Suspended sediment concentration mapping based on the MODIS satellite imagery in the East China inland, estuarine, and coastal waters

The purpose of this research is to improve the retrieval accuracy for the suspended sediment concentration (SSC) from in situ and satellite remote sensing measurements in turbid East China estuarine and coastal waters. For this aim, three important tasks are formulated and solved: 1) an estimation of remote-sensing reflectance spectra R (rs)(lambda) after atmospheric correction; 2) an estimation of R (rs)(lambda) from the radiometric signals above the air-water surface; and 3) an estimation of SSC from R (rs)(lambda). Six different models for radiometric R (rs)(lambda) determination and 28 models for SSC versus R (rs)(lambda) are analyzed based on the field observations made in the Changjiang River estuary and its adjacent coastal area. The SSC images based on the above-mentioned analysis are generated for the area.