SPATIO-TEMPORAL VARIABILITY OF OPTICAL WATER TYPES OVER THE BRAZILIAN OCEANIC EXCLUSIVE ECONOMIC ZONE BASED ON MULTI-SENSOR OCEAN COLOUR REMOTE SENSING

This study aims to illustrate the interest in reflectance-based Optical Water Types (OWTs) classification for providing synthetical information on the spatio-temporal dynamics of the waters of the Brazilian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). The 24-yr OWT time series provided by the multi-sensor OC-CCI data were used for describing the optical diversity of the whole Brazilian EEZ. Our results emphasize that the Brazilian EEZ corresponds to a mosaic of optically heterogeneous water masses reflecting modulations in terms of its biogeochemical quality. The impact of multiple oceanic and regional land-sea interaction processes controlling OWT distribution and temporal variability was further illustrated focusing especially on the seasonal modulations. Such optical classification could represent a valuable frame for monitoring the long-term modulation in the quality of Brazilian waters while this study further emphasizes the need to consider the optical heterogeneity of Brazilian waters for optimizing ocean color products at a regional scale.