WATER QUALITY MONITORING OVER FINGER LAKES REGION USING SENTINEL-2 IMAGERY ON GOOGLE EARTH ENGINE CLOUD COMPUTING PLATFORM

Abstract. Surface water quality is degrading continuously both due to natural and anthropogenic causes. There are several indicators of water quality, among which sediment loading is mainly determined by turbidity. Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI) is one indirect measure of sediments present in water. This study focuses on detecting and monitoring sediments through NDWI over the Finger Lakes region, New York. Time series analysis is performed using Sentinel 2 imagery on the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform. Finger Lakes region holds high socio-economic value because of tourism, water-based recreation, industry, and agriculture sector. The deteriorating water quality within the Finger Lake region has been reported based on ground sampling techniques. This study takes advantage of a cloud computing platform and medium resolution atmospherically corrected satellite imagery to detect and analyse water quality through sediment detection. In addition, precipitation data is used to understand the underlying cause of sediment increase. The results demonstrate the amount of sediments is greater in the early spring and summer months compared to other seasons. This can be due to the agricultural runoff from the nearing areas as a result of high precipitation. The results confirm the necessity for monitoring the quality of these lakes and understanding the underlying causes, which are beneficial for all the stakeholders to devise appropriate policies and strategies for timely preservation of the water quality.