- Detecting zooplankton streaks in salt lakes using high resolution water surface colour processing

Context and objectives

Knowledge about the distribution of zooplankton is a key factor in predicting accurately the population dynamics of commercially important fish species and in establishing the potential of sustainable aquaculture operations. Most related application developments have been concentrated on studying phytoplankton in the seas. The sea water colour processing has focused evidently on the greenish colour spectrum, generated by chlorofyl. Zooplankton, instead, is characterized by its general lack of chlorofyl and the more common reddish colour spectrum generated by carotenoid and affiliated compounds. Furthermore, these developments pertained to wide views of the oceans to study this biomass on a macroscale. We, instead, are interested on a derivative of the biomass on a mesoscale. This requires a resolution on the borderline of what most commercially available sensors provide. Also, most developments are geared towards monitoring more global changes within the time frame of several seasons. We are interested in detecting phenomena that are only relevant within a period of days as winds and currents disperse these clouds of organic material. A similar mode of operation is demonstrated by oil spill detection. The main objective of this study is to determine the technical feasibility of a detection system for zooplankton in lakes, based on present or near-future satellite sensors.