Durham E-Theses Analysis of the sedimentary characteristics of the tees estuary using remote sensing and GIS techniques Konrad, Christoph How to cite: Konrad, Christoph (1995) Analysis of the sedimentary characteristics of the tees estuary using remote sensing and GIS techniques, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/4876/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 Analysis of the Sedimentary Characteristics of the Tees Estuary using Remote Sensing and GIS techniques Volume One Christoph Konrad The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be pubhshed without his prior written consent and information derived from it should be acknowledged. Thesis submitted for the degree of Master of Science. University of Durham, Department of Geography. March, 1995 s^B JAN 1996 Declaration This thesis is the result of my own work. Data from other authors which are referred to in the thesis are acknowledged at the appropriate point in the text. Statement of Copyright The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without prior written consent and information derived from it should be acknowledged. To my father Hubert Xaver Konrad ERINNERUNG Willst du immer welter schweifen ? Sieh das Gate liegt so nah. Lerne nur das Gluck ergreifen, Denn das Gliick ist immer da. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832) Abstract This thesis examines the abihty of airborne remotely sensed data to provide quantitative information about the characteristics of intertidal sediments. The research was undertaken on Seal Sands in the Tees estuary, UK, and the airborne imagery was acquired by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) using a Daedalus 1268 11 channel scanning radiometer. The research focused upon establishing calibration and correction procedures for the airborne imagery as well as developing GIS techniques to process and analyze the data. A database was produced for the National Nature Reserve of Seal Sands to integrate remotely sensed imagery data, primary data from fieldwork (particle size analysis) and digital map data. Quantitative analysis of the relationship between radiance and particle size characteristics was undertaken. Results show that a multiple regression model is able to predict sand fractions in intertidal sediments and explain over 70% of the variance in radiance data. GIS techniques have facilitated predictions of the ATM data and particle size analysis of the intertidal sediments, sediment interpolation, and spatial patterns of birds' feeding behaviour. In addition, a digital elevation model (DEM) was established to investigate the relationship of sediment distribution to topography. Although limited to a single study area, the integrated approach employed in this research should be of use in monitoring estuarine environments elsewhere. 11 Acknowledgments The past year was in many concerns tough and cost a lot of energy and faith. Firstly I would like to thank my father, who tragedly died in the mid of my studies. Without his believe and support in my studies I would have never reached this point. I also would like to thank the rest of my family, relatives and friends who were and still are a great source of strength during this time. This research would have not been possible without the help of many people, supporting me with advice, information and practical help. Firstly I would like to thank my first supervisor Dr Ian Evans who supported me very well at the final stage of the thesis. I also would like to thank my second supervisor Dr Christine Dunn who supported me well with GIS advice. Further I would like to thank Mr Robin Ward from the Biological Science Department, who supported me exceptionally well with my field work on Seal Sands; whenever I intended to go, I could count on him. Furthermore I am indebted to Dave Robinson who made the radiometric calibration of the image data possible by his genius programming knowledge. I am also greatly in debt to Prof Michael Tooley for his practical and moral advice. I also want to thank Dr Martin Coy from the University of Tubingen for his support which enabled me to stay in Durham for a second year. Thanks also go to Prof Peter Evans and NERC for supplying the ATM imagery. Furthermore I would like to thank Dr Desmond Murphy from the GKSS in Germany for the material he supplied me with. Additionally I would like to thank my new boss. Prof Dr.