Cooperation Unit - Timorese Academic Journal of Science & Technology

Abstract: Many past environmental data had been lost or not recorded during the periods of confusion in Timor-Leste. We analyze the anthropogenic influence on coastal water pollution using satellite remote sensing data during the period of 1986 to 2015 in Dili. Population change could be estimated using building and residential area change detected by Landsat data. Although Chlorophyll concentration could not be determined by using satellite data, we found that seaweed cover in the coastal area could be a substitute of Chlorophyll. Our analysis showed that population increase had positive relationship with seaweed cover increase, which means coastal area of Dili had been suffering eutrophication problem caused by increasing population. Appropriate wastewater treatment is required to stop the pollution.

Keywords: Dili, coastal pollution, remote sensing, land use, chlorophyll, seaweed