Abstract
Knowledge of the concentration of total suspended sediment (TSS) in coastal waters is of significance to marine environmental monitoring agencies to determine the turbidity of water that serve as a proxy to estimate the availability of light at depth for benthic habitats. TSS models applicable to data collected by satellite sensors can be used to determine TSS with reasonable accuracy and of adequate spatial and temporal resolution to be of use for coastal water quality monitoring. Thus, a study is presented here where we develop a semi-analytic sediment model (SASM) applicable to any sensor with red and near infrared (NIR) bands. The calibration and validation of the SASM using bootstrap and cross-validation methods showed that the SASM applied to Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)-Aqua band 1 data retrieved TSS with a root mean square error (RMSE) and mean averaged relative error (MARE) of 5.75 mg/L and 33.33% respectively. The application of the SASM over our study region using MODIS-Aqua band 1 data showed that the SASM can be used to monitor the on-going, post and pre-dredging activities and identify daily TSS anomalies that are caused by natural and anthropogenic processes in coastal waters of northern Western Australia.
Highlights
The use of satellite remote sensing of coastal waters to derive their bio-geophysical properties provides marine scientists and managers with a relatively affordable alternative to in situ based sampling
We proposed a semi-analytic sediment model (SASM) that had a basis in radiative transfer theory and was locally tuned to the regional waters of northern Western Australia for Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)-Aqua band 1 to monitor total suspended sediments (TSS) concentration in the region
The analysis of the MODIS-Aqua band 1 data corresponding to AVD30, AVD60, and AVD90 to estimate the error in reflectance derived from the satellite resulted in AVD30 with the least error in satellite derived reflectance with mean averaged relative error (MARE) of 9.7% while the highest is for AVD90 with 27.58%, and
Summary
The use of satellite remote sensing of coastal waters to derive their bio-geophysical properties provides marine scientists and managers with a relatively affordable alternative to in situ based sampling. The saturation of reflectance occurs at high TSS concentration because the increased water column scattering leads to a relative enhancement in absorption/attenuation of the backscattered light [44] In such cases, a non-linear approximation such as a higher order polynomial or exponential function [13,29,35,45] is used to relate the TSS concentration to reflectance. Use of semi-analytical models that combine both physical foundations and statistical analyses provide a promising method to estimate TSS concentration with limited knowledge of the in situ optical properties of the water body [57,59,60]. The SASM was applied to the coastal waters of northern Western Australia using MODIS-Aqua 250 m data for mapping the TSS concentration in the region, which would serve as a baseline in future water quality monitoring of the region
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