Retrieval of water quality parameters of South Andaman coral Islands using remotely operated underwater vehicle

Abstract

Remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROV)-based spectral irradiance measurements at South Andaman coral reef islands are used to derive water quality parameters (chlorophyll-a, total-suspended sediments, turbidity, salinity, Secchi disk depth, diffuse attenuation coefficient) at different depths of the water column. Different combination of standard formula is used to extract the water quality information from the sub-surface reflectance measurement and compared with the data derived from satellite images and conventional water sample analyses. Water quality data derived from ROV-based irradiance measurement and satellite sensor (Landsat data) correlate well to the extent of 0.85 (R2). Results from spectral irradiance measurements up to 20 m water depth using the ROV along with high-definition images of coral reef biodiversity can be effectively used to understand the habitats' diversity and also to derive different water quality parameters in spatio-temporal scale.