Quantification of chlorophyll-a in typical lakes across China using Sentinel-2 MSI imagery with machine learning algorithm

Lake eutrophication has attracted the attention of the government and general public. Chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) is a key indicator of algal biomass and eutrophication. Many efforts have been devoted to establishing accurate algorithms for estimating Chl-a concentrations. In this study, a total of 273 samples were collected from 45 typical lakes across China during 2017–2019. Here, we proposed applicable machine learning algorithms (i.e., linear regression model (LR), support vector machine model (SVM) and Catboost model (CB)), which integrate a broad scale dataset of lake biogeochemical characteristics using Multispectral Imager (MSI) product to seamlessly retrieve the Chl-a concentration. A K-means clustering approach was used to cluster the 273 normalized water leaving reflectance spectra [Rrs (λ)] extracted from MSI imagery with Case 2 Regional Coast Colour (CR2CC) processor into three groups. The pH, electrical conductivity (EC), total suspended matter (TSM) and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) from three clustering groups had significant differences (p