Our virtual workshop on Using Earth Observation for Water Quality Monitoring held on 13 and 14 October 2020 was a tremendous success. Attended by 174 delegates from 19 countries, the event brought together representatives from government, public and private sector organisations, academia, research institutions, and environmental NGOs. Feedback from participants was overwhelmingly positive, with delegates commenting on the high quality of the presentations, the wide range of topics, the useful focus on practical case studies, and how expertly the speakers handled questions.
The workshop was delivered by JNCC as part of our Copernicus Project in order to raise awareness of how Copernicus satellite data can aid water quality monitoring in freshwater, estuarine and marine environments. Case studies demonstrated a range of applications, including seabed mapping, quantifying plastic pollution, detecting eutrophication and toxic algal blooms, tracking oil spills, and helping to predict responses to climate change.
The workshop videos, presentation slides and a list of useful data sources and links are available on the workshop resource page. A report of the workshop will be available later this year.
In conjunction with the workshop, Plymouth Marine Laboratory ran a short online course on how to select, access and process marine EO data made freely available under the Copernicus programme. The video, presentation slides and sample data from the training session delivered by Plymouth Marine Laboratory are available on the training resource page.
Acknowledgements
This event was funded by the Caroline Herschel Framework Partnership Agreement on Copernicus User Uptake. We are grateful to Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, University of Stirling and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency for providing expert input to ensure that the workshop met user needs and covered a wide range of interests.
