Recognition of Water Colour Anomaly by Using Hue Angle and Sentinel 2 Image

Abstract

As polluted water bodies are often small in area and widely distributed, performing artificial field screening is difficult; however, remote-sensing-based screening has the advantages of being rapid, large-scale, and dynamic. Polluted water bodies often show anomalous water colours, such as black, grey, and red. Therefore, the large-scale recognition of suspected polluted water bodies through high-resolution remote-sensing images and water colour can improve the screening efficiency and narrow the screening scope. However, few studies have been conducted on such kinds of water bodies. The hue angle of a water body is a parameter used to describe colour in the International Commission on Illumination (CIE) colour space. Based on the measured data, the water body with a hue angle greater than 230.958° is defined as a water colour anomaly, which is recognised based on the Sentinel-2 image through the threshold set in this study. The results showed that the hue angle of the water body was extracted from the Sentinel-2 image, and the accuracy of the hue angle calculated by the in situ remote-sensing reflectance Rrs (λ) was evaluated, where the root mean square error (RMSE) and mean relative error (MRE) were 4.397° and 1.744%, respectively, proving that this method is feasible. The hue angle was calculated for a water colour anomaly and a general water body in Qiqihar. The water body was regarded as a water colour anomaly when the hue angle was >230.958° and as a general water body when the hue angle was ≤230.958°. High-quality Sentinel-2 images of Qiqihar taken from May 2016 to August 2019 were chosen, and the position of the water body remained unchanged; there was no error or omission, and the hue angle of the water colour anomaly changed obviously, indicating that this method had good stability. Additionally, the method proposed is only suitable for optical deep water, not for optical shallow water. When this method was applied to Xiong’an New Area, the results showed good recognition accuracy, demonstrating good universality of this method. In this study, taking Qiqihar as an example, a surface survey experiment was conducted from October 14 to 15, 2018, and the measured data of six general and four anomalous water sample points were obtained, including water quality terms such as Rrs (λ), transparency, water colour, water temperature, and turbidity.