Report reference:
Spruce, J., J.Ellis, J.Smoot, R.Swann, W.Graham (2009). A Landsat-based Assessment of Mobile Bay Land Use and Land Cover Change from 1974 to 2008. NASA Technical Report # SSTI-2220-0177.

Above the Earth, Below the Surface: Landsat’s Role in Monitoring Water Quality
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.