Study of Harmful Algae Blooms Using UAV Imagery

Session: Poster Session

ileana dumitriu, Hobart and William Smith College, [email protected]
peter spacher, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, [email protected]
John Halfman, Hobart & William Smith Colleges, Geoscience/Environmental Studies Program, [email protected]
Lisa Cleckner, Finger Lakes Institute, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, [email protected]

Abstract

Recently, Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) have become a global concern in freshwater ecosystems. HABs are challenging to sample due to their spatial and temporal variability. The use of UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) assures high-resolution monitoring for HABs, and is economically and logistically feasible for small bodies of water and near-shore regions.  Over the past two years UAV images and water quality data were simultaneously collected from eight Finger Lakes which span the oligotrophic to eutrophic spectrum of algal productivity. Preliminary comparison between the Green/Blue (G/B) ratio extracted from the UAV images was proportional to chlorophyll-a concentration in lake. The algal pigments are also characterized by unique light absorbance and reflectance signatures. Spectral images from two up-down visible spectrometers, and a multispectral camera revealed prominent features that correlate to the concentration of algae in the lake.