Ocean Colour (OC) is the variable for the monitoring of eutrophication in coastal waters accessible to remote sensing. Access to reliable OC data is crucial to increase spatial coverage and frequency of observations in order to match requirements of the EU Water Framework Directive and the upcoming Marine Strategy Framework Directive, without large economic cost.
OC from coastal waters has been studied under the umbrella of the ‘Information System on the Eutrophication of our Coastal Areas ‘ (ISECA) of INTERREG IVA 2 Seas. The ISECA project intended to improve the ocean-colour products in general, and European Space Agency (ESA) - MERIS satellite products in particular, to a standard useful for monitoring coastal eutrophication. Over a three-year period, the ISECA project scientists and collaborators have been working on the development, validation and selection of algorithms for processing ocean-colour images in coastal waters and make them accessible to monitoring agencies and policy makers.
It was also the goal of the project to improve the interactions between the ocean-colour specialists and the user community, especially monitoring agencies, policy advisors and policy makers. As part of this process, we carried out a survey to evaluate how well ocean-colour products meet the needs of eutrophication monitoring agencies currently, and to establish what the priorities are to enhance user engagement. Your response is important: you can help shape ocean-colour research and applications for eutrophication studies.
The questionnaire was officially closed in September 2012. However, stakeholders are welcomed to express their views, which will be taken into account in the final version of the project report in order to validate the choices we made in ISECA or to propose new recommendations for future projects. Click here to participate.