A young Ohio business, Blue Water Satellite, Inc., is using Landsat 5 and 7 data to detect potentially harmful pollutants in water bodies across the U.S. used for recreation and for drinking water supplies. Using Landsat and algorithms developed at Ohio’s Bowling Green State University, Blue Water can detect E. Coli, cyanobacteria, phosphorus, and Red Tide. Dr. Robert K. Vincent, a geology professor at BGSU, used NASA and NOAA grant money to help develop the pollutant-detection algorithms.
More information:
+ Phycocyanin detection from LANDSAT TM data for mapping cyanobacterial blooms in Lake Erie [external link]
Above the Earth, Below the Surface: Landsat’s Role in Monitoring Water Quality
September 18, 2023
Safeguarding freshwater resources is crucial, and while scientists use a variety of ground-based techniques to gauge water quality, the Landsat program has provided water quality data from orbit for decades.
