Determination of chlorophyll-a amount in Golden Horn, Istanbul, Turkey using IKONOS and in situ data

The objective of this research was to explore an accurate and fast way of estimating chlorophyll-a amount, a water quality parameter (WQP), using IKONOS satellite sensor image and in situ measurements. Since the in situ data of WQPs are limited with the number of sampling locations, deriving a correlation between these measurements and remotely sensed image allows synoptic estimates of the related parameter over large areas even if the areas are in remote and inaccessible locations. In this study, simultaneously collected satellite image data and in situ measurements of chlorophyll-a were correlated using multivariate regression model. Different experiments were designed by changing the numbers and distributions of in situ measurements. Regression coefficients of each design and differences between model-derived data and in situ measurements were calculated to find out the optimum design to produce chlorophyll-a map of study region. Results illustrated that both the number and distribution of in situ measurements have impact on regression analysis, therefore should be selected attentively. Also, it is found that IKONOS imagery is an efficient and effective source to derive chlorophyll-a map of the large areas using limited number of ground measurements.