Remote sensing applications for physical and ecological state of Turkish coastal waters

Many projects, modeling and monitoring programs, scientific studies and symposia have been developed concerning the physical and ecological state of the Turkish coasts and coastal waters. Pollution, for instance, and erosion in the Turkish coastal waters have been occurring over a long period of time. However, none of these studies has considered these problems holistically; therefore, only limited, short term solutions have been prepared and/or implemented. Polar-orbiting satellites like NOAA-9, NOAA-10 and NOAA-14 can cover thousands of square kilometer areas with an overpass frequency of 12 hours. When three satellites are orbiting with 3 daytime and 3 nighttime overpasses it is possible to monitor Sea Surface Temperature (SST) and turbidity when the sky is unclouded. Other satellites such as Landsat 5, have very good spatial capabilities (30 meter), but lack favorable temporal capabilities. The Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) of Landsat-5 covers a 180 x 180 km area with an overpass frequency of 16 days. This high resolution capability is particularly useful in coastal change studies. The purpose of this study was to examine the occurrences of pollution and erosion as they are affecting the Turkish coastal waters. This was accomplished by an analysis of the infrared, near-infrared and visible images collected on various dates, as received by the Institute of Marine Sciences and Technology's High Resolution Picture Transmission (HRPT) earth station, SMART Station. TwoIll Landsat TM (Thematic Mapper) images that were commercially obtained, were also used. The infrared images that were obtained by the SMART Station were then used to reveal the SST, and also to map small and mesoscale ocean features using their SST signatures. These atmospherically corrected visible images proved that ocean color is a powerful tool for monitoring water quality parameters such as algal and plankton densities that contain a large amount of implicit information about the state of a coastal marine environment. These images can contribute a lot to the understanding of the physical and ecological processes in the sea. Additionally, analysis of commercially attained Landsat TM images at two different times clearly demonstrated that the physical appearance configuration of the shoreline was radically altered by human and natural degradation.