Bathymetry Using Thematic Mapper Imagery

Remotely sensed bathymetry in the vicinity of Vieques Island and Key West, Florida is performed using Landsat Thematic Mapper imagery and a multiband model. Previous bathymetric algorithms using a single band or a ratio of bands assumed a constant bottom reflectance and thus required a bottom-type classification to isolate areas of uniform reflectance. The multiband model described in this paper does not require homogenous bottom-types and yields somewhat improved results over older methods. Depths to 16 m are measured with RMS residuals of less than 2 m. Results using other algorithms will be compared to the results from the multiband model.