Predicting macroalgal pigments (chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, chlorophyll a + b, carotenoids) in various environmental conditions using high-resolution hyperspectral spectroradiometers

ABSTRACTPhotosynthetic pigments may indicate the health and productivity of vegetation and thereby are among the most important targets of the remote-sensing science. We studied the relationship between macroalgae pigment concentration measured in situ and spectral reflectance, to develop predictive remote-sensing methods for macroalgal pigments. The measurements of spectral reflectance of macroalgae were made using both a field portable spectrometer Ramses built by TriOS GmbH (Germany) and a laboratory hyperspectral imaging device HySpex built by Norsk Elektro Optikk (Norway). Our results showed that differences in total chlorophyll (Chl-a + b) concentrations resulted in the consistent change of spectral reflectance for studied brown (Fucus vesiculosus) and green (Cladophora glomerata, Ulva intestinalis) macroalgae species. Charophytes (Chara aspera, Chara horrida) were also studied, and the relationship was much weaker for this taxon. If spectral indices predicted relatively well the concentration of Ch...