Reconstruction of sea-land interactions between terrestrial vegetation cover and water quality constituents in the Mattapoisett Harbor area during the 1991 Hurricane Bob event

Abstract Hurricane Bob passed over the New England region in August 1991, causing significant damage to life, property, and the environment, making it one of the costliest hurricanes in New England history. The environmental impact of a hurricane of this magnitude warrants careful assessment to devise preventive measures and mitigation strategies to bolster water resources management programs against future events. In this paper, we show the reconstructed simultaneous impacts of Hurricane Bob on the vegetative cover of the Mattapoisett river watershed and the water quality of the Mattapoisett Harbor with the aid of remote sensing for earth observations. The water quality impacts, especially in terms of Total Organic Carbon (TOC) and Sea Surface Salinity (SSS), can be identified from variations of SSS and TOC near coastal estuaries due to the influx of freshwater from the coastal Mattapoisett River to the continent-ocean transition between natural tides and bay waves. Using the Landsat satellite images, the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and water quality constitutes (TOC and SSS) were reconstructed and retrieved for the assessment of the sea-land interactions during the Hurricane Bob event in 1991. Results indicate phenomenal interactive patterns between the harbor and the coastal watershed, as well as the riverine system. TOC and NDVI, especially in the upper watershed region, can be strongly correlated with hurricane impacts according to the singular value decomposition analysis.