-Ing. Hans Peter Bahr from Karlsruhe University, for his final advice in my studies. Last but not least I want to thank greatly the technicians, in the Department of Geography, especially Mrs Stella Henderson, Mr Derek Coates and Mr Derek Hudspeth, as well all my postgraduate colleagues, who gave the department during this research year a very pleasant atmosphere. in Preface Previous research on mapping intertidal estuarine environments has been carried out at the Department of Geography, University of Durham, using Landsat TM imagery of the Wash and the Tees Estuaries (Donoghue & Shennan, 1987; Donoghue & Zong, 1992). These preliminary analyses have shown that remote sensing techniques, especially when combined with GIS, provide a very useful method for mapping spatial distributions of intertidal ecosystems and their variability through time. Two runs of ATM Daedalus 1268 images taken on 15th July 1992 ten minutes apart, were analyzed to assess the feasibility of using visible and short wave infrared reflectance and thermal emitted data for mapping tidal sediments in the Tees Estuary. The image data are compared with ground reflectance measurements and particle size analysis in the raster based module of ARC/INFO, called GRID. For the purpose of mapping sediment distribution on Seal Sands in the Tees Estuary, a Digital Elevation Model (DEM) was established, examining the sediment distribution in relation to topography. IV Contents of Volume One Abstract i Acknowledgement ii Preface iii Contents of Volume One iv Tables in Volume One vii Chapter one: Aims and Methods 1 Preamble 1 Introduction 1 Methodological approach 3 Chapter two: The study area, estuaries & birds 8 Work within the Tees monitoring programme 8 The Geology of Teesside 9 Industrial development of Teesside 10 Coastal Morphological Unit of Hartlepool to Saltburn 11 Sedimentary environment of the Tees Estuary 11 Tides, tidal current and wave environment 12 The Tees barrage project 14 Physical characteristics of the intertidal zone 15 Estuaries 15 Tidal Flats 16 Mudflats 17 Tidal creek system 17 Intertidal landform changes 18 Ornithological Studies 18 Estuarine birds 19 v Chapter three: Field work and Particle Size Analysis 22 Introduction 22 Ground sampling and Particle Size Analysis on Seal Sands 22 Chapter four; Image Processing 28 Introduction 28 Reflectance characteristics of tidal sediments 28 Multispectral Scanning 30 Characteristics of multispectral scanner images 31 Signal noise to ATM-data 31 Scanning geometry 31 Daedalus 1268 airborne thematic mapper data 32 Image-Processing Overview 35 Pre-processing techniques 36 Radiometric Calibration 36 Introduction 36 Preflight calibration 37 Gain-settings 39 Calibration Method of the ATM Tees data 39 Format of the ATM-data 39 Technical approach for Radiometric Calibration 40 Technical problems with radiometric correction of ATM data 41 Transition from radiometric calibration to atmospheric correction 45 Atmospheric Correction 46 Correcting Atmospheric Scattering 46 Atmospheric Correction of ATM data 47 Atmospheric effects 47 Atmospheric correction using the Flat Field correction method 49 Technical approach for Flat Field correction 50 Log-Residual correction method 51 VI Technical approach for Log-residual correction 52 Restriction of Log-residual correction 52 Source of errors during Atmospheric Correction 53 Geometric correction 54 Technical approach of Geometric Correction of ATM-Teesside data 56 Image Classification 60 9 Image Enhancement Ratio Imagery 62 Classification of the intertidal zone of Seal Sands 63 Accuracy check of the classified ATM image 65 Chapter five: Reflectance Analysis of Seal Sands 68 Introduction 68 Results of the ATM data analysis 69 Chapter six: Data Analysis with GIS techniques 74 Introduction 74 Preprocessing in GIS 76 Modelling and processing in the Coastal Monitoring GIS 78 Predicting Particle Size Classes in the intertidal zone 78 Surface modelling with TIN 80 Spatial Interpolation from sampling points 84 Results of the Interpolation of spatial features for the intertidal land of Seal Sands 87 Interpolation of the samphng stations, using the Particle Size Analysis 87 Reflections on the techniques used for the intertidal sediment mapping 91 Chapter seven: Conclusions and recommendations 94 References 100 Vll Tables in Volume One. Table 2.1 Comparison of midwinter numbers of shorebirds using Seal Sands before and after partial reclamation. 20 Table 3.1 Chosen gradation of tidal sediments. 25 Table 3.2 Percentage changes of sampling stations over Seal Sands (resampled in winter 1992/93). 27 Table 4.1 Comparison of ATM Daedalus 1268, Landsat5 TM data and MMR data. 33 Table 4.2 Sensor specification for feature detection in remote sensing. 34 Table 4.3 Equations for the radiometric calibration. 38 Table 4.4 a Values for the Radiance value calculation for Gain-setting of 8.