The purpose of the study was to estimate the chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) and total organic carbon (TOC) concentration through remote sensing (OLI/LANDSAT-8 - LS8). During 2017 and 2018, water was collected six times from the Umari and Mendubim reservoirs, located in the semi-arid climate regions of the Brazilian Northeast area, so as to determine the Chia and TOC values. Correlation coefficients between the spectral bands of OLI/LS8 images and the Chl-a and TOC values were calculated to select the bands to be used in simple and multiple linear regressions between the reflectance values and the limnological variable values. A correlation was found between the field data and the values estimated from the combination of B4 and B5 bands for Chl-a (R-2=0.87), and B2 and B5 for TOC (R-2=0.80). A correlation was found between the data obtained in the reservoirs and recovered from the OLI/LS8 images, with correlation coefficients of 0.76 for Chl-a and 0.71 for TOC in Umari, and 0.78 for Chl-a and 0.72 for TOC in Mendubim. The models were efficient in the Chl-a and TOC estimates in the environments studies, showing the feasibility of image use in the remote monitoring of these limnological variables in reservoirs located in the semi -arid -climate regions of Brazil.