Regional Stream Temperature Estimation Using Thermal Infrared Remote Sensing Images From Terra - ASTER And Ground Measurements
Abstract
Stream temperature is a significant water quality concern in the Pacific Northwest, where warm water can be lethal for indigenous fish species and cold water refugia are essential for the survival of threatened and endangered salmon. This necessitates regional-scale assessments of water temperature for compliance monitoring. These assessments have, however, been limited by sparse sampling in both space and time using submerged temperature-recording sensors. In the Puget Sound region, for example, the State of Washington relied on periodic data collected at 76 stations to assess water quality conditions for 12,721 km of streams and rivers (i.e., one station for 167 km of stream). We are evaluating the utility of remotely sensed thermal infrared (TIR) and visible images of streams and stream corridors for increasing the data coverage for stream temperature analysis and assessment. If stream temperatures can be estimated from images with known and acceptable levels of confidence, then regional temperature assessments will be less sensitive to the uncertainty associated with sampling temperature at a relatively small number of ground stations. Stream temperatures, energy and water fluxes are monitored to evaluate their significance to the stream energy balance using a ground-based network of temperature data loggers, stream gauging stations, and meteorological observations. Radiant ("skin") temperatures of streams and rivers are recorded with point measurements to evaluate the relationship between the kinetic and the "skin" temperature of the water in various conditions. TIR images from Terra - ASTER of parts of the Green River basin, Washington State, are processed and analyzed to obtain spatially extensive "skin" water temperature, and to identify the types of stream that are amenable to satellite thermal infrared remote temperature monitoring.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2001
- Bibcode:
- 2001AGUFM.H21B0295N
- Keywords:
-
- 0933 Remote sensing;
- 1640 Remote sensing;
- 1800 HYDROLOGY;
- 1871 Surface water quality;
- 1878 Water/energy interactions