Mapping the concentrations of total suspended matter in Lake Tailm, China, using Landsat-5 TM data

Remote sensing techniques can be used to estimate and map the concentrations of suspended matter in inland water, providing both spatial and temporal information. Although an empirical approach to remote sensing of inland waters has been carried out frequently, satellite imagery has not been incorporated into routine lake monitoring programmes due in part to the lack of a standard prediction equation with multi-temporal capacity for suspended matter. Empirical and physical models must be developed for each lake and its corresponding turbidity composition if they are to be compared over time, or with other bodies of water.