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EFFECT OF SUSPENDED SEDIMENT DISTRIBUTION ON SPECTRAL REFLECTANCE

Published by the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, St. Joseph, Michigan www.asabe.org

Citation:  Pp. 136-140 in Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) Environmental Regulations–II Proceedings of the 8-12 November 2003 Conference (Albuquerque, New Mexico USA), Publication Date 8 November 2003.  .(doi:10.13031/2013.15549)
Authors:   Vijay Garg, and Indrajeet Chaubey

Remote sensing techniques have been used extensively to estimate optically active water quality parameters. Suspended sediment (SS) is the most common type of pollutant both in terms of weight and volume in inland waters. SS are helpful in determining water dynamics and spread of other pollutants. Laboratory studies done in past have developed regression between reflectance and uniform concentration of SS in water tank. However, depth distribution of SS is not uniform in inland waters and therefore, algorithms developed may be of limited applicability and accuracy. In this study reflectance was measured with time as SS settled in a water tankgiving rise to variation in SS concentration along the depth. A dual sensor Spectro-radiometer was used to measure relative reflectance in the electromagnetic spectrum region of 346 nm to 1000 nm (456 channel), with bandwidth of approximately of 1.438 nm. Reflectance values significantly changed with time even though overall SS volume remained same in water tank. It suggests that same SS volume with different depth distribution can give different reflectance values. Higher variation in reflectance was observed near 403, 576, and 807 nm spectral regions. Analysis is currently underway to regress the reflectance values with the volume of SS within the penetration depth of spectral region of reflectance. This analysis may provide us methodology to find SS volume in surface layer of water body.

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