Remote Sensing for Water Quality Monitoring & Watershed Assessment On the Lake Traverse Reservation

During the summer of 2010, three student interns from Sisseton Wahpeton Tribal College along with researchers from South Dakota State University engaged in a pilot project to assess the feasibility of using Landsat imagery to determine water transparency in reservation lakes in northeastern South Dakota. The students were trained to assist with data collection, image processing, and spatial and statistical analyses. Secchi depth measurements and lake algae bloom observations were made on cloud-free Landsat overpass days. Measurement locations were geo-referenced using GPS. Field observations and satellite image classification and interpretation techniques were used to create a land use map for the watershed and explore possible land-use-related causes of the variation in water transparency. The results of this project included a better understanding of the relationship between Landsat images and on site observations of water transparency at first and then land use and water quality in reservation lakes.