Water Quality Chl-a Inversion Based on Spatio-Temporal Fusion and Convolutional Neural Network

The combination of remote sensing technology and traditional field sampling provides a convenient way to monitor inland water. However, limited by the resolution of remote sensing images and cloud contamination, the current water quality inversion products do not provide both high temporal resolution and high spatial resolution. By using the spatio-temporal fusion (STF) method, high spatial resolution and temporal fusion images were generated with Landsat, Sentinel-2, and GaoFen-2 data. Then, a Chl-a inversion model was designed based on a convolutional neural network (CNN) with the structure of 4-(136-236-340)-1-1. Finally, the results of the Chl-a concentrations were corrected using a pixel correction algorithm. The images generated from STF can maintain the spectral characteristics of the low-resolution images with the R-2 between 0.7 and 0.9. The Chl-a inversion results based on the spatio-temporal fused images and CNN were verified with measured data (R-2 = 0.803), and then the results were improved (R-2 = 0.879) after further combining them with the pixel correction algorithm. The correlation R-2 between the Chl-a results of GF2-like and Sentinel-2 were both greater than 0.8. The differences in the spatial distribution of Chl-a concentrations in the BYD lake gradually increased from July to August. Remote sensing water quality inversion based on STF and CNN can effectively achieve high frequency in time and fine resolution in space, which provide a stronger scientific basis for rapid diagnosis of eutrophication in inland lakes.

Automated summary

The combination of remote sensing technology and traditional field sampling provides a convenient way to monitor inland water. However, the current water quality inversion products lack both high temporal resolution and high spatial resolution. In this study, a spatio-temporal fusion (STF) method was used to generate high-resolution and temporal fusion images, and a Chl-a inversion model based on a convolutional neural network (CNN) was designed. The results of the Chl-a concentrations were improved by combining them with a pixel correction algorithm.