Remote Sensing of Microcystis Blooms with MASTER Imagery

David Austerberry Creighton University, Physics 2012

SARP 2011 Oceans Group Sherry Palacios, mentor Raphael Kudela, mentor

Microcystis

Stained M. wesenbergii sample from Pinto Lake, CA (Barry H. Rosen, USGS)

Microcystin LR (Sigma Aldrich)

Microcystis is a genus of cyanobacteria that produces cyclic peptide hepatotoxins

Liver pathology of M. aeruginosa toxins first documented in lab in 19461 Responsible for several Monterey Bay sea otter deaths2 Has caused instances of human deaths when present in water supply3
1. Ashworth and Mason 1946 2. Miller et al. 2010 3. Carmichael et al. 2001

Aquatic Optics
Inherent optical properties:

~ a : absorption coeff. b : backscatter ratio b : scattering coeff. bb : backscatter coeff. c : beam attenuation coeff.

c = a + b

bb b= b

Reflectance is an apparent optical property described by the radiative transfer equation1:

dL( z, , ) cos = c ( z ) L ( z , , ) + L * ( z , , ) dz
radiance change with depth attenuation gain from scattering

1. Kirk, J. 1994. Light and Photosynthesis in Aquatic Ecosystems

Scattering by Microcystis
The backscattering ratio is greater for cyanobacteria than other phytoplankton
0.0001 to 0.0040 is typical for living cells1 Synechococcus elongtatus at 620nm: 0.00192

Gas vesicles keep M. aeruginosa afloat on the canopy for photosynthesis

Contribute significantly to angular scattering distribution3

Electron micrograph of M. aeruginosa (Wayne Carmichael)

1. Kirk 1989 2. Vaillancourt et al. 1994 3. Ganf et al. 1989

Microcystis cross-section

A dividing Microcystis cell exhibiting hexagonal packing of cylindrical gas vesicles at 31,500x magnification (H. S. Pankratz)

Optical Characteristics of Microcystis

Absorption
Chlorophyll Other pigments, such as phycocyanin Chlorophyll a centered at 685 nm
Observed peak shifts progressively to longer wavelengths with increasing scattering1
Reflectance

Fluorescence

Scattering by gas vesicles

Reflectance spectra of synechococcus and chlorophyte (Sherry Palacios)

1. Gower et al. 1999

Spectral Signature: 680nm Line Height Wynne et al. used 680nm line height as a cyanobacteria index in MODIS data
Negative values indicated Microcystis

Above left: LandSat image Lake Erie, 8/19/2009 Above right: 681nm line height from MODIS, 8/20/2009 MERIS spectra of western Lake Erie: 8/21/2003 bloom conditions 8/17/2004 non-bloom conditions

Wynne et al. 2009

Radiative transfer modeling

Hydrolight solved radiative transfer eq. given:
a and c values: Synechococcus lab data backscatter ratio (bb /b) chlorophyll concentration (C) CDOM absorption: 0.1 m-1 solar radiance: RADTRAN sky model, zenith angle 10

An array of cyanobacteria simulations were run with varying bb /b and C values Output of interest: remote sensing reflectance
units of sr-1
Lw Rrs = Ed

Simulated Rrs, C=10 g/L

Simulated Rrs, varying C and bb/b

_
654 nm 714 nm 754nm

SLH proportional to bb/b; nearly chlorophyll invariant

living cells

MASTER Scattering Line Height

R R754 R654 (714nm 654nm) MSLH = R714 654 754nm 654nm

MASTER lacks:
the band needed for a 680nm line height bands corresponding to a published chlorophyll algorithm

However, bands at 654, 714, and 754 nm are situated for a line height indicative of scattering
MASTER Scattering Line Height (MSLH)

Image Analysis
Data sets:
Headwall airborne hyperspectral imager
Pinto Lake, October 13th, 2010 (known bloom)

MASTER
Monterey Bay and Pinto Lake, July 22nd, 2009 Santa Barbara coast, June 30th, 2011

Indices:
Scattering (correlated with Microcystis)
680nm line height MSLH

Chlorophyll
OC2 algorithm (OReilly et al. 1998)

Pinto Lake Bloom in 680nm line height

Oct. 13, 2010 Headwall image (known Pinto bloom)

PintoLake

Pinto Lake: Oct. 13th, 2010

Chlorophyll was estimated with OC2 algorithm
underestimated high levels in bloom

Strong spatial correlation between 680nm line height and chlorophyll concentration

