Remote estimation of chlorophyll-a concentrations in Taihu Lake during cyanobacterial algae bloom outbreak

Accurate remote assessment of chlorophyll-a (chla) concentration is particularly challenging in turbid waters, especially during the period of cyanobacterial algae bloom outbreak. In this study, we took Taihu Lake as an example, and presented a chl-a estimation method in the condition of cyanobacteria algae bloom outbreaking by using MODIS data. The main idea of this method is (1) to study the water reflectance spectra during the bloom outbreak, (2) to divide water into different areas based on the water reflectance spectra, and (3) to establish algorithms for chl-a estimation in different water areas. The results shows that the method greatly improved the accuracy of chl-a estimation during the cyanobacterial algae bloom outbreak in Taihu lake.