Remote sensing of sea water quality parameters using Landsat-TM

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Abstract
This paper describes an experiment where sea water quality parameters were determined using data from the Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) satellite remote sensing system over a coastal sewage outfall area. The parameters determined included turbidity, chlorophyll-a, chlorophyll-i, phaeopigment and total pigment. The area investigated was a sewage outfall site off the North Head of Sydney Harbour, Australia. The method used multiple regression to relate site sampled parameters to digital Landsat-TM data, and the results verified using data not used in the regression. Multiple correlation coefficients in excess of R = 0. 9 resulted from the regression analysis, which used Landsat-TM variables in a Chebyshev Series form. However due to the limited number of ocean samples only the results for turbidity were considered significant. Nevertheless a satisfactory methodology is proposed.