Towards implementation of Earth Observation-based water quality monitoring and assessment: case of Lithuanian surface waters

The presentation was presented during “Copernicus Training and Information Session in Vilnius (Lithuania) organized by The European Commission and the Agency for Science, Innovation and Technology in Lithuania. The presentation aims to present the ongoing activities related to Earth Observation for water quality in Lithuania and introduce H2020 project EOMORES

Validation of MERIS bio-optical products with in situ data in the turbid Lithuanian Baltic Sea coastal waters

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Atmospheric correction of Landsat-8/OLI and Sentinel-2/MSI data using iCOR algorithm: validation for coastal and inland waters

Image correction for atmospheric effects (iCOR) is an atmospheric correction tool that can process satellite data collected over coastal, inland or transitional waters and land. The tool is adaptable with minimal effort to hyper- or multi-spectral radiometric sensors. By using a single atmospheric correction implementation for land and water, discontinuities in reflectance within one scene are reduced. iCOR derives aerosol optical thickness from the image and allows for adjacency correction, which is SIMilarity Environmental Correction (SIMEC) over water. This paper illustrates the performance of iCOR for Landsat-8 OLI and Sentinel-2 MSI data acquired over water. An intercomparison of water leaving reflectance between iCOR and Aerosol Robotic Network – Ocean Color provided a quantitative assessment of performance and produced coefficient of determination (R2) higher than 0.88 in all wavebands except the 865 nm band. For inland waters, the SIMEC adjacency correction improved results in the red-edge and near-infrared region in relation to optical in situ measurements collected during field campaigns

Drivers of Cyanobacterial Blooms in a Hypertrophic Lagoon

The Curonian Lagoon is Europe's largest lagoon and one of the most seriously impacted by harmful blooms of cyanobacteria. Intensive studies over the past 20 years have allowed us to identify the major drivers determining the composition and spatial extent of hyperblooms in this system. We summarize and discuss the main outcomes of these studies and provide an updated, conceptual scheme of the multiple interactions between climatic and hydrologic factors, and their influence on internal and external processes that promote cyanobacterial blooms. Retrospective analysis of remote sensed images demonstrated the variability of blooms in terms of timing, extension and intensity, suggesting that they occur only under specific circumstances. Monthly analysis of nutrient loads and stoichiometry from the principal tributary (Nemunas River) revealed large interannual differences in the delivery of key elements, but summer months were always characterized by a strong dissolved inorganic N (and Si) limitation, that depresses diatoms and favors the dominance of cyanobacteria. Cyanobacteria blooms occurred during high water temperatures, long water residence time and low-wind conditions. The blooms induce transient (night-time) hypoxia, which stimulates the release of iron-bound P, producing a positive feedback for blooms of N-fixing cyanobacteria. Consumer-mediated nutrient recycling by dreissenid mussels, chironomid larvae, cyprinids and large bird colonies, may also affect P availability, but their role as drivers of cyanobacteria blooms is understudied

The Relevance of Marine Chemical Ecology to Plankton and Ecosystem Function: An Emerging Field

Marine chemical ecology comprises the study of the production and interaction of bioactive molecules affecting organism behavior and function. Here we focus on bioactive compounds and interactions associated with phytoplankton, particularly bloom-forming diatoms, prymnesiophytes and dinoflagellates. Planktonic bioactive metabolites are structurally and functionally diverse and some may have multiple simultaneous functions including roles in chemical defense (antipredator, allelopathic and antibacterial compounds), and/or cell-to-cell signaling (e.g., polyunsaturated aldehydes (PUAs) of diatoms). Among inducible chemical defenses in response to grazing, there is high species-specific variability in the effects on grazers, ranging from severe physical incapacitation and/or death to no apparent physiological response, depending on predator susceptibility and detoxification capability. Most bioactive compounds are present in very low concentrations, in both the producing organism and the surrounding aqueous medium. Furthermore, bioactivity may be subject to synergistic interactions with other natural and anthropogenic environmental toxicants. Most, if not all phycotoxins are classic secondary metabolites, but many other bioactive metabolites are simple molecules derived from primary metabolism (e.g., PUAs in diatoms, dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) in prymnesiophytes). Producing cells do not seem to suffer physiological impact due to their synthesis. Functional genome sequence data and gene expression analysis will provide insights into regulatory and metabolic pathways in producer organisms, as well as identification of mechanisms of action in target organisms. Understanding chemical ecological responses to environmental triggers and chemically-mediated species interactions will help define crucial chemical and molecular processes that help maintain biodiversity and ecosystem functionality

Chlorophyll-a variability during upwelling events in the south-eastern Baltic Sea and in the Curonian Lagoon from satellite observations

Based on the analysis of multispectral satellite data, this work demonstrates the influence of coastal upwelling on the variability of chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) concentration in the south-eastern Baltic (SEB) Sea and in the Curonian Lagoon. The analysis of sea surface temperature (SST) data acquired by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) onboard Aqua/Terra satellites, together with Chl-a maps from Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) onboard Envisat, shows a significant decrease of up to 40–50% in Chl-a concentration in the upwelling zone. This results from the offshore Ekman transport of more productive surface waters, which are replaced by cold and less-productive waters from deeper layers. Due to an active interaction between the Baltic Sea and the Curonian Lagoon which are connected through the Klaipeda Strait, coastal upwelling in the SEB also influences the hydrobiological conditions of the adjacent lagoon. During upwelling inflows, SST drops by approximately 2–8 °C, while Chl-a concentration becomes 2–4 times lower than in pre-upwelling conditions. The joint analysis of remotely sensed Chl-a and SST data reveals that the upwelling-driven reduction in Chl-a concentration leads to the temporary improvement of water quality in terms of Chl-a in the coastal zone and in the hyper-eutrophic Curonian Lagoon. This study demonstrates the benefits of multi-spectral satellite data for upscaling coastal processes and monitoring the environmental status of the Baltic Sea and its largest estuarine lagoon

