Eyes Over Puget Sound: Producing Validated Satellite Products to Support Rapid Water Quality Assessments in Puget Sound

Eyes Over Puget Sound (EOPS) is a rapid communication and outreach product developed by the Washington State Department of Ecology that provides a concise synthesis of near real-time data sources in Puget Sound, WA. Monthly EOPS reports summarize aerial photographic surveys, in-situ ferry observations, satellite products, CTD profiles, and mooring data within 2-days of completing each aerial survey. To facilitate the rapid development and synthesis of satellite information products, EOPS developed a framework for producing regionally-tuned products; validated using coincident ferry-based measurements of chlorophyll fluorescence, turbidity, CDOM fluorescence, temperature, and salinity. Daily ferry transects provide a consistent suite of high-resolution measurements necessary to characterize small-scale spatio-temporal variability across the large optical gradients that are present. Ferry data are made available within 24 hours and allow validation efforts to be performed on a daily-, sensor-, and image-specific basis. This framework has been used to validate and merge satellite products from a variety of platforms including MERIS, MODIS, HICO, and Landsat. Future efforts will utilize EOPS-validated satellite products to refine coupled 3-D hydrodynamic/water quality models currently being developed for the region.