Estimation of Suspended Sediment Concentration in Downstream of the Ba River Basin using Remote Sensing Images

Abstract

Assessing the tendency of suspended sediment concentration (SSC) in the river watershedsenables a better understanding of the hydromorphological properties of its basins and the associatedprocesses. In addition, analyzing this trend is essential to address several important issues such as erosion,water pollution, human health risks, etc. Therefore, it is critical to determine a proper method to quantifyspatio-temporal variability in SSC. In recent years, remote sensing and GIS technologies are being widelyapplied to support scientists, researchers, and environmental resource investigators to quickly andsynchronously capture information on a large scale. The combination of remote sensing and GIS data willbecome the reliable and timely updated data source for the managers, researchers on many fields. Thereare several tools, software, algorithms being used in extracting information from satellites and support forthe analysis, image interpretation, data collection. The information from satellite images related to waterresources includes vegetational cover, flooding events on a large scale, rain forecast, populationdistribution, forest fire, landslide movements, sedimentation, etc., and especially information on waterquality, sediment concentration. This paper presents the initial result from LANDSAT satellite imageinterpretation to investigate the amount of sediment carried downstream of the Ba river basin.