In this article, we show the development of an empirical model applied to the MODIS MYD09 and MOD09 images based on in-situ samples of total suspended solids (TSS) taken in the waters of the Gulf of Urabá (Colombia) between 2011 and 2015. The spatial and temporal variability at the annual and monthly scale of the sediments was analyzed, showing a marked difference during the two climatic seasons (of rain and drought) both in the concentration and in the direction of the sedimentation plume. The best model applied to the images for the recovery of the TSS was the polynomial functional form of grade 3 that relates the sedimentation with the reflectance of band 2 applied in the MYD09 images. Among the results obtained, it is found that there are annual average values higher than 100mgL-1 in El Rotico Bay due to the contributions given by the Atrato River in the El Roto mouth and high sediment concentration in Bahia Colombia during the first quarter of the year mostly because of the direction of the winds. The research allows us to show the benefits of digital image processing to retrieve ocean color data such as sedimentation, in order to obtain relevant results that allow an analysis of the sedimentation flows within the gulf, especially because it is constituted a place of ecological importance for its great marine biodiversity and where knowledge of the dynamics and concentration of sediments is scarce.
Durán et al. (Tue,) studied this question.