Coastal Water Quality Laboratory and In Situ Measurements of SIOPs (activity 2.1) and substratum (activity 2.2)

The objective of activity 2.1 is to provide a suite of key optical datasets to support and enable the application of optically deep and shallow water inversion algorithms on the NCI and DEA. This work has undertaken a robust assessment of the CSIRO O&A bio-optical data using peer-reviewed methods to develop a clear understanding of where these data are appropriate to use. The objective of activity 2.2 is to provide a set of substratum spectra that can be clearly defined from satellite image data sets at various spectral resolutions. This work has used the O&A substrate spectral library, a compilation of above water substratum spectral reflectance measurements collected since the mid 1990’s. A workflow was developed to select a representative substratum spectrum in 17 substratum types, representative of elements within shallow aquatic habitats. The spectral separability between these classes were assessed on several spectral scales, ranging from 5nm spectral resolution to the broad spectral responses of multispectral satellite sensors.