Changes in Turbidity Along Ganga River Using Sentinel 2 Satellite Data During Lockdown Associated With COVID 19
Changes in Turbidity Along Ganga River Using Sentinel 2 Satellite Data During Lockdown Associated With COVID 19
Changes in Turbidity Along Ganga River Using Sentinel 2 Satellite Data During Lockdown Associated With COVID 19
To cite this article: Vaibhav Garg, Shiv Prasad Aggarwal & Prakash Chauhan (2020)
Changes in turbidity along Ganga River using Sentinel-2 satellite data during lockdown
associated with COVID-19, Geomatics, Natural Hazards and Risk, 11:1, 1175-1195, DOI:
10.1080/19475705.2020.1782482
Article views: 17
1. Introduction
Mapping of water quality of inland waters using remote sensing is being carried out
since 1970s, with the launch of Landsat series of satellites (Klemas et al. 1971;
Kritikos et al. 1974; Johnson 1975; Ritchie et al. 1976). Every feature on the surface
of the earth behaves differently on interacting with electromagnetic radiation (EMR).
Based on their spectral response these features are identified in a satellite image. The
slight change in their composition, changes the spectral properties of the feature.
Similarly, many factors affect the spectral response of the water such as time of the
year, sun-elevation angle, the concentration of atmospheric constituents, roughness of
the water, suspended matter, turbidity, depth of water, and submerged or emergent
vegetation (Moore 1980). On simultaneously analyzing the change in composition
and changes in the reflectance properties of the water, the abundance or concentra-
tion of a particular component can qualitatively or sometimes quantitatively be esti-
mated using remote sensing data. It is to be noted that the water quality parameters
that affect its optical properties are generally being studied through remote sensing.
Therefore, the studies are mainly constrained to the estimation of turbidity and
chlorophyll, colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM) concentration (Lim and Choi
2015; Gholizadeh et al. 2016; Trinh et al. 2017; Chander et al. 2019; Luis et al. 2019).
Among all the water quality parameters suspended sediments are the most com-
mon problem in inland waters such as rivers, lakes, and estuaries (Ritchie et al.
1974) . These suspended particles attenuate the light required for aquatic life (Ritchie
et al. 1974; Doxaran et al. 2002; Garg et al. 2017). It is also considered as an indicator
of eutrophication (G€ uttler et al. 2013; Sebastia-Frasquet et al. 2019). Traditionally, the
concentration of these sediments is assessed optically or through gravimetric methods
or laboratory analysis (Pavelsky and Smith 2009). Nowadays, it is measured visually
through Secchi disk depth or directly using the light turbidimeters in the field
(Pavelsky and Smith 2009; Quang et al. 2017). The field measurements are considered
to be more accurate, but, they are both labor-intensive and time-consuming (Pavelsky
and Smith 2009; Quang et al. 2017). However, these measurements are limited to
point information, and the concentration of total suspended particles varies both tem-
porally and spatially (Gholizadeh et al. 2016; Garg et al. 2017). It is reported in the
literature that the three variables turbidity, suspended particulate matter and Secchi
disk depth are closely related (Sebastia-Frasquet et al. 2019).
Turbidity is an important optical property of water, where suspended sediments
scatter the light rather than transmit it along the water column (Sebastia-Frasquet
et al. 2019). The turbidity increases with an increase in the concentration of sus-
pended solids or sediments in water (Ritchie et al. 1976; Garg et al. 2017). Turbidity
enhances the opacity of water, which hampers the aquatic life (G€ uttler et al. 2013;
Quang et al. 2017; Sebastia-Frasquet et al. 2019). It is also mentioned in the literature
that there can be temporal variation in turbidity concentration due to fluctuation in
weather, climate pattern and human activities along the banks (Luis et al. 2019). This
property of water is being mapped for long using remote sensing data as it provides
synoptic coverage of earth at regular temporal time domain. It has been done by ana-
lyzing how suspended sediment concentration change alters the optical properties of
the water column. It has been reported in the literature that the reflectance in visible
region specifically red region increases with increase in sediments in the water or tur-
bidity (Ritchie et al. 1976; Moore 1980; Doxaran et al. 2002; Pavelsky and Smith
2009; Gholizadeh et al. 2016; Garg et al. 2017). It has also been noticed that the
reflectance peak shifts from green to red region of the spectrum (Gholizadeh et al.
2016). It has been mentioned that the concentration of suspended sediments or tur-
bidity shows good relation with the visible region of the spectrum whereas red and
NIR regions are more sensitive towards turbidity (IOCCG 2000; Toming et al. 2016;
Caballero et al. 2019; Sebastia-Frasquet et al. 2019).