Remote Sensing of Coastal Upwelling in the South-Eastern Baltic Sea: Statistical Properties and Implications for the Coastal Environment

A detailed study of wind-induced coastal upwelling (CU) in the south-eastern Baltic Sea is presented based on an analysis of multi-mission satellite data. Analysis of moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) sea surface temperature (SST) maps acquired between April and September of 2000⁻2015 allowed for the identification of 69 CU events. The Ekman-based upwelling index (UI) was applied to evaluate the effectiveness of the satellite measurements for upwelling detection. It was found that satellite data enable the identification of 87% of UI-based upwelling events during May⁻August, hence, serving as an effective tool for CU detection in the Baltic Sea under relatively cloud-free summer conditions. It was also shown that upwelling-induced SST drops, and its spatial properties are larger than previously registered. During extreme upwelling events, an SST drop might reach 14 °C, covering a total area of nearly 16,000 km2. The evolution of an upwelling front during such intensive events is accompanied by the generation of transverse filaments extending up to 70 km offshore. An analysis of the satellite optical data shows a clear decline in the chlorophyll-a concentration in the coastal zone and in the shallow Curonian Lagoon, where it drops down by an order of magnitude. It was also shown that a cold upwelling front alters the stratification in the atmospheric boundary layer, leading to a sudden drop of air temperature and near-surface winds

The Effect of Short-Term Upwelling Events on Fish Assemblages at the South-Eastern Coast of the Baltic Sea

Multiple stressors, such as overfishing, pollution, climate change, biological invasions etc., are affecting fish communities, and thus can have versatile effects on marine ecosystems and socio-economic activities as well. Understanding the changes in the fish community structure is ecologically and economically important, yet a very complex issue, requiring comprehensive analysis of multiple factors. The role of regional oceanographic variability, namely, coastal upwelling, is often neglected when it comes to the analysis of fish assemblages. In this perspective, we were aiming, for the first time in the Baltic Sea, to assess the upwelling influence on fish communities and fish community-based ecological indices used under Marine Strategy Framework Directive. The study covered a long-term period (2000–2019) for upwelling identified by satellite data analysis and fish gillnet surveys, performed in three distinct locations in the coastal waters of the SE Baltic Sea. Overall, our study revealed that temporal dynamics of fish abundance and community composition were associated with the presence of coastal upwelling. The study outcomes suggest that the fish community was more diverse and a higher number of some fish species was observed before upwelling. During upwelling, there was more evident dominance of 1–2 main marine fish species. Through the changes in fish abundance and species composition upwelling was also responsible for the changes in fish community structure-based indices for marine environment status, i.e., in the majority of the cases a decrease in Trophic, Piscivorous Fish, and Diversity indices were observed. Our study demonstrates that upwelling can affect both, the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of coastal fish communities, therefore, it is important to consider this when predicting shifts in the distribution of fish stocks or assessing environmental status indicators, especially under changing climate. We believe that our approach adds novel information to the study of coastal ecosystems of the Baltic Sea and is important for better management of socio-economic activities in the coastal zone

Qualification of atmospheric correction and water quality retrieval from OLCI for European inland and transitional waters

In inland and transitional systems, where optically complex waters dominate due to the different origins of water constituents, atmospheric correction and water quality retrieval might be particularly tricky. For example, residual signal in the NIR due to suspended matter prevents from using of algorithms based on the NIR complete absorption assumption, used in clear waters. The aim of this work is to evaluate the accuracy of Sentinel3A-OLCI products in three inland waters basins, with increasing trophic state, from the deep oligotrophic Lake Garda (Italy), to the shallower, eutrophic and turbid Lake Trasimeno (Italy) and to the iper-eutrophic Curonian Lagoon (Lithuania-Russian). Remote Sensing Reflectance (Rrs) and Chlorophyll-a (CHL) obtained with: i) standard Level-2 OLCI ; ii) SNAP-Neural Network; and iii) 6SV code and bio-optical model are compared to matchups of in situ measurements. Poster presented at the '4th Sentinel-3 Validation Team Meeting – EUMETSAT, Darmstadt, 2018

Feces from piscivorous and herbivorous birds stimulate differentially phytoplankton growth

Aquatic birds may impact shallow ecosystems via organic and nutrient enrichment with feces. Such input may alleviate nutrient limitation, unbalance their ecological stoichiometry, and stimulate primary production. Herbivorous and piscivorous birds may produce different effects on aquatic ecosystems due to different physiology, diet and feces elemental composition. We analyze the effects of droppings from swans (herbivorous) and cormorants (piscivorous) on phytoplankton growth via a laboratory experiment. These birds are well represented in the Curonian Lagoon, where they form large colonies. As this lagoon displays summer algal hyper-blooms, we hypothesize an active, direct role of birds via defecation on algal growth. Short-term incubations of phytoplankton under low and high feces addition produces different stimulation of algal growth, significantly higher with high inputs of cormorant feces. The latter produces a major effect on reactive phosphorus concentration that augments significantly, as compared to treatments with swan feces, and determines an unbalanced, N-limited stoichiometry along with the duration of the experiment. During the incubation period, the dominant algal groups switch from blue-green to green algae, but such switch is independent of the level of feces input and from their origin. Heterotrophic bacteria also are stimulated by feces addition, but their increase is transient