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Assessment of water quality based on Landsat 8 operational land imager associated with human activities in Korea

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Abstract

Water pollution such as green algae blooms and eutrophication in freshwater fatally influences both water quality and human society. Water quality issues in the 4 major rivers in Korea, including the Nakdong, have recently become a major concern. For this reason, it is essential to monitor water quality parameters (WQPs) that have a widespread characteristic to ensure maintenance of an effective water management system. The possibility of utilizing remote sensing technology for monitoring water quality on a regional scale has been recently investigated. The main objective of this study is to evaluate potential applications of the Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) for estimating water quality in the Nakdong River, Korea. Correlations between Landsat 8 bands and in situ measurements are determined, and water quality models are established for estimating suspended solids (SS), total nitrogen (TN), chlorophyll-a (Chl-a), and total phosphorus (TP). The results demonstrate that WQPs correlated well with band reflectance values from Landsat 8. Band 5 was reasonably correlated with all WQPs, particularly with SS (R = −0.74) and Chl-a (R = −0.71). This study constructed multiple regression equations for WQPs based on correlation analysis through band combination and band ratio. The spatial distribution of WQPs in the Nakdong River on October 27, 2013 and May 16, 2014 indicate that the river was nearly eutrophic from human activities. Based on the results, the Landsat 8 OLI may be an appropriate data for estimating and monitoring water quality parameters on a regional scale. However, further validation is required to support the findings of this study.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by Space Core Technology Development Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (NRF-2014M1A3A3A02034789). Landsat 8 data was obtained from the US Geological Survey’s Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center (http://landsat.usgs.gov/Landsat_Search_and_Download.php). We would like to thank the National Institute of Environmental Research (NIER) for providing ground data.

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  1. Water Resources and Remote Sensing Laboratory, Department of Water Resources, Graduate School of Water Resources, Sungkyunkwan University, 2066, Seobu-ro, Jangan-gu, Suwon, Gyeonggi-do, 440-746, Republic of Korea

    Jisang Lim & Minha Choi

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Correspondence to Minha Choi.

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Lim, J., Choi, M. Assessment of water quality based on Landsat 8 operational land imager associated with human activities in Korea. Environ Monit Assess 187, 384 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-015-4616-1

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