Abstract:In this study, models estimating water chlorophyll-a concentration have been proposed and calibrated, based on the regression analysis between HJ-1 satellite CCD images and synchronous in-situ water quality monitoring data, ranging from September to December in 2008 on Taihu, Jiangsu Province. The red and near infrared bands of HJ-1A and 1B CCD data, with central wavelength at 660 nm and 830 nm respectively, have shown to be sensitive to the chlorophyll-a concentration. Three models has been built and validated. The results illustrate the high potentials of the models to estimate chlorophyll-a concentration in inland waters for operational applications from satellite HJ-1 satellite CCD data, which will be of immense value for environment monitoring. Among the three models been proposed, the one based on index R830/R660 has the highest estimation precision, 6.04mg/m3. This model has been applied to eight images of HJ-1 satellite CCD, generating chlorophyll-a concentration distributions from May to December 2009.