Development of regression equation to study the Total Nitrogen, Total Phosphorus and Suspended Sediment using remote sensing data in Gujarat and Maharashtra coast of India

摘要

This study focuses on the assessment of the concentration of water nutrients, such as Total Nitrogen and Total Phosphorus, and suspended sediments in the northern Arabian Sea using MODIS Aqua and Terra data. The in-situ data of water nutrient concentration was collected during the period 2002-2010 by COMAPS from the coastal waters of Gujarat and Maharashtra for the development of algorithms as a part of the application of remote sensing for biochemical cycling in the ocean. Multiple regression analysis was used to develop models for the nutrients and suspended sediments and the results showed the strong correlation between the water nutrients under study and suspended sediment variables with the remote sensing data, having the validated R-2 value of 0.7472 (Total Nitrogen),0.8744 (Total Phosphorus) and 0.971 (Suspended Sediment) respectively in marine waters. The models helped understand the seasonal variability and were also applied to one of the latest sensor VIIRS, which came up with the same results as those derived from MODIS. Thus the models can be used for the real time monitoring of water quality and for the development of an alert system using remote sensing data from both MODIS and VIIRS sensor systems.