Abstract
Wetlands in semi-arid regions are highly productive and biologically diverse ecosystems that contribute significantly to livelihood and economic development and play a substantial role in sustaining rural livelihoods. These ecosystems are not only rich in biodiversity, but also predominantly valuable in terms of the services they provide to people, including water security, hydrological regulation, and other services. Chlorophyll-a concentrations and associated dynamics in two tropical wetland systems were estimated in the Makuleke and Nylsvlei wetlands. The Makuleke and Nylsvlei wetlands are in the Limpopo Transboundary River Basin, South Africa. Moderate-resolution Landsat 8 images for September 2018 and June 2019 and in situ field measurements were used to estimate and map chlorophyll-a concentration from the two wetlands. Landsat-derived chlorophyll-a concentrations were validated using field-derived chlorophyll-a measurements. Validation was implemented to assess the consistency of the remotely sensed chlorophyll-a estimates. The relationship between field-measured chlorophyll estimates and Landsat-derived chlorophyll estimates was determined using the coefficient of determination (r-square: R2) and the root mean square error (RMSE). The results showed that the Makuleke wetland had low estimates of Chl-a during September 2018. The variation of Chl-a concentration in Makuleke ranged from 0 to 1.15 μg/L, whereas for Nylsvlei the wetland range varied between 0 and 1.42 μg/L, for the period under study. The spatial characterization of Chl-a concentration varied significantly between the two wetlands, with much of it concentrated along the wetland shorelines. The finding of this study underscores the relevance of remotely detected data in the evaluation and routine monitoring of wetland water quality, a previously challenging task within situ measurements.
Published Version
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