Estimation of suspended sediment concentration with MODIS images in coastal mangrove areas

Coastal areas are where land interacts with the sea, with many complicated processes taking place, especially where mangroves exist. Governed by various drivers, sediment movement also plays an important role regarding hydrodynamics, the ecological environment, aquaculture, fisheries, etc. The suspended sediment concentration (SSC) is often considered to affect water quality, mangrove development and sometimes landscape attraction. To determine the SSC, direct measurements and/or sampling and laboratory tests are required. Therefore, it is costly to estimate the SSC continuously and in large areas.

In contrast, Remote Sensing (RS) inversion can possibly provide observations simultaneously at a large scale and within a specific period. As a result, the inversion of the SSC in the
surface layer of coastal areas using RS techniques has become more and more reliable and popular. The Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) is a satellite-based sensor that is used for measurements of the Earth and climate. This study singularly retrieves the red band of MODIS images to provide the values of reflectance, along with data derived from field measurements, for a coastal mangrove area of Bac Lieu province, part of the Mekong Delta. These two datasets are then analyzed to explore any relationship between them. As a result, a regression model is proposed to predict the values of the SSC at the same location for periods without field data.