Quantification of quality parameters of inland and near shore waters by means of remote sensing has encountered varying degrees of success in spite of the high variability of the parameters under consideration and limitations of remote sensors themselves. This paper comprehensively evaluates the quantification of four types of water quality parameters: inorganic sediment particles, phytoplankton pigments, coloured dissolved organic material and Secchi disk depth. It concentrates on quantification requirements, as well as the options in selecting the most appropriate sensor data for the purpose. Relevant factors, such as quantification implementation and validation of the quantified results are also extensively discussed. This review reveals that the relationship between in situ samples and their corresponding remotely sensed data can be linear or nonlinear, but are nearly always site-specific. The quantification has been attempted from terrestrial satellite data largely for suspended sediments and chlorophyll concentrations. The quantification has been implemented through integration of remotely sensed imagery data, in situ water samples and ancillary data in a geographic information system (GIS). The introduction of GIS makes the quantification feasible for more variables at an increasingly higher accuracy. Affected by the number and quality of in situ samples, accuracy of quantification has been reported in different ways and varies widely.
This study describes the potential of multi-temporal Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM), Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data for the operational monitoring of sediment plume produced by dredging between 8 May and 31 October 2006 at Hay Point, Northern Queensland, Australia. The methodology involved atmospheric correction of the TM, ETM+ and MODIS images, the development and verification of a Total Suspended Sediment (TSS) model, and the evaluation of the image derived TSS maps for tracking sediment plume movements and its influence on the fringing coral environment. TSS empirical models are developed from TM/ETM+ Band 3 with R 2 = 0.92 and from MODIS Band 12 with R 2 = 0.61. The accuracy of the TSS model for TM/ETM+ is ± 3.2 (mg l -1 ) and for MODIS is ± 16.0 (mg l -1 ). The estimated sediment plume displacement and rate of dispersion show high correlation with the tidal amplitude. Wind speed greater than 6 m s -1 increases the sediment plume movements during the ebb tide. The frequency of the plume extending beyond the fringing coral islands during dredging operations is in agreement with the field observed coral mortality due to sediment accumulation.
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