Opportunities and difficulties associated with using Landsat Thematic Mapper data for determining surface water temperatures

Conference · Sat Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 1985

OSTI ID:5201298

Wukelic, G W; Barnard, J C; Petrie, G M; Foote, H P

This paper describes results of research efforts to estimate surface-water temperatures using Landsat 4 and 5 TM thermal band data. Recent research involved the analysis of day- and night-time TM Band 6 data in both corrected (P tape) and uncorrected (A tape) formats. Results reported are for (1) a reservoir reactor cooling system (PAR Pond) at the Department of Energy's (DOE) Savannah River Plant in Aiken, South Carolina, and (2) the Columbia River adjacent to the DOE's Hanford site in southeastern Washington State. Differences between Landsat-derived surface water temperatures and ground truth values before and after correcting for atmospheric effects (using LOWTRAN) are described. The results substantiate the consistent performance of the Landsat TM thermal sensor for providing potentially useful estimates of relative and absolute temperatures for large water bodies within and between TM scenes. In addition, technical difficulties encountered that currently limit routine use of such data for environmental monitoring, such as calibration, mixed pixel phenomena, and atmospheric effects are addressed. 5 refs., 2 figs., 3 tabs.

• Research Organization: Pacific Northwest Labs., Richland, WA (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC06-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 5201298
• Report Number(s): PNL-SA-13259; CONF-8509161-1; ON: DE85017925
• Resource Relation: Conference: NASA LIDQU final symposium: LANDSAT image data quality analysis meeting, Indianapolis, IN, USA, 9 Sep 1985
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
SURFACE WATERS
TEMPERATURE MEASUREMENT
COLUMBIA RIVER
HANFORD RESERVATION
LANDSAT SATELLITES
PERFORMANCE
PONDS
REMOTE SENSING
SAVANNAH RIVER PLANT
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
RIVERS
SATELLITES
STREAMS
US AEC
US DOE
US ERDA
US ORGANIZATIONS
520400* - Environment
Aquatic- Thermal Effluents Monitoring & Transport- (-1989)