Monitoring turbidity and suspended sediment concentration of coastal and inland waters using satellite data

A method for retrieving water turbidity and suspended sediment concentration of inland and near-shore coastal waters using high resolution remote sensing satellite data is described. Backscattering coefficient at the near infrared band is first derived from the satellite images using a quasi-analytical algorithm after applying a simple atmospheric correction routine. A turbidity map is obtained by applying an empirical relation derived from laboratory experiments to convert the backscattering coefficient to nephelometric turbidity units (NTU). This method can be operationalized for global water quality monitoring using currently operating satellite sensors such as those on Landsat, SPOT and Terra / Aqua MODIS.