Investigation of the temporal relation of remotely sensed coastal water quality with GIS modelled upstream soil erosion |
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| Authors: | T K Alexandridis S Monachou C Skoulikaris E Kalopesa G C Zalidis |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Lab of Remote Sensing and GIS, Faculty of Agriculture, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece;2. Division of Hydraulics and Environmental Engineering, Department of Civil Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece;3. Interbalkan Environment Centre, Langadas, Greece;4. Lab of Applied Soil Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece |
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| Abstract: | Hydrological processes at the river basin influence the quality of downstream water bodies by controlling the loads of nutrients and suspended solids. Although their monitoring is important for social, economic and environmental reasons, in‐situ measurements are too expensive and thus too sparse to describe their relations. The aim of this study is to investigate the temporal relations of soil erosion in the upstream part of river basins with water quality characteristics in the downstream coastal zone, using satellite remote sensing and GIS modelling. Data from satellite missions of MODIS, SRTM and TRMM were used to describe the soil erosion factors of the Universal Soil Loss Equation in three river basins, and MERIS satellite data was used to estimate chlorophyll‐a and total suspended matter concentrations in the coastal zone of northwest Aegean Sea in Greece, where the rivers discharge. The resulting time series showed an average correlation of upstream rainfall with downstream water quality, which increased when soil erosion was introduced. Higher correlations were observed with the use of a time lag, revealing a variable delay between the three test sites. Lower correlation coefficients were observed for chlorophyll‐a, due to the sensitivity of algae to environmental conditions. The use of free of charge satellite data and easy to operate GIS models renders the findings of this work useful for coastal zone management bodies, in order to help increase aquaculture productivity, predict algal blooms and predict siltation of ports. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. |
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| Keywords: | erosion USLE chlorophyll‐a TSM remote sensing GIS |
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