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AVIRIS-NG L3-derived Water Quality, TSS, and Turbidity, MRD, V3 Dataset Released

Data Release
Issued
Feb. 9, 2024
Resolved

NASA's Oak Ridge National Laboratory Distributed Active Archive Center (ORNL DAAC) released the following Delta-X dataset: AVIRIS-NG L3-derived Water Quality, TSS, and Turbidity, MRD, V3.

This dataset includes estimates of total suspended solids (TSS) concentration and turbidity for waters of the Atchafalaya River and Terrebonne Basins of the Mississippi River Delta (MRD) in coastal Louisiana. Estimates were derived from Level 2 (L2) BRDF-corrected imagery from NASA's Next Generation Airborne Visible Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS-NG). AVIRIS-NG imagery was collected from March 27-April 6 (spring) and August 20-25 (fall), 2021, as part of the 2021 Delta-X campaign. Algorithms for TSS and turbidity estimation were developed using in-situ remote-sensing reflectance measured at field sampling stations paired with in-situ measures of turbidity from a water quality probe and TSS from water samples. Using the in-situ data, a partial least squares regression (PLSR) model was developed for each AVIRIS-NG wavelength. A subset of the in-situ data, collected during relatively clear AVIRIS-NG overflights, was held out to validate the PLSR model. The PLSR algorithm was then applied to AVIRIS-NG imagery to retrieve TSS and turbidity across the study area. The measurement units for TSS and turbidity estimates are mg L-1 and Formazin Nephelometric Units (FNU), respectively, and the spatial resolution is 3.8 to 5.4 m as determined by the AVIRIS-NG imagery. The dataset includes binary cloud and water masks. These data quantify the mesoscale (i.e., on the order of 1 ha) patterns of soil accretion that control land loss and gain and predict the resilience of deltaic floodplains under projected relative sea-level rise. Gridded estimates are provided in netCDF format, and regression coefficients are included in a comma-separated values (CSV) file. This is Version 3 of this dataset. All previously released data were updated to the latest available versions.

Delta-X is a 5-year NASA Earth Ventures Suborbital-3 mission to study the Mississippi River Delta in the United States, which is growing and sinking in different areas. River deltas and their wetlands are drowning as a result of sea level rise and reduced sediment inputs. The Delta-X mission will determine which parts will survive and continue to grow, and which parts will be lost. Delta-X begins with airborne and in situ data acquisition and carries through data analysis, model integration, and validation to predict the extent and spatial patterns of future deltaic land loss or gain. Access data from the Delta-X project.

Citation

Fichot, C.G., and J. Harringmeyer. 2023. Delta-X: AVIRIS-NG L3-derived Water Quality, TSS, and Turbidity, MRD, V3. ORNL DAAC, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA. https://doi.org/10.3334/ORNLDAAC/2152

Details

Last Updated

June 17, 2025

Published

Feb. 9, 2024

Data Center/Project

Oak Ridge National Laboratory DAAC (ORNL DAAC)