Bibliometric review about turbidity and suspended solids by remote sensing

Abstract

Turbidity is a parameter of water quality that corresponds to the reduction of transparency in liquid medium, it is promoted by suspended material, which inhibits the passage of sunlight through the water. Turbidity interferes with the aquatic environment and is a global environmental and socioeconomic problem. Filtering 1245 articles related to parameters turbidity and suspended solids detected remotely, this study maps the scientific interactions to evaluate researches of this theme, published since 1966. We verified the general performance of the publications and their dynamics, the cooperation between the countries, the performance of publications by institution, authors and co-authors. The US is the largest science producer on the subject, followed by China, which has intensified its English publications on the subject in the last decade. There are strong connectivities and productivities between the US and China, followed by France, South Korea, Germany and Japan, culminating as the result of international cooperation. Among the ten most productive institutions, seven are Chinese and three French. Chinese stand out as the majority of the best performers. Certain types of research are more common according to the water environment (marine, lake or river), and for the rivers the interest of the scientific community, in general, is the transport of sediments. The trends of publications are English and indexed journals in databases. Like China, other countries tend to interact with international researchers without the English language being a hindrance. It is concluded that remote sensing has been consolidated as one of the most effective techniques in the indirect monitoring of the physical-chemical conditions of the waters.