Land cover changes around river basins have caused serious environmental degradation in global surface water areas, in which the direct monitoring and numerical modeling is inherently difficult. Prediction of pollutant loads is therefore crucial to river environmental management under the impact of climate change and intensified human activities. This research analyzed the relationship between land cover types estimated from NOAA Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) imagery and the potential annual pollutant loads of river basins in Japan. Then an empirical approach, which estimates annual pollutant loads directly from satellite imagery and hydrological data, was investigated. Six water quality indicators were examined, including total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), suspended sediment (SS), Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), and Dissolved Oxygen (DO). The pollutant loads of TN, TP, SS, BOD, COD, and DO were then estimated for 30 river basins in Japan. Results show that the proposed simulation technique can be used to predict the pollutant loads of river basins in Japan. These results may be useful in establishing total maximum annual pollutant loads and developing best management strategies for surface water pollution at river basin scale.
Skip Nav Destination
Article navigation
Research Article|
October 01 2009
Using remotely sensed imagery to estimate potential annual pollutant loads in river basins
Bin He;
1Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo, Be605, 4-6-1 Komaba, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-8505, Japan E-mail: hebin@rainbow.iis.u-tokyo.ac.jp
E-mail: hebin@rainbow.iis.u-tokyo.ac.jp
Search for other works by this author on:
Kazuo Oki;
Kazuo Oki
1Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo, Be605, 4-6-1 Komaba, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-8505, Japan E-mail: hebin@rainbow.iis.u-tokyo.ac.jp
Search for other works by this author on:
Yi Wang;
Yi Wang
2Institute for Sustainability and Peace, UNU Centre, United Nations University, 5-53-70, Jingumae, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-8925, Japan E-mail: ywang@hq.unu.edu
Search for other works by this author on:
Taikan Oki
Taikan Oki
1Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo, Be605, 4-6-1 Komaba, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-8505, Japan E-mail: hebin@rainbow.iis.u-tokyo.ac.jp
Search for other works by this author on:
Water Sci Technol (2009) 60 (8): 2009–2015.
Citation
Bin He, Kazuo Oki, Yi Wang, Taikan Oki; Using remotely sensed imagery to estimate potential annual pollutant loads in river basins. Water Sci Technol 1 October 2009; 60 (8): 2009–2015. doi: https://doi.org/10.2166/wst.2009.596
Download citation file:
Sign in
Don't already have an account? Register
Client Account
You could not be signed in. Please check your email address / username and password and try again.
Impact Factor 1.915
CiteScore 3.3 • Q2
13 days submission to first
decision
1,439,880 downloads in 2021