Satellite optical remote sensing is used to monitor coastal and inland water quality, providing data for port and coastal management by measuring parameters such as chlorophyll-a and suspended particulate matter. The quality of this satellite operational data depends on intermediate processing, supported by in situ measurements of water reflectance. PANTHYR, a “PAN-and-Tilt HYperspectral Radiometer system” is part of WATERHYPERNET, an international network of automated radiometers on zenith- and azimuth- pointing systems, that will provide hyperspectral validation covering a spectral range of 400-900 nm, sufficient for all visible and near infrared bands of current deployed satellite platforms. The network is built on the experience gained from AERONET-OC, a multispectral network existing for more than 20 years. The Panthyr collects data every 20 minutes from sunrise till sunset and the main application will be to provide data for satellite validation. Nonetheless, the availability of high frequency and long-term hyperspectral water reflectance measurements can be useful for many other applications related to Belgian water monitoring, such as phytoplankton, turbidity dynamics, diatoms blooming. A Panthyr is being installed on the C-Power Windfarm OTS Platform, in the North Sea 30 km off the Belgian coastline. On the same platform is already running a CIMEL from the AERONET-OC, allowing for comparison between the two sensors, multi- and hyperspectral. We will present here the first results of the Panthyr installation on C-Power.

Primary Presenter: Francesca Ortenzio, RBINS (fortenzio@naturalsciences.be)

Authors:

Kevin Ruddick, RBINS  (kruddick@naturalsciences.be)

Matthew Beck, RBINS  (mbeck@naturalsciences.be)

Heloise Lavigne, RBINS  (hlavigne@naturalsciences.be)