Publications

Wang, S; Zhang, LF; Zhang, HM; Cen, Y; Zhang, LS; Tong, QX (2022). Spatiotemporal variations of total suspended sediment concentrations in the Peace-Athabasca Delta during 2000 to 2020. JOURNAL OF APPLIED REMOTE SENSING, 16(1), 14524.

Abstract
Total suspended sediments (TSS) are an important water quality indicator. The spatiotemporal distribution patterns of TSS concentrations in summer in the Peace-Athabasca Delta (PAD) remain unclear between 2000 and 2020. Among empirical and machine learning models, the random forest (RF) model exhibits the best performance for the PAD with a coefficient of determination, normalized root-means-square error, and relative root-mean-square error of 0.92, 7.51%, and 27.36%, respectively. Our study analyzes the spatiotemporal TSS distribution based on 21 years of Landsat remote sensing data and the RF model. The results showed that the TSS concentrations of the Peace River were elevated in 2000, 2016, 2019, and 2020. The long-term TSS concentration distribution in the PAD showed a decreasing trend from west to east, and the TSS concentrations ranged from 6 to 80 mg/L level and remained stable in Lake Athabasca during the investigated period. Moreover, 57.14% of the PAD area exhibited no significant change between 2000 and 2020. The results of our study provide detailed information for the local government on the TSS concentrations in the PAD. (C) 2022 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE)

DOI:
10.1117/1.JRS.16.014524

ISSN:
1931-3195