Monitoring coastal water quality in a municipal beach in Paphos-Cyprus using ASTER image data and spectral signatures

Abstract

Using remote sensing data to assess the quality of water bodies has proven to be successful not only in inland waters but to coastal water areas as shown by several others conducted studies. The main objective of this study is to use ASTER data to evaluate the potential of using such remotely sensed digital data, to extract information that help in the monitoring system for Cyprus coastal water quality, especially in municipal beaches that are included in the Blue Flag Programme. Reflectance signature of municipal coastal water is monitored using a GER 1500 field spectroradiometer. Simultaneous measurements of turbidity, temperature have been acquired. E-coli values have been retrieved through the sampling procedure. Such coastal water quality assessment can assist the Blue-Flag Programme in the area under investigation. ASTER images can be programmed for summer acquisitions in which Blue-Flag Programme is active so this can be considered an advantage and can be used by the local authorities as a systematic monitoring tool. It has been found after correlating the SS, Turbidity with the water reflectance obtained using the GER 1500 that high correlation was occurred for the wavelength region that corresponds to ASTER band 2 and band 3 respectively (r2>0.80 ). Temporal and spatial variations can be monitored from satellite images as shown from the in-situ validated spectroradiometric measurements