Bernard, E.

Deschamps, P.-Y.

Nechad, B.

Neukermans, G.

Ramon, D.

Ruddick, K.

Open Marine Archive

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GEOSTATIONARY OCEAN COLOUR FEASIBILITY STUDY: MAPPING 
SUSPENDED MATTER WITH SEVIRI 
Neukermans Griet1, Bernard Emilien2, Bouchra Nechad1, Ramon Didier2, Pierre-Yves 
Deschamps2 and Ruddick Kevin1 
1 Royal Belgian Institute for Natural Sciences (RBINS), Management Unit of the North Sea 
Mathematical Models (MUMM), Gulledelle 100, 1200 Brussels, Belgium  
E-mail: g.neukermans@mumm.ac.be  
2 Hydrogéologie et Observation Satellitaire (HYGEOS), Rue Héloïse 5, 59650 Villeneuve 
d’Ascq, France 
 
Geostationary ocean colour sensors do not yet exist, but are under consideration by a 
number of space agencies. This study tests the feasibility and assesses the potential for 
optical remote sensing of coastal waters from geostationary platforms, with the existing 
SEVIRI (Spinning Enhanced Visible and InfraRed Imager) meteorological sensor on the 
METOSAT Second Generation platform. Data are available in near real time every 15 
minutes. SEVIRI lacks sufficient bands for chlorophyll remote sensing but its spectral 
resolution is sufficient for quantification of Total Suspended Matter (TSM) in turbid 
waters, using a single broad red band, combined with a suitable near infrared band. A 
data set for the Southern North Sea covering 34 consecutive days in June and July 
2006 was obtained to test the feasibility of mapping TSM with SEVIRI. Atmospheric 
correction of SEVIRI images included corrections for Rayleigh and aerosol scattering, 
absorption by atmospheric gasses and atmospheric transmittances. Assumptions on the 
ratio of waterleaving reflectances and aerosol reflectances in the red and near-infrared 
bands were needed to solve the system of equations. A one-band TSM retrieval 
algorithm, calibrated by non-linear regression of seaborne measurements of TSM and 
water-leaving reflectance was applied. The effect of the above assumptions on the 
uncertainty of the water-leaving reflectance and TSM products was analysed. Results 
show that (1) mapping of TSM in the Southern North Sea is feasible and sufficiently 
accurate with SEVIRI and that TSM maps are well correlated with TSM maps obtained 
from MODIS-AQUA (2) during cloud-free days, high frequency dynamics of TSM are 
detected and (3) daily composites of TSM could be generated in partially cloudy 
weather. 
 


Geostationary ocean colour feasibility study: mapping suspended matter with SEVIRI

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