Detection of changes in water salinity based on patrol monitoring and remote sensing methods

A significant number of rivers heavily influenced by anthropogenic pressures are not monitored (or monitored infrequently). For this reason, there is a need to develop modern methods allowing for the ongoing observation of water quality parameters, of which salinity is a key one. As a result of patrol monitoring information on changes in conductivity in the longitudinal profile of the Oder were obtained. The aim of this study is to correlate these results with Sentinel - 2 satellite imagery (VIS + NIR bands) to verify the hypothesis that remote sensing methods can be used to detect salinity changes in inland flowing waters. For this purpose data acquired with the multiparameter probe during field expeditions, remote sensing methods and Geographical Information Systems tools (such as inter-bands algebra, pixel value extraction) and statistical methods were used. We concluded that the best spectra for salinity detection is Green as well as Salinity Index (SI) mostly showed statistically significant correlations. Remote sensing can be successfully used to detect changes in the salinity of flowing waters.