Can the Globcolour 4Km product be used study Chl in lakes?

[Jan]

Dear Friends,

I have received a query from a PhD student who is looking for information on the suitability of using the usage of the GlobColour products for determining the Chlorophyll content of Lake Malawi and other major lakes (i.e. those with surface areas > 500 km2) with a view to using the information in a study of thermal stratification resulting from changes in the surface temperature. The study will feed into the ESA-funded Arc Lake Project

However, as GlobColour is targeted at Ocean Colour, I would welcome feedback on the suitability of the 4 Km product for determining the Chlorophyll content of major lakes (the student requested information on the 1 Km product, but as that's an Ocean Characterisation product, I've ruled it out).

Thanks in advance

Cheers

Jan

[oha]

Dear Jan,

as you know, GlobColour products are primarily designed for open oceans. Among others, the resolution of 4.6 km is a potential issue to properly address lakes.

However, we have some products available on the lakes (MERIS case 2 Chl, merged case 1 Chl, merged GSM chl, ...) (see two examples attached). There are noticeable differences among these products. It might be interesting to assess which approach is the best by comparing with in situ data, if available. The 1998-2009 time series is available for such purpose. We could then extract the selected products for the full period. We welcome all feedback we might receive that would help assessing the data (at service@globcolour.info).

Other products like the heated depth layer might be interesting, reading the objective of the study. However, this product is not on the shelf. Only one year (2003) is currently available.

Hope this helps.

Cheers

Odile

[Jan]

Dear Odile,

Thank You: that was a great help - interesting too.

Cheers

Jan