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Using bio-optics to investigate the extent of coastal waters: A Swedish case study

  • EUTROPHICATION IN COASTAL ECOSYSTEMS
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Abstract

In order to develop an optical model to map the extent of coastal waters, the authors analyzed variations in bio-optical constituents and submarine optical properties along a transect from the nutrient-enriched coastal bay, Himmerfjärden, out into the open Baltic Sea. The model is a simple implementation of the “ecosystem approach,” because the optical constituents are proxies for important components of ecosystem state. Yellow substance or colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM) is often a marker for terrestrial freshwater or decay processes in the littoral zone. Phytoplankton pigments, especially chlorophyll a, are used as a proxy for phytoplankton biomass that may be stimulated by fluvial or coastal inputs of anthropogenic nutrients. Suspended particulate matter (SPM) is placed in suspension by tidal or wind-wave stirring of shallow seabeds, and is therefore an indicator for physical forcing. It is the thesis of this article that such constituents, and the optical properties that they control, can be used to provide an ecological definition of the extent of the coastal zone. The spatial distribution of the observations was analyzed using a steady-state model that assumes diffusional transport of bio-optical variables along an axis perpendicular to the coast. According to the model, the resulting distribution along this axis can be described as a low-order polynomial (of order 1–3) when moving from a “source” associated with land to the open-sea “sink.” Order 1 implies conservative mixing, and the higher orders imply significant biological or chemical processes within the gradient. The analysis of the transect data confirmed that the trend of each optical component could be described well using a low-order polynomial. Multiple regression analysis was then used to weigh the contribution of each optical component to the spectral attenuation coefficient K d(490) along the transect. The results showed that in this Swedish Baltic case study, the inorganic fraction of the SPM may be used to distinguish between coastal and open-sea waters, as it showed a clear break between coastal and open-sea waters. Alternative models may be needed for coastal waters in which fronts interrupt the continuity of mixing.

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Acknowledgements

This work was funded by the Swedish National Space Board, the EU FP5 project Oceanographic Applications to Eutrophication in Regions of Restricted Exchange (OAERRE), the EU FP6 project Science and Policy Integration for Coastal System Assessment (SPICOSA), and by the Swedish MISTRA program under RESE 5 (Remote sensing for the environment—Methods for detection of changes in aquatic ecosystems and monitoring of algal blooms). Thanks to the Swedish Wallenberg Foundation for an expensive equipment grant. Thanks to Stefanie Hirch, Roberta Mistretta, Antonia Sandman, and Charlotte Sahlin for their help in the field and the laboratory, to Henrik Lindh (SMHI) and the staff of the Askö Laboratory for support during fieldwork. Many thanks to Miho Ishii and Roberta Mistretta for processing the AVHRR data, and to Bertil Håkannsson for his support. Thanks to Paul Sweeny from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for information on coastal zone definitions in the USA. Special thanks to Roland Doerffer, Anders Engqvist, Ragnar Elmgren, and Ulf Larsson for discussions and useful comments to the manuscript, and to Miguel Rodriguez Medina for preparing the images of temperature profiles for 2001 and 2002.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Systems Ecology, Stockholm University, 106 91, Stockholm, Sweden

    Susanne Kratzer

  2. Department of Physical Geography and Quaternary Geology, Stockholm University, 106 91, Stockholm, Sweden

    Susanne Kratzer

  3. School of Life Sciences, Napier University, 10 Colinton Road, Edinburgh, EH10 5DT, Scotland, UK

    Paul Tett

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  1. Susanne Kratzer
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Correspondence to Susanne Kratzer.

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Guest editors: J. H. Andersen & D. J. Conley

Eutrophication in Coastal Ecosystems: Selected papers from the Second International Symposium on Research and Management of Eutrophication in Coastal Ecosystems, 20–23 June 2006, Nyborg, Denmark

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Kratzer, S., Tett, P. Using bio-optics to investigate the extent of coastal waters: A Swedish case study. Hydrobiologia 629, 169–186 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-009-9769-x

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