Linkages between turbidity levels in Lake Mead associated forest fire events in the lower Virgin watershed

N. B. Chang; S. Imen; J. Yang

doi:10.1117/12.2053942

2 October 2014 Linkages between turbidity levels in Lake Mead associated forest fire events in the lower Virgin watershed

N. B. Chang , S. Imen, J. Yang

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 9221, Remote Sensing and Modeling of Ecosystems for Sustainability XI; 92210D (2014) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2053942
Event: SPIE Optical Engineering + Applications, 2014, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

Lake Mead provides the source of drinking water for over 25 million people in the western United States. Different forest fire events at the northern part of the lake may intensify the concentration of total suspended sediments (TSSs) in water bodies due to the abrupt changes of land covers with accelerated soil erosion. Therefore, it is important to assess the linkage between forest fire events and TSS concentration within the lake. For this purpose, the integrated data fusion and mining (IDFM) techniques were applied in this study to generate TSS concentration maps on a daily basis with the aid of remote sensing imageries. The results of this study confirm the reliability of the IDFM method for nowcasting of TSS concentrations within the lake based on these daily TSS concentration maps. It leads to the investigation of the probable impact of forest fire events on increasing TSS concentrations. Comparing these maps with time of forest fire occurrence showed the potential linkage between increasing TSS concentrations and forest fire events. However, the negative impacts of forest fire events on soil erosion may have lag time to show up.

Citation Download Citation

N. B. Chang , S. Imen, and J. Yang "Linkages between turbidity levels in Lake Mead associated forest fire events in the lower Virgin watershed", Proc. SPIE 9221, Remote Sensing and Modeling of Ecosystems for Sustainability XI, 92210D (2 October 2014); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2053942

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