The algorithm gives estimates of chlorophyll-a for near-coastal and inland waters as well as identification of cyanobacteria blooms and floating vegetation from MERIS L1B data corrected for Rayleigh effects. The processor was developed by Dr. Mark Matthews (University of Cape Town), Dr. Daniel Odermatt (Brockmann consult) and developer Tom Block (Brockmann consult). The original algorithm was modified to give improved performance in oligotrophic and glint affected waters, over floating vegetation, and flagging of pixels affected by the adjacency affect (Matthews & Odermatt, An improved MPH algorithm for the BEAM toolbox, forthcoming).
It has been validated using a global chlorophyll a dataset in the scope of ESA’s Diversity II project and is the best performing algorithm for eutrophic lakes. It should be of interest to many scientists working in spatially constrained and inland and near-coastal waters affected by cyanobacteria blooms.
The plugin called the MERIS MPH Processor V1.3.3 can be downloaded