Premium
MONITORING SUSPENDED PARTICULATE MATTER IN PUERTO RICO: FIELD MEASUREMENTS AND REMOTE SENSING 1
Author(s) -
Miller R. L.,
Cruise J. F.,
Otero E.,
Lopez J. M.
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
jawra journal of the american water resources association
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.957
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1752-1688
pISSN - 1093-474X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1752-1688.1994.tb03290.x
Subject(s) - bay , environmental science , particulates , plume , remote sensing , discharge , sediment , hydrology (agriculture) , spatial distribution , multispectral image , wind speed , water quality , meteorology , geology , oceanography , drainage basin , geography , cartography , geomorphology , ecology , geotechnical engineering , biology
The spatial distribution of suspended particulatematter (SPM) was estimated in Mayagüez Bay on the west coast of Puerto Rico by using traditional ship board measurements and remotely sensed data acquired over four days during January 1990. This effort was part of a joint project between NASA and the University of Puerto Rico to develop techniques to monitor the water quality of a Caribbean coastal zone. This paper presents the methods and algorithms developed to map and analyze short term changes in the source and spatial distribution of SPM in Mayagüez Bay by using remotely sensed data acquired by the Calibrated Airborne Multispectral Scanner (CAMS). A PC‐based data acquisition system was developed to record continuous ship measurements of select in‐ water variables. Spectral reflectances derived from CAMS red and near‐IR data were corrected for atmospheric effects and then used to generate maps of SPM. These maps displayed SPM plumes associated with the mouths of the bay's three river systems. Significant day‐to‐day differences in the spatial characteristics were observed, suggesting that changes in river discharge occurred. However, an analysis of estimated river discharge, sediment yield, local wind field, and thermal river plume indicates that observed sediment plumes result primarily from wind‐driven resuspension events.