year, respectively. Overall, θ ranged from 26.06 to 123.99 in the SCS, which implies that the carbon content could vary up to four times given a specific Chl-a value. The variations in θ were found to be related to changing phytoplankton community composition, as well as dynamic phytoplankton physiological activities in response to environmental influences; which also exhibit much spatial differences in the SCS. Our results imply that the spatiotemporal variability of θ should be considered, rather than simply used a single value when converting Chl-a to phytoplankton carbon biomass in the SCS, especially, when verifying the simulation results of biogeochemical models.


Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 664
Author(s):  
Yun Xue ◽  
Lei Zhu ◽  
Bin Zou ◽  
Yi-min Wen ◽  
Yue-hong Long ◽  
...  

For Case-II water bodies with relatively complex water qualities, it is challenging to establish a chlorophyll-a concentration (Chl-a concentration) inversion model with strong applicability and high accuracy. Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) shows excellent performance in image target recognition and natural language processing. However, there little research exists on the inversion of Chl-a concentration in water using convolutional neural networks. Taking China’s Dongting Lake as an example, 90 water samples and their spectra were collected in this study. Using eight combinations as independent variables and Chl-a concentration as the dependent variable, a CNN model was constructed to invert Chl-a concentration. The results showed that: (1) The CNN model of the original spectrum has a worse inversion effect than the CNN model of the preprocessed spectrum. The determination coefficient (RP2) of the predicted sample is increased from 0.79 to 0.88, and the root mean square error (RMSEP) of the predicted sample is reduced from 0.61 to 0.49, indicating that preprocessing can significantly improve the inversion effect of the model.; (2) among the combined models, the CNN model with Baseline1_SC (strong correlation factor of 500–750 nm baseline) has the best effect, with RP2 reaching 0.90 and RMSEP only 0.45. The average inversion effect of the eight CNN models is better. The average RP2 reaches 0.86 and the RMSEP is only 0.52, indicating the feasibility of applying CNN to Chl-a concentration inversion modeling; (3) the performance of the CNN model (Baseline1_SC (RP2 = 0.90, RMSEP = 0.45)) was far better than the traditional model of the same combination, i.e., the linear regression model (RP2 = 0.61, RMSEP = 0.72) and partial least squares regression model (Baseline1_SC (RP2 = 0.58. RMSEP = 0.95)), indicating the superiority of the convolutional neural network inversion modeling of water body Chl-a concentration.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (15) ◽  
pp. 2863
Author(s):  
Junyi Li ◽  
Huiyuan Zheng ◽  
Lingling Xie ◽  
Quanan Zheng ◽  
Zheng Ling ◽  
...  

Strong typhoon winds enhance turbulent mixing, which induces sediment to resuspend and to promote chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) blooms in the continental shelf areas. In this study, we find limited Chl-a responses to three late autumn typhoons (typhoon Nesat, Mujigae and Khanun) in the northwestern South China Sea (NWSCS) using satellite observations. In climatology, the Chl-a and total suspended sediment (TSS) concentrations are high all year round with higher value in autumn in the offshore area of the NWSCS. After the typhoon passage, the Chl-a concentration increases slightly (23%), while even TSS enhances by 280% on the wide continental shelf of the NWSCS. However, in the southern area, located approximately 100 km from the typhoon tracks, both TSS and Chl-a concentrations increase 160% and 150% after typhoon passage, respectively. In the deeper area, the increased TSS concentration is responsible for the considerable increase of the Chl-a. An empirical analysis is applied to the data, which reveals the TSS and Chl-a processes during typhoon events. The results of this study suggest a different mechanism for Chl-a concentration increase and thus contribute toward further evaluation of typhoon-induced biological responses.


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