Using satellite data to analyse optical water types in Latvian and Estonian lakes

Inland waterbodies, such as lakes, are optically more complex than marine or ocean waters, thus,  more challenging to be researched using remote sensing. To analyse them properly, researchers from the Institute for Environmental Solutions (IES) started to do remote sensing of Latvian and Estonian lakes by classifying different optical water types using Sentinel satellite data.

The main research areas were several lakes in Latvia – Burtnieks, Lubāns and Rāzna, as well as two lakes in Estonia – Peipsi and Võrtsjärv. For remote sensing the researchers used both, Sentinel-2 and Sentinel-3 satellite data.

Find out more about the results, analysis and conclusions in the following poster:

IES's researcher T.Soomets was invited to present this poster in the 2nd Mapping Water Bodies from Space Conference, which was organized by the European Space Agency as a part of the EO Science for Society Programme.

The poster closes the first stage of data processing – creating a clear water mask and determining the optical water type. The research continues in full field and laboratory analysis phase.

The research is a part of the project "ICT-based remote sensing tool for retrieving water quality products for lake research and monitoring" (FLUID), No. 1.1.1.2/VIAA/1/16/137. Agreement with State Education Development Agency of the Republic of Latvia No. 1.1.1.2/16/I/001. The project is funded by the European Regional Development Fund and partly funded by State budget funding and Institute for Environmental Solutions.

More about the FLUID project.