A comparison of chlorophyll a values obtained from an autonomous underwater vehicle to satellite-based measures for Lake Michigan

Journal of Great Lakes Research
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Abstract

Accurate methods to track changes in lake productivity through time and space are critical to fisheries management. Chlorophyll a is the most widely studied proxy for ecosystem primary production, and has been the topic of many studies. The main sources of chlorophyll a measurements are ship-based measures or multi-spectral satellite data. Autonomous underwater vehicles can survey large spatial extents approaching the scale of satellite data, but with the accuracy of ship-based water sampling methods. We use several statistical measures to compare measures of chlorophyll a collected in Lake Michigan with spatiotemporally matched satellite-derived measures of chlorophyll a from the MODIS Aqua multi-spectral sensor using NASA’s OC3 and the Great Lakes Fit algorithms. Our findings show a near one to one relationship between AUV data and both satellite-derived data sets when the AUV data are coarsened to the resolution of the satellite data. A comparison of satellite-based chlorophyll a to AUV-derived chlorophyll summarized in discrete water depth bins suggested that, based on decreasing coefficients of determination, satellite estimates of chlorophyll accounted for the most variability in chlorophyll a concentrations in the upper 10 m of the water column, even though satellite sensors may detect past this depth.

Suggested Citation

Bennion, D., Warner, D., Esselman, P., Hobson, B., and Kieft, B., 2019, A comparison of chlorophyll a values obtained from an autonomous underwater vehicle to satellite-based measures for Lake Michigan: Journal of Great Lakes Research, v. 45, no. 4, p. 726-734, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jglr.2019.04.003.

Study Area

Publication type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Title A comparison of chlorophyll a values obtained from an autonomous underwater vehicle to satellite-based measures for Lake Michigan
Series title Journal of Great Lakes Research
DOI 10.1016/j.jglr.2019.04.003
Volume 45
Issue 4
Year Published 2019
Language English
Publisher Elsevier
Contributing office(s) Great Lakes Science Center
Description 9 p.
First page 726
Last page 734
Country United States
Other Geospatial Lake Michigan
Additional publication details