Rl. Miller et al., MONITORING SUSPENDED PARTICULATE MATTER IN PUERTO-RICO - FIELD-MEASUREMENTS AND REMOTE-SENSING, Water resources bulletin, 30(2), 1994, pp. 271-282
The spatial distribution of suspended particulate matter (SPM) was est
imated in Mayaguez Bay on the west coast of Puerto Rico by using tradi
tional ship board measurements and remotely sensed data acquired over
four days during January 1990. This effort was part of a joint project
between NASA and the University of Puerto Rico to develop techniques
to monitor the water quality of a Caribbean coastal zone. This paper p
resents the methods and algorithms developed to map and analyze short
term changes in the source and spatial distribution of SPM in Mayaguez
Bay by using remotely sensed data acquired by the Calibrated Airborne
Multispectral Scanner (CAMS). A PC-based data acquisition system was
developed to record continuous ship measurements of select in- water v
ariables. Spectral reflectances derived from CAMS red and near-IR data
were corrected for atmospheric effects and then used to generate maps
of SPM. These maps displayed SPM plumes associated with the mouths of
the bay's three river systems. Significant day-to-day differences in
the spatial characteristics were observed, suggesting that changes in
river discharge occurred. However, an analysis of estimated river disc
harge, sediment yield, local wind field, and thermal river plume indic
ates that observed sediment plumes result primarily from wind-driven r
esuspension events.