Abstract: An experimental work on water depth surveying in the Nantong section of the Yangtze River was carried out by using satellite remote sensing multi-spectral technique. On the basis of the analysis on the mechanism of remote sensing in water depth surveying,a digital model of the water depth surveying in the riverbed of the section was set up by calculating quasi 2synchronous remote sensing spectral data and channel sounding data,and inverted the water depth maps from landsat TM data in 1984,1994 and 1998. The result inverted shows that the landsat TM data have some efficiencies in measuring shallow water depth in such a high sediment discharge riverbed.