Study on Spatiotemporal Variability of Water Quality Parameters in Florida Bay Using Remote Sensing

In this study, the bio-physical parameters associated with water quality of Florida Bay were investigated based on atmospherically corrected data. The principal objective of this study was to monitor and assess the spatial and temporal changes of four water quality parameters: turbidity, chlorophyll-a (chl-a), total phosphate, and total nitrogen (TN), using the application of integrated remote sensing, GIS data, and statistical techniques. For this purpose, two dates of Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) data in 2000 (February 13), 2007 (January 31), and one date of Landsat Operational Land Imager (OLI) in 2015 (January 5) in the dry season, and two dates of TM data in 2000 (August 7), 2007 (September 28), and one date of OLI data in 2015 (September 2) in the wet season of the subtropical climate of South Florida, were used to assess temporal and spatial patterns and dimensions of studied parameters in Florida Bay, USA. The simultaneous observed data of four studied parameters were obtained from 20 monitoring stations and were used for the development and validation of the models. The optical bands in the region from blue to near infrared and all the possible band ratios were used to explore the relation between the reflectance of waterbody and observed data. The predictive models to estimate chl-a and turbidity concentrations were developed through the use of stepwise multiple linear regression (MLR) and gave high coefficients of determination in dry season (R2=0.86 for chl-a and R2=0.84 for turbidity) and moderate coefficients of determination in wet season (R2=0.66 for chl-a and R2=0.63 for turbidity). Values for total phosphate and TN were correlated with chl-a and turbidity concentration and some bands and their ratios. Total phosphate and TN were estimated using best-fit multiple linear regression models as a function of Landsat TM and OLI, and ground data and showed a high coefficient of determination in dry season (R2=0.74 for total phosphate and R2=0.82 for TN) and in wet season (R2=0.69 for total phosphate and R2=0.82 for TN). The MLR models showed a good trustiness to monitor and predict the spatiotemporal variations of the studied water quality parameters in Florida Bay.