Effect of land reclamation on water using remote sensing techniques, Penang Island

Land reclamation plays an important role in urban development by creating new landmass from the oceans for various purposes. This study aimed at combining remote sensing technique and ground instrumentation measurement for the identification of effects of land reclamation on water. Geocoded Landsat 8 and SPOT-6 satellite data were acquired and processed with ENVI and ACOLITE software. A supervised classification was performed to select sample pixels with specific classes of interest in the image. The results showed a great deterioration of water quality around reclaimed land areas. Higher values of turbidity were equally observed in the eastern and western parts on the coastal area where land had been reclaimed as compared to the northern and southern parts that were free of land reclamation.