Using high spatial resolution satellite imagery to detect fine scale sediment features in the Río de la Plata turbid waters

DOGLIOTTI, A.I.; VANHELLEMONT, Q.; RUDDICK, K.; GOSSN, J.I; MOREIRA, D.; SIMIONATO, C.G.

Encuentro; International Ocean Colour Science Meeting 2015; 2015

The Río de la Plata (RdP) river,located at 35°S on the Atlantic west coast, is considered among the most turbidwaters of the world. This system is of great social, ecological and economicalimportance for the countries on its shores, Argentinaand Uruguay.The Capital cities of those countries (Buenos Airesand Montevideo),the most important harbors of the region, and many industrial poles are locatedon its coasts. Moreover, the estuary constitutes the main source of drinking waterfor the millions of inhabitants in the region. As a consequence the river isconstantly under pressure from human activities and environmental changes.Current global ocean color sensors such as MODIS provides medium resolution(250 and 500 m) imagery for coastal applications, however for certain studiesfiner resolution is required. In this study, we analyzed the capability of sensorsoriginally designed for land observations for detecting fine scale structuresin the turbid waters of RdP. The quality of the retrieved reflectance and turbidityvalues from Landsat 8/OLI (30 m) and Pléiades (2 m) are assessed using insitu measurements. Then we explored different features that can beidentified by sensors with increasing spatial resolution and their potentialusefulness for different applications such as: a) providing quantitativeinformation for sediment transport studies to understand the pattern of the main tributaries plumes located the along the RdP estuary,b) identifying features produced by small scale water discharges, c) detectingnear shore currents, and d) identifying complex hydrodynamic features inthe maximum turbidity zone.