Surface Water Quality Measurements of Lake Chicot, Arkansas Using Data from Landsat Satellites

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Abstract
Thirty-three Landsat satellite multispectral scanner (MSS) scenes of Lake Chicot, Arkansas, collected between July 1976 and November 1979 were analyzed and compared with measurements of total solids, suspended solids and chlorophyll-a in the surface water. Total solids ranged from 117 to 908 mg l−1 with a mean of 234 mg l−1. Suspended solids ranged from 1 to 828 mg l−1 with a mean of 93 mg l−1. Chlorophyll-a ranged from 2 to 113 mg m−3 with a mean of 27 mg m−3. Radiance in milliwatts per square centimeter per steradian (mW cm−2 Sr−1) and reflectance in MSS band 6 (700–800 nm) had the highest correlation with total (r = 0.64 for radiance and 0.73 for reflectance) and suspended (r = 0.69 for radiance and 0.78 for reflectance) solids. Landsat MSS band 5 (600–700 nm) had the highest correlation coefficient (r = −0.55 for radiance and r = −0.57 for reflectance) with chlorophyll-a. Multiple linear regressions with the 4 MSS bands did not improve the correlations for either total or suspended sediment or chlorophyll-a.