Abstract
Dubai has been an example of rapid development in recent years, adversely affecting water quality in the surrounding areas. One such effect is the reoccurring algal bloom (high chlorophyll-a concentration) in Dubai Creek, a coastal lake in Dubai. The objectives of this study were to retrieve chlorophyll-a from Dubai Sat-1 imagery and to further investigate its relationship to different nutrients in the creek. Spectral models of chlorophyll-a were developed from two DubaiSat-1 images acquired in 2010 and 2011. The models showed high correlation (R-squared values of 87.7%and 89.1%, respectively) with field water quality data collected at the monitoring stations operated by Dubai Municipality. Exploratory Regression (ER) analysis was then performed in GIS to study the relationship between spectral-based chlorophyll-a and nutrients. Although the ER nalysis showed low overall correlation, relatively high R-squared values were obtained at the Sewage Treatment Plant outfall location.