Remote Sensing for Regional Lake Water
Quality Assessment: Capabilities
and Limitations of Current and Upcoming
Satellite Systems
Leif G. Olmanson, Patrick L. Brezonik, and Marvin E. Bauer
Contents
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
2 Rationale for Optical Remote Sensing Using Satellite Imagery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
2.1 Inherent and Apparent Optical Properties and the Radiative Transfer Equation . . . 114
2.2 Water Quality Variables Amenable to Measurement by Optical Remote
Sensing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
3 Current and Upcoming Remote Sensing Systems for Regional Water Quality
Assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
3.1 Empirical and Semi-analytical Approaches to Lake Water Quality Assessment . . . 131
4 Regional Lake Water Quality Assessment: Case Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
4.1 Water Quality of Inland Lakes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
4.2 Geospatial and Temporal Analysis of Minnesota’s 10,000 Lakes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
5 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Abstract Remote, satellite-based sensing is a cost-effective way to gather information needed for regional water quality assessments in lake-rich areas. A major
advantage is that it enables retrieval of current and historic information on lakes that
were not part of ground-based sampling programs. Advances over the past decade
have enabled the use of satellite imagery for regional-scale measurement of lake
characteristics, such as clarity and chlorophyll. For example, in the Midwest USA,
L.G. Olmanson (*) • M.E. Bauer
Department of Forest Resources, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN, USA
e-mail: olman002@umn.edu
P.L. Brezonik
Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geo-Engineering, University of Minnesota,
Minneapolis, MN, USA
© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015
T. Younos, T.E. Parece (eds.), Advances in Watershed Science
and Assessment, The Handbook of Environmental Chemistry 33,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-14212-8_5
111
Quality Assessment: Capabilities
and Limitations of Current and Upcoming
Satellite Systems
Leif G. Olmanson, Patrick L. Brezonik, and Marvin E. Bauer
Contents
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
2 Rationale for Optical Remote Sensing Using Satellite Imagery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
2.1 Inherent and Apparent Optical Properties and the Radiative Transfer Equation . . . 114
2.2 Water Quality Variables Amenable to Measurement by Optical Remote
Sensing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
3 Current and Upcoming Remote Sensing Systems for Regional Water Quality
Assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
3.1 Empirical and Semi-analytical Approaches to Lake Water Quality Assessment . . . 131
4 Regional Lake Water Quality Assessment: Case Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
4.1 Water Quality of Inland Lakes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
4.2 Geospatial and Temporal Analysis of Minnesota’s 10,000 Lakes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
5 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Abstract Remote, satellite-based sensing is a cost-effective way to gather information needed for regional water quality assessments in lake-rich areas. A major
advantage is that it enables retrieval of current and historic information on lakes that
were not part of ground-based sampling programs. Advances over the past decade
have enabled the use of satellite imagery for regional-scale measurement of lake
characteristics, such as clarity and chlorophyll. For example, in the Midwest USA,
L.G. Olmanson (*) • M.E. Bauer
Department of Forest Resources, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN, USA
e-mail: olman002@umn.edu
P.L. Brezonik
Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geo-Engineering, University of Minnesota,
Minneapolis, MN, USA
© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015
T. Younos, T.E. Parece (eds.), Advances in Watershed Science
and Assessment, The Handbook of Environmental Chemistry 33,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-14212-8_5
111