Application of MODIS data in monitoring suspended sediment of Taihu Lake, China

Application of MODIS in ocean color is mainly based on bands 8–16 with the spatial resolution of 1 000 m. This spatial resolution, however, can not meet the application demand of inland waters where the areas are relatively small. With the assumption of the black water at shortwave infrared (SWIR) wavelengths (>1 000 nm), we first propose an atmospheric correction method for bands 1 and 2 with their spatial resolution of 250 m, and we then establish a quantitative retrieval model for suspended sediment concentration retrieval using the in-situ data collected in Taihu Lake. We also use MODIS data to retrieve the suspended sediment concentration of Taihu Lake with the retrieval model. The comparison between the retrieved and measured suspended sediment concentrations confirms that our algorithm can provide reliable data for monitoring the suspended sediment in Taihu Lake.