Novel Corona Virus (COVID-19) has emerged as a deadliest disease across the
globe (Chauhan and Singh 2020; Paital et al. 2020), which has affected around 210
countries. Considering, its nature and spread, World Health Organization declared it
GEOMATICS, NATURAL HAZARDS AND RISK 1177
as a pandemic (Saadat et al. 2020). To safeguard their countrymen from the pan-
demic, each country declared lockdown time to time in phased manner (Chauhan
and Singh 2020). India had also called the longest ever lockdown in the entire coun-
try in view of the pandemic. Studies reported that the environmental condition over
major cities has improved in terms of reduction in pollution either water or air across
globe due to the lockdown (Braga et al. 2020; Chauhan and Singh 2020;
Collivignarelli et al. 2020; Dantas et al. 2020; Lal et al. 2020; Li et al. 2020;
Muhammad et al. 2020; Otmani et al. 2020). In India also, it has been reported that
the air quality in the major cities and the water quality of the rivers/water body
improved with the lockdown period (Chauhan and Singh 2020; CPCB 2020; Paital
et al. 2020; Saadat et al. 2020; Yunus et al. 2020). It was also stated that the water of
the rivers such as Ganga and Yumuna passing through major cities is much clear and
their turbidity has reduced. In the present study, an attempt has been made to verify
it using remote sensing data for different stretches of the Ganga River. The temporal
changes in reflectance in visible region bands of the Sentinel-2 data and normalized
difference turbidity index (NDTI) have been analyzed for pre and post-nationwide
lockdown dates. Further, as no field data were available for this time period, the
results are presented in qualitative terms.
3. Methodology
Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, India has declared country-wide lockdown in two
phases from 25 March 2020–14 April 2020, and 15 April 2020– 03 May 2020 (MHA
2020). Because of this, all the industrial activities other than essential were closed,
and people asked to confine themselves in their houses. The lockdown resulted in
minimum disturbance to the nature, especially, the Ganga River (Yunus et al. 2020).
GEOMATICS, NATURAL HAZARDS AND RISK 1179
Figure 1. Location of Ganga River stretches under consideration on Google Earth Image.
1180 V. GARG ET AL.
There was less industrial waste effluent in the water, minimum anthropogenic activ-
ities along its banks due to restricted pilgrim visits, and other activities along its
course (CPCB 2020). It was reported that the water quality, in terms of clarity or tur-
bidity, of the river has improved at many places along its course during this short
time period (CPCB 2020; Yunus et al. 2020). In the present study, an effort has been
made to study it using remote sensing data, as there was no scientific investigation
supporting it. For the analysis, the major cities or cities associated with major pilgrim
activities namely Haridwar, Kanpur, Prayagraj, and Varanasi were identified as study
stretches of the river. The overall methodology adopted to map the changes in turbid-
ity is provided in Figure 2.
RG RNIR
NDWI ¼ (1)
RG þ RNIR
Where RG and RNIR are reflectance in green and NIR bands, respectively. The reason
for considering green and NIR wavelength regions was that water reflects the highest
in the visible region and absorbs all energy in the NIR region of EMR. The value of
NDWI varies from 1 to þ1. The value of more than 0 is theoretically being consid-
ered as water in the NDWI image. However, it is recommended that one should fol-
low a trial and error approach and decide the threshold for water pixels. After
identifying the water pixels, the visible to VNIR bands were masked only for water
GEOMATICS, NATURAL HAZARDS AND RISK 1181
pixels on the respective dates. It has been reported in the literature that the red and
NIR region of EMR is most sensitive to turbidity. Therefore, initially, the change in
reflectance in each visible to NIR wavelength bands was studied.
1182 V. GARG ET AL.
RR RG
NDTI ¼ (2)
RR þ RG
Where RR is the reflectance in the red band. Generally, the reflectance of pure water
is more in green than the red wavelength region. However, it has been reported that
GEOMATICS, NATURAL HAZARDS AND RISK 1183
the red region reflectance increases with an increase in turbidity. Therefore, the red
and green bands were used to enhance the image for turbidity. Initially, the water
pixels were identified as mentioned above, then Eq. (2) was applied using these two
bands to map NDTI. The higher value of turbidity yields a high value of NDTI and
vice versa.
Figure 3. Change reflectance in Visible to NIR bands of Sentinel – 2 due change in turbidity con-
centration on respective dates; (a) Haridwar, (b) Kanpur, (c) Prayagraj, (d) Varanasi.
