This study is part of ongoing research efforts aimed to developing Earth Observation (EO) strategies towards the implementation of the Water Framework Directive (WFD), ensuring systematic monitoring of water quality in the largest lakes of the Subalpine ecoregion (northern Italy). To the aim the Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) Full resolution (FR) data offer an excellent choice. ...

Accurate monitoring of land surface dynamics using remote sensing is essential for the synoptic assessment of environmental change. We assessed a Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) full resolution dataset for vegetation monitoring as an alternative to the more commonly used Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data. Time series of vegetation indices calculated from ...

In order to complement present water quality monitoring of large lakes, we have attempted to make use of satellite imagery. In addition to ocean color sensors SeaWiFS and MODIS, lately MERIS images also became available. Here we analyze 18 almost cloud free full resolution atmospherically corrected MERIS images over the large European lakes Vättern, Vänern and Peipsi, where water type ranges fr...

The objective of this work is to evaluate the use of the Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) data for seasonal snow cover monitoring specifically in the boreal forest belt. For this purpose, we tuned an existing method for fractional snow cover mapping in order to produce snow maps from MERIS imagery. The method was originally developed at the Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE), wh...

In-situ data of optically active water constituents and their inherent optical properties were collected during a four-week field cruise in Namibian coastal waters and Atlantic Ocean to validate MERIS geophysical products. The in-situ data set covered a wide range of different water types from very productive coastal upwelling waters to clear open ocean waters where the water color varied from ...

One of the objectives of the ENVISAT project AO-164 on “Environmental Research in the Eastern Alps” is the development of algorithms for retrieval of water quality parameters of lakes from MERIS data. In order to test and validate atmospheric correction algorithms and to provide basic data for the development of algorithms for retrieval of limnological parameters and aerosol loadings, several f...

Relationships between satellite-derived water quality variables and river discharges, concentrations and loads of nutrients, organic carbon, and sediments were investigated over a 9-year period (2003–2011) in Pensacola Bay, Florida, USA. These analyses were conducted to better understand which river forcing factors were the primary drivers of estuarine variability in several water quality varia...

MERIS on Envisat delivers imaging spectroscopy data at 300m spatial resolution. MERIS has demonstrated its great potential for regional and global land cover mapping. This paper illustrates that the combination of the spatial, spectral, and temporal dimensions of MERIS has, in addition, the potential to retrieve sub-pixel land cover composition. Three MERIS FR Level 1b scenes acquired over The ...

A methodology is described for the validation of Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) Terrestrial Chlorophyll Index (MTCI) data over heterogeneous land surfaces in an agricultural region in Southern Italy. The approach involves the use inverse canopy reflectance modeling techniques to derive maps of canopy chlorophyll content (CCC) and leaf area index (LAI) at fine spatial resolution....