Remote-sensing assessment of regional inland lake water clarity in northeast China

Water clarity in three lakes, Chagan, Xinmiao, and Kuli, in northeast China was evaluated based on Landsat TM data and in situ measurements in this study. The agreement between satellite data and water clarity from field-collected Secchi disk depth (SDD) for individual lakes was strong (0.72 a parts per thousand currency sign R (2) a parts per thousand currency sign 0.98), and four regression equations were used to estimate SDD values. Lake clarity showed strong geographic patterns: Lake Chagan had low clarity and Lake Xinmiao and Kuli had high clarity. The study indicates that Landsat TM can be effectively applied to estimate water clarity for inland lakes in the area.