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HYPERSPECTRAL REMOTE SENSING OF WATER QUALITY PARAMETERS FOR LARGE RIVERS IN THE OHIO RIVER BASIN
Citation:
Shafique, N A., B C. Autrey, F A. Fulk, AND J E. Flotemersch. HYPERSPECTRAL REMOTE SENSING OF WATER QUALITY PARAMETERS FOR LARGE RIVERS IN THE OHIO RIVER BASIN. First Interagency Conference on Research in the Watersheds, BENSON, AZ, October 27 - 30, 2003. USDA Agricultural Research Service, Washington, DC, 216-221, (2003).
Impact/Purpose:
The purpose of this research project is to provide methods, tools and guidance to Regions, States and Tribes to support the TMDL program. This research will investigate new measurement methods and models to link stressors to biological responses and will use existing data and knowledge to develop strategies to determine the causes of biological impairment in rivers and streams. Research will be performed across multiple spatial scales, site, subwatershed, watershed, basin, ecoregion and regional/state.
Description:
Optical indicators of water quality have the potential of enhancing the abilities of resource managers to monitor water bodies in a timely and cost-effective manner. However, the degree to which optical indicators are useful may depend on their applicability to data collected from multiple water bodies. In 1999, a Compact Airborne Spectrographic Imager (CASI) was flown over the relatively shallow Great Miami River (GMR), Ohio, collecting hyperspectral bands of data. Concurrently, water quality parameters were measured, and water samples and spectrometer data were collected directly from the river. Using correlations between the ground-truth data and combinations of bands from the remotely sensed data, spectral indices were developed which could be used to estimate chlorophyll a, turbidity and phosphorus. In 2001, a similar study was conducted in which a CASI was flown over a portion of the relatively deep Ohio River while ground-truth data were collected. These data were analyzed and tested against the spectral indices developed during the 1999 study. The GMR's spectral index for chlorophyll a was applicable to the Ohio River data. However, slightly refined spectral indices for turbidity and phosphorus were required.
This study demonstrates the ubiquitous applicability of the chlorophyll a spectral index while revealing the limited applicability of the turbidity and phosphorous spectral indices. Although differences between the dynamics of the two rivers may have made these spectral indices incompatible, with further refinement they may yet prove to be broadly applicable tools in the detection and measurement of potential water quality problems.