River plumes are responsible for discarding organic matter and inorganic particulate sediment in the adjacent coastal region. According to the kind of optically active constituents and environmental interaction such as winds and precipitation, this discharged material shows distinct spectral response, making possible the acquisition of information through remote sensing. The LISS-III sensor onboard the Indian Resourcesat 1 satellite has similar features such as the Landsat 5 TM sensor, representing a viable alternative for the continuity of many remote sensing applications mainly after Landsat 5 ended operation in 2012. This work aimed to use LISS-III images to characterize the optically active constituents associated with the River Paraiba do Sul plume. As far as we know, this is the first time that LISS-III is used for this kind of research in Brazil. Geographical, radiometric and atmospheric corrections were applied to four LISS-III images and hereafter were classified using the Maximum Likelihood and Linear Spectral Unmixing methods. The results showed that the LISS-III sensor provides useful images to be used to study the water body of the river plume. The resulting classes from the Maximum Likelihood classification were well defined and separated and the Linear Spectral Unmixing method helped to achieve a qualitative description of the spatial distribution of the optically active components. In conclusion, the plume of River Paraiba do Sul is mainly dominated by inorganic suspended particles and chlorophyll-a.Pages: 5353-536
