Modelling Reservoir Chlorophyll-a, TSS, and Turbidity Using Sentinel-2A MSI and Landsat-8 OLI Satellite Sensors with Empirical Multivariate Regression

Abstract EN

Sentinel-2A/MSI (S2A) and Landsat-8/OLI (L8) data products present a new frontier for the assessment and retrieval of optically active water quality parameters including chlorophyll-a (Chl-a), suspended particulate matter (TSS), and turbidity in reservoirs.

However, because of their differences in spatial and spectral samplings, it is critical to evaluate how well the sensors are suited for the seamless generation of the water quality parameters (WQPs).

This study presents results from the retrieval of the WQP in a reservoir from L8 and S2A optical sensors, after atmospheric correction and standardization through band adjustment.

An empirical multivariate regression model (EMRM) algorithmic approach is proposed for the estimation of the water quality parameters in correlation with in situ laboratory measurements.

From the results, both sensors estimated Chl-a concentrations with R2 of greater than 70% from the visible green band for L8 and a combination of green and SWIR-1 bands for S2A.

While the NMSE% was nearly the same for both sensors in Chl-a estimation, the RMSE was <10 μg/L and >10 μg/L for L8 and S2A estimations of Chl-a, respectively.

For TSS retrieval, L8 outperformed S2A by 31% in accuracy with R2>0.9 from L8’s red, blue, and green bands, as compared to 0.47≤R2≥0.61 from S2A’s red and NIR bands.

The RMSE were the same as for Chl-a, and the NMSE% were both in the same range.

Both sensors retrieved turbidity with high and nearly equal accuracy of R2>70% from the visible and NIR bands, with equal RMSE at <10% NTU and NMAE% from S2A being higher by more than 30% as compared to L8’s NMAE% at 15%.

The study concluded that the higher performance accuracy of L8 is attributed to its higher SNR and spectral bandwidth placement as compared to S2A bands.

Comparatively, S2A overestimated Chl-a and turbidity but performed equally well compared to OLI in the estimation of TSS.

The results show that while absolute accuracy of retrieval of the WQPs still requires improvements, the developed algorithms are broadly able to discern the biooptical water quality in reservoirs.