Can a single turbidity algorithm be used in all turbid waters?

DOGLIOTTI, A. I.; RUDDICK, K.; NECHAD, B.; DOXARAN, D.; KNAEPS, E.

Darmstadt

Encuentro; International Ocean Colour Science (IOCS) Meeting; 2013

Ocean color remote sensing has shown to be a useful tool to map turbidity (T) and total suspended sediment (TSM) concentration in turbid coastal waters. Different algorithms to retrieve T and TSM from water reflectance already exist. However there are important questions as to whether these algorithms need to be calibrated specifically for different regions. In the present work we use a set of 180 simultaneous measurements of water reflectance and turbidity in five different highly turbid regions to validate a single band algorithm using the near infrared (NIR) band at 859 nm. The good performance ofthe algorithm for all these regions, despite different sediment characteristics, suggests the global applicability of the algorithm to map turbidity within a certain range.