Improved Understanding of Suspended Sediment Transport Process Using Multi-Temporal Landsat Data: A Case Study From the Old Woman Creek Estuary (Ohio)

We used historical water quality data, continuous in situ water quality monitoring data, and multi-temporal Landsat-7 ETM+ imagery for the period of September 1999-April 2003 to study the distribution of total suspended sediments (TSS) in Old Woman Creek (OWC), a freshwater coastal wetland adjacent to Lake Erie. A multiple linear regression model was developed to describe the relationship between turbidity and atmospherically corrected reflectance from Landsat-7 ETM+ bands 2 and 4 (R² = 0.65). Turbidity was then converted to total suspended sediments (TSS), based on in situ historical data. Mapped spatial patterns of TSS provided useful information on key physical drivers affecting the transport process of suspended sediment. This study demonstrates the potential and limitations of using medium- spatial scale multispectral data, such as Landsat, to understand important factors that control suspended sediment transport processes within an estuary.