Remote Sensing Techniques for Water Quality Monitoring: A Review

Freshwater resources are facing increasing challenges to water quality, due to factors such as population growth, human activities, climate change, and various human-made pressures. While on-site methods, as specified in the USGS water quality sampling handbook, are usually precise, they require more time, are costly, and provide data at specific points, which lacks the essential comprehensive geographic and temporal detail for water body assessment and management. Hence, conventional on-site monitoring methods are unable to provide a complete representation of freshwater systems. To address concerns regarding geographic and time-based coverage, remote sensing has developed into an effective solution, taking advantage of recent advancements in sensor technology and methodologies. The combination of GPS and GIS technologies, along with remotely sensed data, provides an efficient resource for continual monitoring and evaluation of water bodies. The use of remotely sensed data helps to establish a reliable geospatial database, serving as a standard for subsequent evaluations. The review emphasizes the contribution of remote sensing to water monitoring. It starts by exploring various space-borne and airborne sensors utilized for this purpose. Subsequently, the review explores remote sensing applications for water quality. Lastly, the review discusses the overall benefits and challenges related to remote sensing in water monitoring.