Estimation of suspended sediment concentrations in the Rhine River using Landsat Satellite Images

Abstract

The traditional methods for measuring water quality and suspended sediment concentrations (SSC) are time-consuming and often do not give the spatial and temporal detail needed for assessment of the water quality and sediment transport. The determination of the suspended sediment concentrations using remote sensing through the main channel and tributaries of Rhine River can provide valuable information to assess the spatial and temporal of the suspended sediment. The main objective of this study is to estimate the suspended sediment concentrations (SSC) using Landsat satellite images. This study developed a method of quantifying SSC based on Landsat imagery and corresponding SSC data from the International Commission for the Protection of the Rhine (IKSR) and Dutch Rijkswaterstaat from 1995 to 2016. The model was built using the ratio of logarithmic transformation of a red/green band and logarithmic transformation of SSC based on in-situ sampling measurements. The SSC model works well and shows satisfactory performance. Landsat satellites (Thematic Mapper (TM), Multi-Spectral Scanner (MSS), Enhanced Thematic Mapper (ETM), Operational Land Imager (OLI)) explained an acceptable result accuracy.