Landsat and Water Quality Model Verification

Abstract

It has been shown that satellites can provide an image of water quality patterns over a large constantly‐changing coastal area and that these data can be used to infer circulation and calibrate real‐time water quality models. Water quality data were acquired (at the time of a Landsat‐2 overpass) to calibrate and verify a hydrodynamic model, as well as to test the usefulness of remotely sensed data to assist in the modeling effort. Digital enhancement and analysis of the satellite images demonstrated that water color and turbidity distributions could be discriminated and mapped. Surface‐sampled dissolved oxygen and pH correlated well with color which, in turn, corresponds closely with the image patterns. Circulation (CAFE‐1) and concentration (DISPER‐1) model outputs also corresponded well with the image characteristics.