The use of satellite imagery for mapping coastal river plumes in the Marine Realm

Abstract

Freshwater flowing from rivers through estuaries into the marine realm maintains essential ecological processes that keep marine resources healthy by providing nutrients and sediments that form important habitats and underlie critical ecological processes. Plumes are readily observable as brown turbid water masses contrasting with the clearer saline seawater. The spatial scale and dynamic behavior of river plumes can be detected in satellite imagery to provide quantitative insights into freshwater discharge volume, sediment loads, plume extent, and plume duration. For this study turbidity act as proxy for freshwater discharge, and a substitute for water clarity.