title: Stormwater runoff plumes in the Southern California Bight: A comparison study with SAR and MODIS imagery.
abstract: Stormwater runoff is the largest source of pollution in the Southern California Bight (SCB), resulting from untreated runoff and pollutants from urban watersheds entering the coastal waters after rainstorms. We make use of both satellite SAR and MODIS-Aqua ocean color imagery to examine two different components of runoff plumes, the surface slick and the sediment discharge. We expand on earlier satellite SAR studies by examining an extensive collection of multi-platform SAR imagery, spanning from 1992 to 2014, that provides a more comprehensive view of the plume surface slick characteristics, illustrated with distribution maps of the extent and flow direction of the plumes. The SAR-detected surface plumes are compared with coincident rain and runoff measurements, and with available measured shoreline fecal bacteria loads. We illustrate differences in the detection of SAR surface plumes with the sediment-related discharge plumes derived from MODIS imagery. A conceptual satellite stormwater runoff monitoring approach is presented.
authors.affiliation: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA. Electronic address: Benjamin.M.Holt@jpl.nasa.gov.
authors.forename: Benjamin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Holt
authors.affiliation: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA; Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, Palisades, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Rebecca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Trinh
authors.affiliation: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Michelle M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Gierach
mesh_terms: D002140:California; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology; D019015:Geologic Sediments; D011891:Rain; D063809:Satellite Imagery; D014872:Water Movements; D014873:Water Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D014873:Water Pollutants
keywords: Coastal pollution; Satellite remote sensing; Southern California Bight; Stormwater runoff