Application of Landsat imagery, to verify near shore water circulation of Saronikos gulf, as resulted from numerical modelling

Hydrodynamic numerical models nowadays offer great aid when studying the physical behavior of coastal waters. However, the calibration and furthermore the verification of such models, is a difficult process that should be applied carefully, especially when little direct hydrodynamic data has been collected from the study area. This paper suggests a methodology for indirect verification of mathematical coastal circulation models, by means of image processing and interpretation of Landsat's TM reflective bands 3 and 6 imagery. This approach is an efficient practice and is easily available even though no field survey was carried out. This method was successfully applied to Saronikos Gulf and in particular to gulf of Megara, located westwards of Salamis Island, where the dispersion of a plume formed by urban waste waters was examined. The satellite data processing derivatives were found to be in accordance with the results of the circulation simulation and thus the parameters used for the calibration of the model can be considered successfully selected. (© 2005 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)