Research project The use of Copernicus Sentinel-3 data for research and societal needs

Due to high concentrations of coloured dissolved organic matter, the Baltic Sea is one of the most optically complex seas in the world. Our group has expertise in developing remote sensing algorithms for the Baltic Sea based on optical in situ measurements. These algorithms can be applied to OLCI Sentinel-3 and MERIS data in order to do long-term assessment of water quality, providing crucial information on the ecological status of water bodies and the effects of climate change. Combined with MERIS, OLCI data can be used for long-term monitoring purposes, providing unprecedented temporal and spatial coverage which is superior to conventional monitoring programs.

One of the main objectives of the project is to define key optical variables that can be used as indicator of climate change. Another objective is to characterise the inherent optical properties (IOP’s, i.e. the absorption and scattering properties) of the Baltic Sea in order to contribute to improved retrieval of water quality information in the Baltic Sea. In order to deliver reliable remote sensing products to the end-user community we also need to have state of the art validation systems in place. Another important part of the project is to improve the use of satellite data for societal needs. We will support the Ocean Colour Thematic Assembly Centre of the Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service (CMEMS) with validation data for the OLCI Neural Network Swarm (ONNS) as well as assessing products from the Swedish Space Data Lab. These systems provide water quality data for the Baltic Sea region. However, the data quality of these systems still needs to be improved for optically complex waters such as the Baltic Sea.

Our group will contribute to this with via improved characterisation of IOP’s which is the current bottleneck in ocean colour remote sensing of optically-complex waters. Besides coastal waters in the NW Baltic Sea the project also investigates Lake Vänern.