Regional assessment of lake water clarity using satellite remote sensing

Lake water clarity as measured by Secchi disk transparency (SDT) is a cost-effective measure of water quality. However, in regions where there are thousands of lakes, sampling even a small proportion of those lakes for SDT year after year is cost prohibitive. Remote sensing has the potential to be a...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: David L. SKOLE, Sam A. BATZLI, Kendra Spence CHERUVELIL, Patricia A. SORANNO, Stacy A.C. NELSON
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: PAGEPress Publications 2003-09-01
Series:Journal of Limnology
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.jlimnol.it/index.php/jlimnol/article/view/312
_version_ 1818179226724990976
author David L. SKOLE
Sam A. BATZLI
Kendra Spence CHERUVELIL
Patricia A. SORANNO
Stacy A.C. NELSON
author_facet David L. SKOLE
Sam A. BATZLI
Kendra Spence CHERUVELIL
Patricia A. SORANNO
Stacy A.C. NELSON
author_sort David L. SKOLE
collection DOAJ
description Lake water clarity as measured by Secchi disk transparency (SDT) is a cost-effective measure of water quality. However, in regions where there are thousands of lakes, sampling even a small proportion of those lakes for SDT year after year is cost prohibitive. Remote sensing has the potential to be a powerful tool for assessing lake clarity over large spatial scales. The overall objective of our study was to examine whether Landsat-7 ETM+ could be used to measure water clarity across a large range of lakes. Our specific objectives were to: 1) develop a regression model to estimate SDT from Landsat data calibrated using 93 lakes in Michigan, U.S.A., and to 2) examine how the distribution of SDT across the 93 calibration lakes influenced the model. Our calibration dataset included a large number of lakes with a wide range of SDT values that captured the summer statewide distribution of SDT values in Michigan. Our regression model had a much lower r2 value than previously published studies conducted on smaller datasets. To examine the importance of the distribution of calibration data, we simulated a calibration dataset with a different SDT distribution by sub-sampling the original dataset to match the distribution of previous studies. The sub-sampled dataset had a much higher percentage of lakes with shallow water clarity, and the resulting regression model had a much higher r2 value than our original model. Our study shows that the use of Landsat to measure water clarity is sensitive to the distribution of water clarity used in the calibration set.
first_indexed 2024-12-11T21:00:31Z
format Article
id doaj.art-3243e5e76c714019b22dae33877aa753
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 1129-5767
1723-8633
language English
last_indexed 2024-12-11T21:00:31Z
publishDate 2003-09-01
publisher PAGEPress Publications
record_format Article
series Journal of Limnology
spelling doaj.art-3243e5e76c714019b22dae33877aa7532022-12-22T00:50:59ZengPAGEPress PublicationsJournal of Limnology1129-57671723-86332003-09-01621s273210.4081/jlimnol.2003.s1.27Regional assessment of lake water clarity using satellite remote sensingDavid L. SKOLESam A. BATZLIKendra Spence CHERUVELILPatricia A. SORANNOStacy A.C. NELSONLake water clarity as measured by Secchi disk transparency (SDT) is a cost-effective measure of water quality. However, in regions where there are thousands of lakes, sampling even a small proportion of those lakes for SDT year after year is cost prohibitive. Remote sensing has the potential to be a powerful tool for assessing lake clarity over large spatial scales. The overall objective of our study was to examine whether Landsat-7 ETM+ could be used to measure water clarity across a large range of lakes. Our specific objectives were to: 1) develop a regression model to estimate SDT from Landsat data calibrated using 93 lakes in Michigan, U.S.A., and to 2) examine how the distribution of SDT across the 93 calibration lakes influenced the model. Our calibration dataset included a large number of lakes with a wide range of SDT values that captured the summer statewide distribution of SDT values in Michigan. Our regression model had a much lower r2 value than previously published studies conducted on smaller datasets. To examine the importance of the distribution of calibration data, we simulated a calibration dataset with a different SDT distribution by sub-sampling the original dataset to match the distribution of previous studies. The sub-sampled dataset had a much higher percentage of lakes with shallow water clarity, and the resulting regression model had a much higher r2 value than our original model. Our study shows that the use of Landsat to measure water clarity is sensitive to the distribution of water clarity used in the calibration set.http://www.jlimnol.it/index.php/jlimnol/article/view/312Landsat, Secchi depth, water clarity, Michigan
spellingShingle David L. SKOLE
Sam A. BATZLI
Kendra Spence CHERUVELIL
Patricia A. SORANNO
Stacy A.C. NELSON
Regional assessment of lake water clarity using satellite remote sensing
Journal of Limnology
Landsat, Secchi depth, water clarity, Michigan
title Regional assessment of lake water clarity using satellite remote sensing
title_full Regional assessment of lake water clarity using satellite remote sensing
title_fullStr Regional assessment of lake water clarity using satellite remote sensing
title_full_unstemmed Regional assessment of lake water clarity using satellite remote sensing
title_short Regional assessment of lake water clarity using satellite remote sensing
title_sort regional assessment of lake water clarity using satellite remote sensing
topic Landsat, Secchi depth, water clarity, Michigan
url http://www.jlimnol.it/index.php/jlimnol/article/view/312
work_keys_str_mv AT davidlskole regionalassessmentoflakewaterclarityusingsatelliteremotesensing
AT samabatzli regionalassessmentoflakewaterclarityusingsatelliteremotesensing
AT kendraspencecheruvelil regionalassessmentoflakewaterclarityusingsatelliteremotesensing
AT patriciaasoranno regionalassessmentoflakewaterclarityusingsatelliteremotesensing
AT stacyacnelson regionalassessmentoflakewaterclarityusingsatelliteremotesensing