Remote sensing in Scotland using data received from satellites A study of the Tay Estuary region using Landsat multispectral scanning imagery

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Abstract
The use of multispectral scanning data, received from the Landsat-2 satellite, for certain estuarine and coastal studies is described and this is followed by a brief description of the DIBIAS interactive digital image-processing system, which was developed at the German Aerospace Establishment at OberpfafFenhofen. Several examples of Landsat-2 images of the Tay Estuary and its environs are presented as false-colour composites and monochrome pictures. A qualitative interpretation is presented and several quantitative interpretations have also been made. The determination of the low-water mark for sandbanks in the upper and lower Tay Estuary has been undertaken and the results are compared with existing charts and maps. The results show that changes in the positions of sandbanks, of the size found in the Tay Estuary, can be monitored satisfactorily using satellite imagery. The position of an estuarine ‘front’ has been mapped onto Ordnance Survey National Grid coordinates; the front has also been observed in situ in the position indicated by this image. An attempt at quantitative bathymetry, using a high-tide Landsat-2 image, indicated that depths up to 3 or 4 m can be determined from the satellite data, but that the accuracy is rather poor at present; it is argued that the method is capable of improvement to yield satisfactory results.