Development of a Regional Environmental Monitoring System using
Remote Sensing Satellite Data for Environmental Well-Being of the Seasand Oceans in East and Southeast Asia
Soo Chin LIEW
Centre for Remote Imaging, Sensing and Processing, National University of Singapore
Dinoflagellates

Class 1 (Ref Sea Water)

2.5

Class 4 (Cochlodinium)

Normalized Reflectance

21.5

Class 5 (Ceratium andPyrodinium Bahamense)

10.5

Class 6 (Dinophysiscaudata)

0-0.5

Class 9 (Protoperidiniumand Ceratum)-1-1.5-2-2.5
400

CRISP’s 6-m X band antenna for
MODIS data reception

500600700800Wavelength (nm)Spectral signatures of several types of dinoflagelates. Thesignatures enable them to be differentiated from sea water.

Goal and Contribution to Well-Being of the Environment:
The main purpose of the proposed project is to develop a satellite-based regional monitoring and informationdelivery system to provide timely information about the environmental situation of the seas and oceans in theEast and Southeast Asian region. Emphasis will be placed on detection and monitoring of phytoplankton
blooms in the regional waters. Timely information derived from remote sensing helps in providing earlywarning of phytoplankton bloom occurrences.
Rationales
The East and Southeast Asian region is undergoing rapid development. The developmental process brings
with it great impacts on the environment. The oceanic environment is particular sensitive to the influence ofhuman activities. For examples, oil spills, red tides, coastal erosion and sedimentation are commonenvironmental problems encountered in the East and Southeast Asian waters.
In-situ monitoring of the coastal and oceanic environment has been carried out in many areas. However, they
are limited by their spatial and temporal coverage. Remote sensing from satellites is a good complementary
method for monitoring the environmental situation of the regional seas and oceans, with a wide spatial
coverage and periodic acquisition of data. Information that can be derived from ocean color includes
chlorophyll concentration, water turbidity and suspended sediments. Occurrence of phytoplankton blooms canbe detected by observing the change in reflectance spectra of the surface water.
Implementations
The project will:
1. Develop an automated system to retrieve water quality parameters of interest (such as chlorophyll, sedimentand turbidity) from satellite data (MODIS, GLI etc) of the region;
2. Acquire matching satellite and sea-truth data for fine-tuning the existing algorithms for the regional waters;
3. Develop and implement algorithms for detection of phytoplankton blooms from ocean color data;
4. Develop a web-based system for timely delivery of the derived regional environmental information tointerested users, and to deliver educational information to the general public to create awareness about theenvironmental situation of the regional seas and oceans.
Invitation for Collaboration
Collaborators are welcome to contribute sea-water sampling data or to collaborate in conducting sea-truth trips
in the regional seas. The data would be useful for developing, fine-tuning and testing of algorithms to retrieve
environmental parameters from satellite data.