2020, therefore, the water was relatively clear on 20 March 2020. However, there was
rainfall from 21 to 24 March 2020 of around 2.5 mm in Haridwar, leading to more
turbidity in the water of the Ganga River. That is why, all the bands were showing
high reflectance due to more sediments in the river on 25 March 2020. On the other
hand, there was not much precipitation after 25 March 2020, therefore, the
GEOMATICS, NATURAL HAZARDS AND RISK 1185
Figure 3. Continued.
1186 V. GARG ET AL.
Figure 3. Continued.
reflectance of water reduced throughout in the visible region spectrum bands. Based
on visual interpretation, it can be said that water is less turbid. Again, the pattern of
reflectance or turbidity has changed on 14 April 2020, which might be attributed to
rainfall occurred during 10–11 April 2020. It is inferred that the water quality of the
river water has improved, however, it is affected by the contribution from intermit-
tent rainfall occurred during the lockdown period at Haridwar.
GEOMATICS, NATURAL HAZARDS AND RISK 1187
Figure 3. Continued.
Kanpur is again an important city, known for the textile and leather industry.
Being on the bank of the river, the effluent from these industries reach Ganga River
and pollute its water. A similar approach of monitoring change in reflectance in each
visible to NIR band, as mentioned in the previous section was used. The results of
the analysis are provided in Figure 3b. In the case of the Ganga River stretch at
Kanpur, it can be observed that the water quality of the water has improved continu-
ously till 08 April 2020. It has to be noted that the water in this particular stretch is
1188 V. GARG ET AL.
deeper than the depth at Haridwar stretch considered in the study. Therefore, there
was less interference from bottom surface reflectance. However, the rainfall on 08
April 2020 (Figure 4b), has altered the turbidity on 14 April 2020. There was very lit-
tle change in reflectance in the blue band, whereas, it has slightly reduced in the
green band. That might be attributed to reduced turbidity during the period of ana-
lysis. Again, it can be noticed that the red and NIR regions are more sensitive
towards turbidity.
The river stretch at Sangam, Prayagraj, showed major changes in turbidity. At this
location, Ganga is shallow as compared to the Yamuna and brings more sediments along
with it. Further, heavy pilgrimage activity at this location keeps water turbid. As Kanpur
and Prayagraj are not very far away from each other, the rainfall pattern is almost simi-
lar. There was no rainfall from 24 March–08 April 2020, in the region. Therefore, the
reduction in reflectance or in other terms ‘turbidity’ was very well analyzed. Yamuna
River, as it is deep at this location, some changes, that is, reduction in reflectance, even
in the blue region were observed (Figure 3c). This might have occurred due to less sus-
pended sediments yielding less scattering or reflectance. Further, there was less effect of
bottom reflectance in the analysis. Even after the confluence, where the river is deeper, it
showed a reduction in reflectance in this particular band. Similar results were found in
the green band. Again, with the help of red and NIR most sensitive bands, one can easily
make out the concentration of turbidity qualitatively. It was noticed that the turbidity at
Sangam was continuously low as compared to the condition before lockdown. However,
the rainfall of 08 April 2020 (Figure 4c), has changed the turbidity condition.
The analysis at river stretch near Varanasi, again showed continuous lowering of tur-
bidity, as reflectance throughout the visible and NIR region has reduced till 08 April 2020
(Figure 3d). It must be noted that the depth of water at this stretch is also deep as com-
pared to Haridwar. Figure 3d depicted that there was a significant reduction in reflectance
of the blue band, after the start of the lockdown. However, pixel-wise better spatial vari-
ation of turbidity can be studied in longer wavelengths, that is, red and NIR. Again the
rainfall on 08 April 2020 (Figure 4d), in the city has altered the turbidity variation.
The study elicited that the red and NIR regions of the spectrum are more sensitive
towards suspended sediments or the turbidity, and are in the line of findings reported
in the literature. Moreover, these bands have less interference from the bottom. The
results of Haridwar upstream Bhimgoda Barrage, Kanpur, the Yamuna at Prayagraj,
and Varanasi support this statement. However, for shallow water (2–5 m depth), it is
suggested to use the NIR band for inferring about turbidity concentration. Further,
the most appropriate band for turbidity mapping using Sentinel-2 is ‘red edge’ with
705 nm wavelength (Liu et al. 2017; Caballero et al. 2019; Sebastia-Frasquet et al.
2019). Further, the turbidity concentration is affected by the precipitation in the
region, therefore, it is recommended to analyze precipitation data before reaching a
conclusion on change in turbidity.
