Posters

Poster Session 4, Thursday, October  6, 11:00–12:40

Poster 80

New Underwater Hyperspectral Radiometer Observations for Improved Shallow Water Remote Sensing in the Great Lakes

Submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) is important to the health or freshwater systems as they provide crucial habitat to an array of aquatic organisms. In light of this, better understanding of freshwater SAV dynamics is a necessary step to develop robust ecological management practices. The Michigan Tech Research Institute (MTRI) in collaboration with USGS GLSC has developed an underwater hyperspectral radiometer system that integrated onto the USGS Iver3 underwater vehicle to characterize benthic reflectance. The Iver3 is equipped with a stereo-imaging system to create bottom structure and estimate SAV biomass. Together, these systems will be able to provide a database of bottom albedo and associated SAV parameters which are essential for development of hyperspectral remote sensing algorithms. MTRI tested this system in Lake Michigan in August 2020 and 2021 with initial results suggesting the system is capable of producing robust estimates of bottom albedo of different bottom types including variable SAV percent cover. The underwater system was also able to produce hyperspectral light extinction coefficients comparable to simultaneous measurements from an off the shelf profiling radiometer system. Additionally, in collaboration with NOAA GLERL, hyperspectral airborne imagery was collected over the Lake Michigan study site along with coincident inherent and apparent optical properties for algorithm development. Together these two new hyperspectral observing technologies will advance remote sensing capabilities in optically shallow water in the Great Lakes.

Michael Sayers, Michigan Tech Research Institute, [email protected], 0000-0003-3008-1668 

Robert Shuchman, Michigan Tech Research Institute, [email protected] 

Ben Hart, Michigan Tech Research Institute, [email protected] 

Reid Sawtell, Michigan Tech Research Institute, [email protected]

Peter Esselman, USGS Great Lakes Science Center, [email protected] 

Karl Bosse, Michigan Tech Research Institute, [email protected] 

Andrea Vander Woude, NOAA GLERL, [email protected] 

Steve Ruberg, NOAA GLERL, [email protected]