KAS Symposium
Geospatial Analysis in the Great Plains
Oral Presentation Title/Authors
GEOSPATIAL ANALYSIS OF WATER QUALITY IN GREAT PLAINS RESERVOIRS. John
HARRINGTON, Jr., Douglas GOODIN, and Duane NELLIS, Department of
Geography, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506 and Frank SCHIEBE,
Site-Specific Technology Development Group, Inc., Stillwater, OK 74074.
Abstract
Data obtained from broad-band sensors on the Landsat and SPOT satellite
systems are useful for assessment of water quality in Great Plains
reservoirs. Use of a physically based model, that uses at-satellite
measures of surface reflectance, allows estimation of temporal and spatial
variations in turbidity, suspended sediment concentration, and Secchi disk
depth. Examples from studies in Oklahoma and Kansas, using Landsat MSS,
Landsat TM, and SPOT HRV data, document an ability to assess inorganic
water quality variations. However, estimates of common measures of organic
water quality (e.g. chlorophyll a) are problematic in lakes
dominated by suspended sediments using the broad-band sensors. Data
obtained from both a hand-held spectroradiometer and narrow-band video
remote sensing indicate that estimation of chlorophyll a concentration may
be possible with future narrow-band, satellite-based sensor systems.
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