Thermal Infrared Remote Sensing of Water Temperature in Riverine Landscapes - Fluvial Remote Sensing for Science and Management - page 83

5

Thermal Infrared Remote
Sensing of Water Temperature
in Riverine Landscapes

Rebecca N. Handcock 1 , Christian E. Torgersen 2 ,
Keith A. Cherkauer 3 , Alan R. Gillespie 4 , Klement Tockner 5 ,
Russel N. Faux 6 and Jing Tan 3
1 Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, Floreat,
WA, Australia
2 U.S. Geological Survey, Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center, School of
Environmental and Forest Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
3 Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, Purdue University,
West Lafayette, IN, USA
4 Department of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle,
WA, USA
5 Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries and Institute of
Biology, Freie Universitat Berlin, Germany
6 Watershed Sciences, Inc., Corvallis, OR, USA

standards to identify specific temperature criteria to pro-
tect coldwater fishes (Environmental Protection Agency,
2003). Trout and salmon can survive in cool-water refugia
even when temperatures at other measurement locations
are at or above the recommended maximums (Ebersole
et al., 2001; Baird and Krueger, 2003; High et al., 2006).
Spatially extensive measurements of water temperature
are necessary to locate these refugia, to identify the
location of ground- and surface-water inputs to the river
channel, and to identify thermal pollution sources.
Regional assessment of water temperature in streams
and rivers has been limited by sparse sampling in both
space and time. Water temperature has typically been
measured using a network of widely distributed in-
stream gages, which record the temporal change of the

5.1 Introduction

Water temperature in riverine landscapes is an important
regional indicator of water quality that is influenced by
both ground- and surface-water inputs, and indirectly by
land use in the surrounding watershed (Brown and Kry-
gier, 1970; Beschta et al., 1987; Chen et al., 1998; Poole and
Berman, 2001). Coldwater fishes such as salmon and trout
are sensitive to elevated water temperature; therefore,
water temperature must meet management guidelines
and quality standards, which aim to create a healthy
environment for endangered populations (McCullough
et al., 2009). For example, in the USA, the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) has established water quality