Evaluation of the Trophic Status of Lake Baikal Using Remote Sensing

Abstract

The existing models for assessing the trophicity indicators of water bodies are intended for specific water bodies, and adaptation is required for their use with regard to others. Another problem is the lack of approaches in remote monitoring to the development of an integral indicator of the trophicity of water bodies. The purpose of this study is to develop models for calculating biotic and abiotic indicators for assessing the state of a reservoir, as well as an integral indicator of its trophicity. To achieve this goal, the tasks were set to compare the possibilities of using satellite images to assess water bodies, to calculate the trophic indicators of Lake Baikal according to existing models, adapting them, if necessary, to develop models for calculating biotic and abiotic indicators, to develop an integral assessment of the trophicity of Lake Baikal, and describe the algorithm for obtaining it. The object of the study is Lake Baikal. The subject of the study is the assessment of the reservoir’s trophicity. In terms of theoretical and methodological basis, the study relies on research works of Russian and foreign authors in the field of assessing the trophicity of water bodies, geographic information systems (GIS) as well as Earth remote sensing data (ERS). The methods of spatial analysis and correlation-regression analysis were used. The empirical and information-statistical bases of the work include statistical and analytical publications in the press on the topic under study, statistical data of the Russian Federation, foreign statistics, data from seminars and conferences on the problems of assessing the trophicity of water bodies, and the use of GIS and remote sensing data in assessing the state of water bodies. The scientific and practical novelty and significance of the results obtained lie in the development of an algorithm for assessing the trophicity of the reservoir using GIS and remote sensing. The parameters of models for calculating the Secchi disk transparency and chlorophyll-a concentration have been estimated. It is proposed to use rank assessment for express evaluation of the trophicity of water bodies, and an appropriate scale has been developed to determine the type of trophicity of the reservoir. An algorithm for estimating the trophicity of the reservoir is described.