Author(s): Sonia Silvestri; Valeria Volpe; Marco Marani; Christian Badetti; Roberto Rosselli; Giorgio Ferrari
Linked Author(s): Marco Marani
Keywords: Water turbidity remote sensing; ASTER; SPOT5
Abstract: Water turbidity has a key importance in the management of coastal areas since it is related to sedimentation/erosion processes, the total suspended matter, the total primary production, the fluxes of micropollutants and heavy metals, etc. Satellite remote sensing may be the ideal method for water turbidity assessment, because extended areas can be easily and cheaply monitored from satellites. However, the determination of the turbidity in very shallow waters is difficult because the remote sensing signal may be strongly influenced by bottom albedo. Such influence is greater in clear water environments and in lagoons and estuaries it may be relatively small also for very shallow waters, due to their characteristically high turbidity. The present paper describes the observational relations found between medium resolution satellite data (ASTER and SPOT5) and turbidity measurements collected in the Venice Lagoon through turbidity meters. Results are used to map water turbidity throughout the lagoon. The influence of bottom albedo in the hypothetical case of perfectly clear water is simulated through a theoretical model [Lee et al., 1999] and used to determine the areas of the lagoon in which the effects of bottom albedo may be considered to be negligible.
Year: 2007