Chapter 20
Remote Sensing of African Lakes: A Review
Thomas J. Ballatore, Shane R. Bradt, Lydia Olaka, Andrés Cózar
and Steven A. Loiselle
Abstract The optical complexity and small size of inland waters make the application of remote sensing more challenging than for the open ocean. However, in
Africa, where in situ monitoring of important water bodies is financially, institutionally and spatially constrained, there is strong demand for remote sensing to fill
the critical information gap. Here we review a wide range of applications of both
passive and active remote sensing to African lakes. The applications fall into five
main categories: (1) visible, NIR, thermal and microwave sensing of lake area; (2)
altimetric and gravimetric sensing of lake level; (3) thermal sensing of lake surface temperature; (4) visible, NIR and microwave sensing of macrophytes; and (5)
optical sensing of trophic conditions including chlorophyll-a and euphotic depth.
Sensors used include Landsat MSS, TM and ETM+, MERIS, MODIS, SeaWiFS,
AVHRR, Meteosat, TOPEX/Poseidon, Jason-1, OSTM/Jason-2, ERS-1, ERS-2, Envisat, GFO, ICESat, ALOS-PALSAR and GRACE. The majority of studies have
been applied to the “great” lakes such as Chad, Malawi, Tanganyika and Victoria;
however, there is a growing body of literature on smaller lakes. We examine the
possibilities that remote sensing offers to monitoring and management of African
lakes as well as the potential limitations of the technology using Lake Victoria as an
illustrative case.
T. J. Ballatore () · S. R. Bradt · L. Olaka
Lake Basin Action Network, Moriyama, Japan
e-mail: ballatore@lakebasin.org
S. R. Bradt
University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, USA
L. Olaka
University of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya
A. Cózar
Universidad de Cádiz, Puerto Real, Spain
S. A. Loiselle
Università degli Studi di Siena, Siena, Italy
V. Barale, M. Gade (eds.), Remote Sensing of the African Seas,
403
DOI 10.1007/978-94-017-8008-7_20,
© Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014
Remote Sensing of African Lakes: A Review
Thomas J. Ballatore, Shane R. Bradt, Lydia Olaka, Andrés Cózar
and Steven A. Loiselle
Abstract The optical complexity and small size of inland waters make the application of remote sensing more challenging than for the open ocean. However, in
Africa, where in situ monitoring of important water bodies is financially, institutionally and spatially constrained, there is strong demand for remote sensing to fill
the critical information gap. Here we review a wide range of applications of both
passive and active remote sensing to African lakes. The applications fall into five
main categories: (1) visible, NIR, thermal and microwave sensing of lake area; (2)
altimetric and gravimetric sensing of lake level; (3) thermal sensing of lake surface temperature; (4) visible, NIR and microwave sensing of macrophytes; and (5)
optical sensing of trophic conditions including chlorophyll-a and euphotic depth.
Sensors used include Landsat MSS, TM and ETM+, MERIS, MODIS, SeaWiFS,
AVHRR, Meteosat, TOPEX/Poseidon, Jason-1, OSTM/Jason-2, ERS-1, ERS-2, Envisat, GFO, ICESat, ALOS-PALSAR and GRACE. The majority of studies have
been applied to the “great” lakes such as Chad, Malawi, Tanganyika and Victoria;
however, there is a growing body of literature on smaller lakes. We examine the
possibilities that remote sensing offers to monitoring and management of African
lakes as well as the potential limitations of the technology using Lake Victoria as an
illustrative case.
T. J. Ballatore () · S. R. Bradt · L. Olaka
Lake Basin Action Network, Moriyama, Japan
e-mail: ballatore@lakebasin.org
S. R. Bradt
University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, USA
L. Olaka
University of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya
A. Cózar
Universidad de Cádiz, Puerto Real, Spain
S. A. Loiselle
Università degli Studi di Siena, Siena, Italy
V. Barale, M. Gade (eds.), Remote Sensing of the African Seas,
403
DOI 10.1007/978-94-017-8008-7_20,
© Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014