EESS talk on "Remote sensing of optically complex inland and coastal waters"
Event details
| Date | 30.05.2017 |
| Hour | 12:15 › 13:15 |
| Speaker |
Dr Tiit Kutser, visiting professor, Faculty of Science and Technology, Estonian Marine Institute, Department of Remote Sensing and Marine Optics, University of Tartu (Estonia) Short biography: Graduated as a geophysicist from University of Tartu, Estonia (1990). Obtained PhD in environmental physics from the same university (1997). Won a post-doc position in CSIRO Office of Space Science and Applications, Hobart and Canberra, Australia (1999-2002). Was invited to work in Limnology Department at University of Uppsala, Sweden (2002-2004). Worked in the Estonian Marine Institute and it’s predecessors as a student, junior research fellow, researcher, senior researcher and lead researcher (research professor) since 1987. The institute is currently part of the University of Tartu. The main research fields are related to the optics a remote sensing of complex coastal and inland waters, but also include shallow water remote sensing (benthic habitat and bathymetry mapping) and studying the role of lakes in the global carbon cycle. Won Estonian National Science Award in the category of exact sciences (2008). Representing Estonian Government in the intergovernmental Group on Earth Observations (GEO). Associate Editor in the Remote Sensing of Environment and in advisory boards of a few other journal |
| Location | |
| Category | Conferences - Seminars |
Abstract:
Remote sensing of water quality works well in clear open ocean waters where the only optically active substance in water is phytoplankton. Other optically active substances – coloured dissolved organic matter (CDOM) and suspended solids, are mainly phytoplankton degradation products and therefore in correlation with phytoplankton biomass, usually expressed as concentration of chlorophyll-a. Coastal and inland waters are much more complex: concentrations of optically active substances may be several orders of magnitude higher and do not co-vary. This makes estimation of water properties from remote sensing imagery much more difficult. The same applies to mapping of benthic habitat or bathymetry of shallow areas of optically complex waters – water transparency is relatively low and signal from the benthic habitats (seagrass beds, macroalgae, corals) is hard to separate from the signal coming from the water column.
Remote Sensing and Marine Optics Department at Estonian Marine Institute, University of Tartu, is one of the largest, most cited, and well-equipped groups in this research field around the Baltic Sea. The seminar will give an overview about the achievement of the Department in solving different regional to global scale problems with remote sensing. Main research topics of the Department area: mapping shallow water benthic habitat (including coral reefs) and bathymetry, developing methods for recognition and quantitative mapping of harmful algal blooms, developing remote sensing methods for monitoring coastal and inland water quality, studying the role of lakes in the global carbon cycle. The studies have contributed to development of new remote sensing methods, water monitoring methods for national monitoring program and drinking water industry, provided data for marine spatial planning, but also allowed to count all lakes on Earth, measure their size and volume and make steps forward in determining the role of lakes in the global carbon cycle.
Remote sensing of water quality works well in clear open ocean waters where the only optically active substance in water is phytoplankton. Other optically active substances – coloured dissolved organic matter (CDOM) and suspended solids, are mainly phytoplankton degradation products and therefore in correlation with phytoplankton biomass, usually expressed as concentration of chlorophyll-a. Coastal and inland waters are much more complex: concentrations of optically active substances may be several orders of magnitude higher and do not co-vary. This makes estimation of water properties from remote sensing imagery much more difficult. The same applies to mapping of benthic habitat or bathymetry of shallow areas of optically complex waters – water transparency is relatively low and signal from the benthic habitats (seagrass beds, macroalgae, corals) is hard to separate from the signal coming from the water column.
Remote Sensing and Marine Optics Department at Estonian Marine Institute, University of Tartu, is one of the largest, most cited, and well-equipped groups in this research field around the Baltic Sea. The seminar will give an overview about the achievement of the Department in solving different regional to global scale problems with remote sensing. Main research topics of the Department area: mapping shallow water benthic habitat (including coral reefs) and bathymetry, developing methods for recognition and quantitative mapping of harmful algal blooms, developing remote sensing methods for monitoring coastal and inland water quality, studying the role of lakes in the global carbon cycle. The studies have contributed to development of new remote sensing methods, water monitoring methods for national monitoring program and drinking water industry, provided data for marine spatial planning, but also allowed to count all lakes on Earth, measure their size and volume and make steps forward in determining the role of lakes in the global carbon cycle.
Practical information
- General public
- Free
- This event is internal
Organizer
- EESS - IIE
Contact
- Prof. A. Johny Wüest, LIMNC & APHYS