PintoLake,October13th,2010
Pinto Lake Dock Microcystin (ppb) Chlorophyll (g/L) 10/10/2010 10/17/2010 4.8 2.2 151 739

Table: In-situ Pinto data (Dr. Kudela)

Headwall Issues for MSLH

Pinto Lake in MSLH

MSLH(sr1)

MSLH is negative or very small in Monterey Bay Pinto mean MSLH: 0.0018 sr-1 Kelly Lake mean MSLH: 0.0019 sr-1 Lack ground truth for summer 2009 Moderately high MSLH is consistent with the high backscattering caused by cyanobacteria

MSLH(sr1)

Santa Barbara MASTER 2011 MSLH

MSLH is negative or very small in the Santa Barbara Channel Andree Clark mean MSLH: 0.000 sr-1 UCSB Lagoon mean MSLH: 0.001 sr-1

Conclusions
The strong spatial correlation of the 680nm line height with chlorophyll concentration during a known Pinto Lake Microcystis bloom confirms that it is a Microcystis signature MSLH is expected to be indicative of backscattering Observed MSLH values are generally negative or zero in low scattering environments and positive in environments expected to have high scattering A catalog of bb/b values is necessary for distinguishing between Microcystis and other cyanobacteria genera with MASTER imagery

Acknowledgements
Sherry Palacios Raphael Kudela Emily Schaller Rick Shetter Nicholas Clinton Dennis Gearhart SARP 2011 Oceans Group Jack Gabel, Creighton University SARP NSERC NASA

References
Ashworth, CT, and MF Mason. "Observations on the Pathological Changes Produced by a Toxic Substance Present in Blue-Green Algae (microcystis Aeruginosa)." The American Journal of Pathology. 22.2 (1946): 369-83. Electronic. Carmichael, Wayne W, Sandra M. F. O. Azevedo, Ji S. An, Renato J. R. Molica, Elise M. Jochimsen, Sharon Lau, Kenneth L. Rinehart, Glen R. Shaw, and Geoff K. Eaglesham. "Human Fatalities from Cyanobacteria: Chemical and Biological Evidence for Cyanotoxins."Environmental Health Perspectives. 109.7 (2001): 663-668. Electronic. Ganf, GG, RL Oliver, and AE Walsby. "Optical Properties of Gas-Vacuolate Cells and Colonies of Microcystis in Relation to Light Attenuation in a Turbid, Stratified Reservoir (mount Bold Reservoir, South Australia)." Marine and Freshwater Research. 40.6 (1989). Electronic. Gower, J F. R, R Doerffer, and G A. Borstad. "Interpretation of the 685 Nm Peak in Water-Leaving Radiance Spectra in Terms of Fluorescence, Absorption and Scattering, and Its Observation by Meris." International Journal of Remote Sensing. 20.9 (1999): 1771-1786. Electronic. Kirk, John T. O. Light and Photosynthesis in Aquatic Ecosystems. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994. Print. Miller, MA, RM Kudela, A Mekebri, D Crane, SC Oates, MT Tinker, M Staedler, WA Miller, S Toy-Choutka, C Dominik, D Hardin, G Langlois, M Murray, K Ward, and DA Jessup. "Evidence for a Novel Marine Harmful Algal Bloom: Cyanotoxin (microcystin) Transfer from Land to Sea Otters." Plos One. 5.9 (2010). Electronic. O'Reilly, J E, S Maritorena, B G. Mitchell, and D A. Siegel. "Ocean Color Chlorophyll Algorithms for SeaWiFS." Journal of Geophysical Research. 103 (1998): 24. Electronic. Vaillancourt, RD, Brown, CW, Guillard. RRL, Balch, WM. Light Backscattering Properties of Marine Phytoplankton: Relationships to Cell Size, Chemical Composition and Taxonomy. 2004. Electronic. Wynne, T T, R P. Stumpf, M C. Tomlinson, R A. Warner, P A. Tester, J Dyble, and G L. Fahnenstiel. "Relating Spectral Shape to Cyanobacterial Blooms in the Laurentian Great Lakes." International Journal of Remote Sensing. 29.12 (2008): 3665-3672. Electronic.

Microcystis phase function

Phase function without gas vesicles

Phase function with gas vesicles

Volten, H, Haan J. F. de, J W. Hovenier, R Schreurs, W Vassen, A G. Dekker, H J. Hoogenbloom, F Charlton, and R Wouts. Laboratory Measurements of Angular Distributions of Light Scattered by Phytoplankton and Silt, 1998.

HICO Pinto Lake June 27th, 2011

Chlorophyll OC2

MSLH

680nm Line Height