POSTER Session 2

SENTINEL 3-ESTIMATED SYNOPTICAL INFLUENCE OF FORCING MECHANISMS ON SUSPENDED SEDIMENT VARIABILITY

Suspended sediments play a crucial role in the biogeochemical processes of estuaries, with spatial and temporal variability driven by forcing mechanisms like tides, river discharge, and winds. In this study, we propose a novel machine learning framework to unravel the impact of forcing mechanisms on suspended sediment variability within estuaries. Focusing on the Gironde Estuary in France, our methodology offers insights into the complex interplay of forcing mechanisms in a spatially explicit way. We move beyond traditional methods that rely on high-frequency data at fixed sampling stations. Instead, we harness five years (2016 to 2021) of atmospherically corrected, cloud-free data from the Sentinel-3 Ocean and Land Color Instrument (OLCI). With Sentinel 3 data we estimate synoptical maps of suspended sediments, further used to feed our machine learning framework. Our analysis reveals that tides in the Gironde are the predominant factor influencing suspended sediment variability, accounting for 40-48% of the observed changes, followed by river discharge (about 28-31%) and winds (about 18-22%), with uncertainty margins ranging from 4% to less than 10%. Our study showcases the capability of machine learning to discern non-linear complex interplay of forcing mechanisms. Our findings are compared against those obtained from traditional approaches, highlighting the potential of our proposed framework for enhanced environmental monitoring and management of estuarine and coastal regions worldwide.

*Juliana Tavora, University of Twente, the Netherlands, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0314-1250

Roy El Hourany, Laboratoire d’Océanologie et de Géosciences, Université du Littoral Côte d’Opale (ULCO), France

Elisa Helena Fernandes, Federal University of Rio Grande (FURG), Brazil

Isabel Jalón-Rojas, University of Bordeaux, France

Mhd. Suhyb Salam, University of Twente, ITC, the Netherlands

Daphne van der Wal, University of Twente, ITC, Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ), the Netherlands

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