United States Environmental Protection Agency Office of Research and Development National Exposure Research Laboratory Research Abstract Government Performance Results Act (GPRA) Goal #4 FY 2004 Annual Performance Measure # 254 Significant Research Findings: The Use of Hyperspectral Remote Sensing for the Development of Optical Water Quality Indicators in the Ohio River Basin Scientific Typical sampling programs require field sampling of water quality conditions, the Problem and costliness and time-consuming nature of which can lead to limitations in the Policy Issues sampling effort because comprehensive sampling of an entire large body of water is not feasible using these methods. The use of remotely sensed data could help water quality programs overcome these constraints by providing an alternative means of water quality monitoring over a greater range of temporal and spatial scales. Research The main objective of this research is to further remote sensing research toward Approach providing tools that will help resource managers monitor and assess inland waters more quickly, completely, effectively and at a lower cost than their current capabilities allow. Our research approach included collecting three sets of remote sensing and ground-truth data in order to study the correlations between reflection data and water quality analytes. This approach was used in order to help us develop optical indicators of water quality constituents. Each of these three sets of data was collected under the guidance of a Quality Assurance Project Plan. A Principal Investigator from ORD's National Center for Environmental Assessment reviewed the report. Results and This study demonstrates the ubiquitous application of the chlorophyll a spectral Impact index while revealing the limited reliability of the turbidity, phosphorous and nitrogen spectral indices. Although differences between the dynamics of the two rivers may have made these spectral indices incompatible, with further refinement they may yet prove to be useful tools that can be modified for use in other rivers to detect potential water quality problems. Florence Fulk, Bradley Autrey and Joseph Flotemersch were NERL's primary investigators for this project. The U.S. EPA contract number 68D01048 to SoBran, Inc. provided support in the collection of samples, analyses of samples and processing of data. A portion of this research was published as the journal article cited below. Senay, G., N.A. Shafique, B.C. Autrey, F. Fulk, and S.M. Cormier. 2001. Hyperspectral Narrow Wavebands Selection for Optimizing Water Quality Monitoring on the Great Miami River, Ohio. Journal of Spatial Hydrology 1 (1): 1 -22. Research Collaboration and Research Products Future Research Future research will provide information about whether satellite data can be substituted for field-collected data to determine water quality parameters such as ------- chlorophyll a, nutrients, and turbidity. In the future, satellite remote sensing data may prove to be the preferable method for the detection of eutrophic water quality indicators over large areas of water. Contacts for Questions and inquiries can be directed to: Additional Bradley C. Autrey Information u.S. EPA, Office of Research and Development National Exposure Research Laboratory 26 West Martin Luther King Blvd, Cincinnati, OH 45268 Phone: 513/569-7368 E-mail: autrey.brad@epa.gov Federal funding for this research was administered under EPA contract number 68-D-01-048. ------- |