Comparación de productos automáticos de ACOLITE y C2RCC para la estimación de la Clorofila-a en lagos altoandinos con Sentinel-2

Este trabajo ha sido financiado por el proyec-to “Applying new methodologies based on remote sensing and environmental modeling to assessment the eutrophication state of lakes and lakes in the Inter-Andean region of Ecuador, Escuela Superior Politécnica de Chimborazo (ESPOCH), Riobamba, Ecuador” bajo la subven-ción IDIPI-336.

Abstract:

The water quality of the high-Andean lakes in Ecuador has been scarcely studied using remote sensing due to multiple factors. Among these, the difficult access stands out, which limits the acquisition of field data necessary for model calibration and validation. Additionally, the high cloud cover and the high sunglint risk of the lakes located close to the equatorial line, aggravated by the daily mountain breeze, further complicate the acquisition of useful images. In this study, the concentration of chlorophyll-a was assessed in two distinct water bodies: the oligotrophic Lake Atillo and the hypereutrophic Yambo Lake. For this purpose, in situdata were compared with automatic products derived from Sentinel-2 images processed using four atmospheric correction methods: ACOLITE and the three variants of C2RCC (C2RCC, C2X, and C2X-COMPLEX). The results indicate that, in Atillo, the best performance was achieved with the standard version of C2RCC, followed by the chl_oc2 model implemented in ACOLITE. Conversely, in Yambo, the best statistical results were obtained with C2X-COMPLEX, followed by the chl_re_bramich model in ACOLITE. Although ACOLITE showed slightly inferior statistical results in both lakes, its ability to effectively correct sunglint makes it, along with C2RCC, a valuable tool for monitoring eutrophication in these systems. It is worth noting that the use of free software (ACOLITE and C2RCC) and openly accessible images (Sentinel-2) facilitates the implementation of temporal monitoring and spatial analysis programs for chlorophyll-a in these high-Andean lakes, offering a viable alternative for assessing their trophic status.

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