Field Spectroscopy for Assisting Water Quality Monitoring and Assessment in Water Treatment Reservoirs Using Atmospheric Corrected Satellite Remotely Sensed Imagery

The overall objective of this study was to use field spectro-radiometers for finding possible spectral regions in which chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) and particulate organic carbon (POC) could be identified so as to assist the assessment and monitoring of water quality using satellite remote sensing technology. This paper presents the methodology adopted in this study which is based on the application of linear regression analysis between the mean reflectance values (measured with the GER1500 field spectro-radiometer) across the spectrum and the concentrations of chlorophyll-a (μg/L) and POC (μg/L) acquired simultaneously on the same day and time in the Lower Thames Valley in West London (U.K.) from old campaigns. Each regression model (512 in total) corresponded to a measured wavelength of the GER1500 field spectro-radiometer. The achieved correlations presented as r against wavelength, indicate the regions with high correlation values for both water quality variables. Based on the results from this study and by matching the spectral bands of the field spectro-radiometer with those of the Landsat TM satellite sensor (or any other sensor), it has been found that suitable spectral regions for monitoring water quality in water treatment reservoirs are the following: for chlorophyll-a, the spectral region of 0.45–0.52 μm (TM band 1), and for POC, the region 0.52–0.60 μm (TM bands 1 and 2). Then 12 atmospheric corrected Landsat TM/ETM+ band 1 images acquired from 2001 to 2010 were used for validation purposes to retrieve the Chl-a concentrations. OPEN ACCESS Remote Sens. 2011, 3 363