Issyk-Kul is a large, deep, oligotrophic lake high in the Kyrgyz mountains — clear water with low, spatially subtle variation in its optical constituents, which makes it a demanding cal/val site. In a single one-day survey, LIF LiDAR transects produced more than 4,000 chlorophyll a and 1,000 suspended-sediment match-ups in the upper water layer.
This ground-truth dataset, collected to coincide with a satellite overpass, was used to build preliminary regional bio-optical models and test them against Sentinel-2A imagery — extending the dense-match-up method from eutrophic coastal and inland waters to a clear, oligotrophic lake. Published in Remote Sensing (2023).