Using Global Lake
Abundance Data to Map
Lake Volume and Carbon
Content from Space
Tiit Kutser1,2, Charles Verpoorter3,2, Liisa Rohtla1,
David Seekell4, Sebastian Sobek2, David Bastviken5,
Gema Casal Pascual6,1, Lars Tranvik2
1: University of Tartu, Estonia;; 2: University of Uppsala, Sweden
3: University du Littoral Côte d’Opale, France; 4: University of Virginia, USA
5: University of Linköping, Sweden; 6: Ireland Marine Institute, Ireland
GLObal Water BOdies
database
* Made from GeoCoverTM Circa
2000 dataset
Pan-sharpened 14.25 m resolution
Landsat data
* Verpoorter et al. 2012 methodology
* Minimum size 9x14.25x14.25 m
Results
* The total number of lakes (larger
than 0.002 km²) is 117 million
(304 million lakes larger than 0.001
km2, from those 136 million greater
than 0.002 km2 Downing et al. 2006)
* 4 760 000 km2 (3.7% non-glaciated
Earth’s land area)
(3 600 000 km2 Downing et al. 2006)
Results
Results
Charles Verpoorter, Tiit Kutser,
David A. Seekell, Lars J. Tranvik
A global inventory of lakes based
on high resolution satellite data.
Geophysical Research Letters 41,
2014, 6396-6402
Global lake volume
GLOWABO + DEM (SRTM and
ASTER)
GLOWABO + Sobek et al. 2011
GLOWABO + Heathcote et al. 2015
ONGOING
Global CO2 emission
Lake
category
Nontropical
freshwater
Saline
Tropical
Glowabo
% of
% of
total CO2 total
emission area
44
10
45
68
16
15
Raymond et al. 2013
% of total % of total
CO2
area
emission
47
18
35
UNPUBLISHED
87,6
10,0
2,4
Global CH4 emission
GLOWABO +
Bastviken et al. 2011
ONGOING
Mapping lake carbon
content from space is
feasible
CDOM DOC
m-1
ppm
pCO2
μatm
Kutser et al. 2005a,b
Global CDOM/DOC/TOC/pCO2
Landsat 8 global
lake CDOM/DOC
map
57 784 images to cover
the whole world
About 3000 cloud
free images currently
downloaded
Ongoing
Extrapolating Landsat 8 CDOM statistics on GLOWABO
Mapping CDOM from Landsat 8
Atmospheric correction issues?
Both carbon and iron affect
water colour
Their decreasing rate through
time is different
Köhler et al. 2013 PlosOne
Effect of iron
on DOC
retrieval
Kutser et al. 2015 RSE
No water leaving signal in VIS
Lu/Ed
Lw/Ed
Nohipalu Mustjärv, aCDOM(400)=63.05 m-1
Summary
* Combining remote sensing data
with advanced image processing
methods and knowledge in
limnology and biogeochemistry
allows to make significant steps
forward in understanding the role
of lakes in the global carbon cycle
Summary
* New technical possibilities
(Landsat 8, Sentinel 2) allow to
make significant steps forward in
global lake studies.
* Issues needing further attention
are: atmospheric correction, cal/val
of retrieval algorithms, and
potential limits of remote sensing
methods
Thank you for your attention!
The study was funded by Swedish Research Council for Environment,
Agricultural Sciences and Spatial Planning (FORMAS) Project „Colour
of Water – interplay with climate, and effects on drinking water supply“