ABSTRACT
This study aims to review the state of the art on remote sensing for suspended sediments concentration SSC in inland and coastal waters and to outline future perspectives. Interest in remote sensing of SSC is motivated by the environmental and economic and ecological importance of sediment transport in coastal and inland waters. Quantification of SSC in rivers is important in studying the hydrologic, geomorphologic and ecologic functioning of river flood plains and deltas. Applications include the optimization of dredging/dumping operations, assessing the environmental impact of construction activities, understanding geomorphologic change, evaluating fluxes of particulate organic carbon from rivers to the sea, etc. The attractiveness of remote sensing as an information source has increased greatly over the last fifteen years as the new generation of medium resolution satellite sensors (SeaWiFS, MERIS and MODIS) has become available.
