Remote Sensing of Water Clarity in Aquatic Systems
Summary
Remote sensing of water clarity integrates optical theory with aerial and satellite observations to characterise the transparency and quality of lakes, rivers and coastal seas. At its core, water clarity is determined by the interaction of incident solar radiation with water constituents—suspended sediments, phytoplankton and coloured dissolved organic matter—which modulate the absorption and scattering of light. Traditional in situ methods, such as Secchi disc measurements, provide point records of transparency but lack spatial continuity. The advent of multispectral and hyperspectral sensors aboard platforms like Landsat, MODIS, MERIS and geostationary imagers has enabled the retrieval of inherent optical properties and Secchi depth proxies over wide areas and through time. Semi‐analytical and empirical algorithms convert remote sensing reflectance into estimates of key optical parameters, often calibrated against field campaigns. These approaches afford global monitoring capabilities for eutrophication, sediment dynamics and habitat assessment. By combining high spatial resolution imagery with temporally dense observations, practitioners can track seasonal blooms, sediment plumes and long‐term clarity trends, informing management of fisheries, drinking-water supplies and recreational resources.
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Remote Sensing of Water Clarity in Aquatic Systems publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in remote sensing of water clarity in aquatic systems across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Secchi depth: a measure of water transparency determined by lowering a uniform disc into the water until it is no longer visible, expressed in metres.
Inherent optical properties (IOPs): properties of water that govern absorption and scattering of light independent of external illumination, including absorption and scattering coefficients.
Remote sensing reflectance (Rrs): the ratio of water-leaving radiance to downwelling irradiance, used to infer water constituents from spectral measurements.
Quasi-analytical algorithm (QAA): a semi-analytical inversion method that retrieves IOPs from remote sensing reflectance by coupling empirical relationships with radiative transfer theory.
Light attenuation coefficient: the rate per unit distance at which light diminishes in water due to absorption and scattering, typically expressed in m−1.
References
- Remote Sensing of Secchi Depth in Highly Turbid Lake Waters and Its Application with MERIS Data. Remote Sensing (2019).
- Capturing coastal water clarity variability with Landsat 8. Marine Pollution Bulletin (2019).
- Decline in Transparency of Lake Hongze from Long-Term MODIS Observations: Possible Causes and Potential Significance. Remote Sensing (2019).
- Variations of transparency derived from GOCI in the Bohai Sea and the Yellow Sea.. Optics Express (2018).
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