Overview of the Application of Remote Sensing in Effective Monitoring of Water Quality Parameters

• Published in: Remote sensing (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 15; no. 7; p. 1938
• Main Authors: Adjovu, Godson Ebenezer, Stephen, Haroon, James, David, Ahmad, Sajjad
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01.04.2023
• Subjects: Airborne sensing; airborne sensors; Algorithms; Aquaculture; Biodiversity; Chlorophyll; Climate change; Dissolved organic matter; Dissolved solids; Ecosystems; Empirical analysis; Eutrophication; Laboratories; Lakes; Landsat; Landsat satellites; Machine learning; Mathematical analysis; Monitoring; Optical activity; Optical measuring instruments; Optical properties; Parameters; Remote sensing; resolution; Satellite imagery; Sensors; Solid suspensions; Spectral signatures; Spectroradiometers; Total dissolved solids; Total suspended solids; Turbidity; Water monitoring; Water quality; Water quality management; Water temperature; Watersheds; Netherlands; China; California
• ISSN: 2072-4292; 2072-4292
• DOI: 10.3390/rs15071938

This study provides an overview of the techniques, shortcomings, and strengths of remote sensing (RS) applications in the effective retrieval and monitoring of water quality parameters (WQPs) such as chlorophyll-a concentration, turbidity, total suspended solids, colored dissolved organic matter, total dissolved solids among others. To be effectively retrieved by RS, these WQPs are categorized as optically active or inactive based on their influence on the optical characteristics measured by RS sensors. RS applications offer the opportunity for decisionmakers to quantify and monitor WQPs on a spatiotemporal scale effectively. The use of RS for water quality monitoring has been explored in many studies using empirical, analytical, semi-empirical, and machine-learning algorithms. RS spectral signatures have been applied for the estimation of WQPs using two categories of RS, namely, microwave and optical sensors. Optical RS, which has been heavily applied in the estimation of WQPs, is further grouped as spaceborne and airborne sensors based on the platform they are on board. The choice of a particular sensor to be used in any RS application depends on various factors including cost, and spatial, spectral, and temporal resolutions of the images. Some of the known satellite sensors used in the literature and reviewed in this paper include the Multispectral Instrument aboard Sentinel-2A/B, Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, Landsat Thematic Mapper, Enhanced Thematic Mapper, and Operational Land Imager.