Assessing the Landscape Ecological Changes of Murchison Bay, Lake Victoria Using Satellite Imagery

Water quality in Murchison Bay is very important for the economical, ecological and environmental well being of the Lake Victoria as it is a tremendous recreational and environmental asset to the Uganda. The goal of the proposed research is to identify the impact of long-term landscape and environmental changes on the water quality of Murchison Bay. The specific objectives are: 1) To analyze the spatial and temporal trends in the water quality characteristics of the Murchison Bay and 2) To identify and map the environmental and ecological changes of the bay using time-series satellite imagery. Water samples were collected from different sampling locations along the bay and analyzed for their nutrient and heavy metal concentrations. The GIS data of the study area was downloaded and processed from the various publicly available resources. The time series Landsat satellite data of the study area was downloaded and processed using the ERDAS image processing software to quantify and assess the pigment and nutrient distribution in the waters of Murchison Bay. Our spatial and temporal results showed that the water quality of the Murchison Bay changed significantly over the recent years and it can be attributed to declining wetlands and increasing impervious surface area in the vicinity of the bay. Geospatial models are being developed to quantify and map the pigment and nutrient concentrations. The ability to quantify and map the landscape changes over large ecologically sensitive areas such as Murchison Bay is very critical for the sustainable environmental management.