Sediments inputs, organic matter and dissolved substances carried by rivers are major ocean fertilizers producing a significant impact on coastal adjacent region. The aim of this work was to perform a qualitative characterization of Doce river plume (Espírito Santo), brazilian southeast cost, using orbital data TM Landsat 5 sensor. Doce river regime present high level between November/April and low level between May/October (mean river flow 1296 m3/seg and 525 m3/seg, respectively), following basin rainfall. A set of 9 historic images between 1994-2009 were grouped in high and low river flow. Processing of each image consisted of georeferencing, conversion of digital number for surface reflectance and land and cloud masking. Supervised classification of each image was made considering 4 water types classes: River Plume, Mixed Zone, Other Coastal Waters and Clear Ocean. Areas of each water type were estimated and mean reflectance spectrums were plotted in order to recognize optically active substances (OAS). River Plume and Mixed Zone showed bigger mean areas in dry regime and River Plume was smaller compared to Mixed Zone. However, variability between size areas of such classes was higher when comparing images during low rate cal river regime. In both regimes, reflectance spectrums showed the presence of chlorophyll (phytoplankton) and colored, dissolved, organic substances in River Plume, however at a higher concentration in River Plume than in Mixed Zone. Nonetheless, this analysis did not allow OAS quantification in the River Plume.Pages: 5025-503
