Discrimination of Coastal Sediments around Qatar Peninsula, Using Remote Sensing Techniques

Abstract

This paper aims at demonstrating the usedfulness of remote sensing techniques in identifying various types of coastal sediments around Qatar Peninusla. In this respect, Landsat-Thematic mapper (TM) multispectral data provide a valuable tool to detemine spectaral differences, applicalbe to discriminate coastal sediments, based on their physical characteristics, mineralogical constituents and chemical composition. Preprocessing of the Landsat-TM row dara was first perfourmed for rdiometric and geometric corrections. This was followed by various image processing techniques including diffemt enchancement methods, categorizations and various combinations of spectral bands. Ground-truth information was collected from some selected areas along the coastal zone, where reflectance was measuerd in the field. Some of these data were statistically used as training sets for categorization and map prepartion thuough digital image processing. The study revealed that the use of a three-band combination of Landsat-TM data, including a visible band; near and middle infrared (IR), provides the best discrimintaion of coastal sediments. The applied technique can be most valuable particularly in areas where the sediments show good exposusers with some gentle topography.