Distribution of suspended particulate matter determined by in-situ observations and staellite images in the NW Aegean Sea (Greece)

Aristomenis P. Karageorgis (1) , Ch. Anagnostou (1) , Dimitri Georgopoulos (1) , Michel Albuisson (2)

1 National Centre for Marine research
2 CEP - Centre Énergétique et Procédés

Suspended particulate matter (SPM) patterns in the surface waters of the NW Aegean Sea were studied by (1) determining SPM concentration by water filtration, (2) measuring light transmission, and (3) evaluating satellite images. The SPM signals of the three major rivers discharging into the study area were recorded by all three methods, thereby providing information about the sources, transport pathways, and regional dispersion patterns of the SPM. The filtration of water samples and light transmission measurements were found to be good indicators of SPM concentrations in surface waters. Most of the SPM is composed of terrigenous minerals, thus explaining the correlation between the beam attenuation coefficient and the SPM concentration. A Landsat image obtained for the study period was found to adequately reveal regions with high SPM concentrations. Low concentrations, on the other hand, remain obscured.

Domaines: Energétique

Aristomenis P. Karageorgis, Ch. Anagnostou, Dimitri Georgopoulos, Michel Albuisson. Distribution of suspended particulate matter determined by in-situ observations and staellite images in the NW Aegean Sea (Greece). Geo-Marine Letters, 2000, 20, p.93-100. ⟨10.1007/s003670000038⟩. ⟨hal-00538813⟩