Figure 4. Rainfall at each location during 15 March–15 April 2020 (Source: India - Water Resources
Information System, India-WRIS: http://indiawris.gov.in/wris/#/ … accessed on 23 April 2020).
information for turbidity estimation is not always advisable (Kuhn et al. 2019;
Pahlevan et al. 2019). It is suggested to blend approaches that use different algorithms
at different reflectance ranges to map water quality parameters using remote sensing
data such as turbidity (Hu et al. 2012). Tassan (1997) suggested the use of green and
red band reflectance to estimate variable suspended sediment concentration in the
stratified water column. Therefore, later the results were validated through mapping
of NDTI, which is a normalized ratio of red and green band reflectance as given in
Eq. (2), of each date at each location as shown in Figure 5. At Haridwar, it is perceiv-
able that the turbidity was low almost every day after the lockdown started. However,
intermittent rainfall has changed the turbidity pattern in-between. It was observed
that the flow has also increased due to rainfall in the region. The results of Kanpur
are much better than Haridwar, as rainfall was less in this stretch. At Kanpur, it was
noticed that the turbidity has reduced continuously during the lockdown period. The
Yamuna River at Sangam, Prayagraj was showing uniform low turbidity, however, the
impact of lockdown are evident on Ganga River water. Even after the intermittent
rainfall, the water in the Ganga River stretch at Sangam is less turbid then ever
before. At this location also the flow has increased after the rainfall. It should be
noted that the Ganga River water is shallow here than the Yamuna River. The results
of NDTI are much better than the single-band approach in shallow water stretches
due to the normalization of band reflectance.
Varanasi is another stretch where the water is comparatively deeper. The NDTI
analysis at this location showed a consistent reduction in turbidity with the lockdown
time period. The analysis depicted that the NDTI value is consistently low in the
deep water during this period. It signifies that the turbidity has reduced during the
1190 V. GARG ET AL.
Figure 5. The temporal NDTI maps of Ganga River water at each location along with their FCC; (a)
Haridwar, (b) Kanpur, (c) Prayagraj, (d) Varanasi.
period of analysis. Based on the finding, it can be deduced that in the absence of
ground observed data, remote sensing approach can be used for preliminary estimates
on water quality. The present study focused on turbidity concentration, however, the
other optical properties of water can also be analyzed.
GEOMATICS, NATURAL HAZARDS AND RISK 1191
Figure 5. Continued.
1192 V. GARG ET AL.
5. Conclusions
Turbidity is an important optical property of water that reduces the energy required for
aquatic growth. It has been reported that the water quality of Ganga River has improved
in terms of clarity due to recent Nationwide lockdown from 25 March–14 April 2020
(Phase-I) in India due to COVID-19. In the present study, the spatial and temporal
change in turbidity have been analyzed along the Ganga River during the said period
purely through remote sensing. The most attractive pilgrimage stretches of Ganga River
i.e., Haridwar, Kanpur, Prayagraj, and Varanasi were selected in this study. Initially, the
change in turbidity has been analyzed in terms of change in reflectance in the visible and
NIR region of Sentinel-2A/B data. It has been reported in the literature that with the
increase in turbidity the reflectance in visible region increases and vice versa. Similar
results were found in the present study, the temporal change study showed that reflect-
ance in each visible to NIR region has reduced, which might be attributed to a reduction
in turbidity in the water of the river. The blue and green bands could not map the spatial
heterogeneity in the turbidity variation due to interference from the bottom. However, a
slight reduction in reflectance or turbidity, even in these bands, could be seen in the
deep water. It was noticed that red and NIR bands are more sensitive towards turbidity
estimation. The deep water absorbs almost all the energy incident upon it, however, due
to the presence of suspended matters some energy reflects in these regions of the spec-
trum. These bands are very useful to quantitatively estimate the turbidity in the absence
of field observed data for optically deep water. However, it was also observed that the
small amount of precipitation can bring large sediments in the river and change in tur-
bidity immediately. Further, the results were verified through the NDTI band ratio tech-
nique. The analysis also confirmed that the turbidity has reduced during the lockdown
period. The main reason for the reduction in turbidity in the river, might be less effluent
generation and discharge into the river. Further, the activities of pilgrimage along the
river were below the minimum during this period of lockdown. It was realized that the
spatial water quality information can be generated using the remote sensing approach,
which is much better than field-based point information. It is well proven that remote
sensing can provide preliminary qualitative estimates of turbidity, however, it is always
recommended to verify the results through observed turbidity values. Therefore, the
retrieved turbidity through remote sensing approach required verification, which may
be conducted once the lockdown will be over. Further, the accuracy of the remote sens-
ing approach for water quality studies may be improved with very high spatial, spectral,
and temporal resolution datasets, especially for river water.
Disclosure statement
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
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