Assessment of Chlorophyll-a concentration from Sentinel-3 satellite images at the Mediterranean Sea using CMEMS open source in situ data

Abstract

The objective of this study is to evaluate the efficiency of two well-known algorithms (Ocean Colour 4 for MERIS [OC4Me] and neural net [NN]) used in the calculation of chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) from the Sentinel-3 Ocean and Land Colour Instrument (OLCI) compared to in situ measurements covering the Mediterranean Sea. In situ data set, obtained from the Copernicus Marine Environmental Monitoring Service (CMEMS) and more specifically from the data set with the title INSITU_MED_NRT_OBSERVATIONS_013_035, and Chl-a values at different depths were extracted. The concentration of Chl-a at a penetration depth was calculated. Then, water was classified into two categories, Case-1 and Case-2. For Case-2 waters, the OC4Me presents a moderate correlation with the in situ data for a time window of 0–2 h. In contrast with the NN algorithm, where very weak correlations were calculated, lower values of the statistical index of Bias for Case-1 waters were calculated for the OC4Me algorithm. Higher values of Pearson correlation were calculated (r > 0.5) for OC4Me algorithm than NN. OC4Me performed better than NN.

Keywords

• mediterranean sea
• remote sensing
• chlorophyll-a
• sentinel-3