Preprint Article Version 1 Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed

Water Quality of Eastern Mediterranean Catchments Subject to Different Environmental Pressures Employing Autonomous Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USVs)

Georgios Katsouras
* ORCID logo ,
Elias Dimitriou
ORCID logo ,
Sotirios Karavoltsos
ORCID logo ,
Stylianos Samios
,
Aikaterini Sakellari
,
Angeliki Mentzafou
ORCID logo ,
Nikolaos Tsalas
,
Michael Scoullos
Version 1 : Received: 19 February 2024 / Approved: 20 February 2024 / Online: 20 February 2024 (11:49:48 CET)

How to cite: Katsouras, G.; Dimitriou, E.; Karavoltsos, S.; Samios, S.; Sakellari, A.; Mentzafou, A.; Tsalas, N.; Scoullos, M. Water Quality of Eastern Mediterranean Catchments Subject to Different Environmental Pressures Employing Autonomous Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USVs). Preprints 2024, 2024021125. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202402.1125.v1 Katsouras, G.; Dimitriou, E.; Karavoltsos, S.; Samios, S.; Sakellari, A.; Mentzafou, A.; Tsalas, N.; Scoullos, M. Water Quality of Eastern Mediterranean Catchments Subject to Different Environmental Pressures Employing Autonomous Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USVs). Preprints 2024, 2024021125. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202402.1125.v1

Abstract

Environmental monitoring programs rely on periodic spot sampling at specific locations, followed by laboratory analysis, aiming at the evaluation of water quality at a catchment scale. For this purpose, automatic telemetric stations for specific parameters have been installed by the Institute of Marine Biological Resources and Inland Waters of Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (IMBRIW-HCMR) within several Greek rivers and lakes, providing continuous and temporal monitoring possibilities. Nevertheless, the employment of unmanned surface vehicles (USV) equipped with integrated sensors represents a tool valuable to several monitoring strategies, offering enhanced temporal and spatial coverage over specific timeframes, allowing for targeted examination of sites or events of interest. The USVs have been deployed by Athens Water and Sewerage Company (EYDAP) as a cost-effective tool for the environmental monitoring of surface water bodies of interest, with emphasis on the spatial fluctuations of chlorophyllα, electrical conductivity, dissolved oxygen and pH, observed in Koumoundourou Lake and rivers Acheloos, Asopos and Kifissos. The effectiveness of an innovative heavy metal (HM) system installed in the USV for thein situ determination of copper and lead was also evaluated herewith. The results obtained demonstrate that both the timely detection of potential pollution from both anthropogenic activities and natural processes as well as the monitoring of inland waters are made feasible through the employment of USV.

Keywords

remote sensing; water quality; autonomous USV; inland and coastal waters; telemetric stations

Subject

Environmental and Earth Sciences, Remote Sensing

Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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