Satellite remote sensing based approach for water quality monitoring in a data sparse region

The application of remote sensing can aid the decision makers and the researchers in the field of water resources for the effective monitoring of water quality in a water sparse region.  The monitoring of water quality in a wetland dominated by the heterogeneous biomass becomes more intricate. This research study was carried out in Loktak Lake, a Ramsar site nestled in the Indo-Myanmar range between the time intervals February 2022 to December 2022. In order to carry out this study, high and very high resolution multispectral satellite imageries were used. The physical water quality parameters namely electrical conductivity, total suspended solids, pH, turbidity, and nitrates were considered for the assessment. The results of this study clearly indicate a strong correlation between the field-measured parameters and reflectance. The prediction algorithms were generally the best fit to derive the water quality parameters. The model performance indices indicates good performance of the model with correlation coefficient greater than 0.80. The outcomes of this study emphasize the use of high and very high multi-spectral satellite imageries for the monitoring of water bodies with complex dynamics.