Application of UAV Push-Broom Hyperspectral Images in Water Quality Assessments for Inland Water Protection: A Case Study of Zhang Wei Xin River in Dezhou Distinct, China

A water quality parameter retrieval scheme based on the UAV push-broom hyperspectral images was designed and validated for assessing the ecological health of Zhang Wei Xin River in Dezhou distinct, China. First, a UAV carrying a push-broom hyperspectral imager that is lightweight and has a small size was used to acquire high spatial and hyperspectral resolution images. Then, the mosaicked reflectance data of the whole river were produced by a seamless image mosaicking method with high geometrical accuracy and spectral fidelity. Next, the in-field measurements of different parameters and the corresponding spectral reflectance from the mosaicked images at the sampling points were used to build the water quality parameter retrieval models for total phosphorus (TP), chlorophyll a (Chla), and total suspended solids (TSS). To validate the model, the retrieval results of the testing sampling points were compared with the measured parameters. The coefficients of determination R² of TP, Chla, and TSS were 0.886, 0.918, and 0.968, respectively. The retrieved TP, Chla, and TSS maps showed that the water pollution of Zhang Wei Xin River is serious, the total phosphorus exceeds the standard, and the water body is in a state of eutrophication. The UAV-based hyperspectral remote sensing technique provides a cost-effective method for inland water monitoring at a local scale with high accuracy.