“By creating we think, by living we learn” Patrick Geddes
In this project the long remote sensing archive available in the Dundee Satellite Receiving Station (DSRS), based at Dundee University, is exploited to study lakes in wide spatial and temporal scales. The study sites are situated across Europe and are large lakes that encompass a wide range of ecological characteristics. The aim is to validate remote sensing estimations of three key water quality parameters (i.e. temperature, turbidity and chlorophyll a) in a few lakes using an extensive dataset of field data collected by Hydrological Institutes, Universities and Environmental Agencies across Europe; the access to which was granted to the researcher. For the estimation of the three parameters operational algorithms developed for Case I waters are used, but also models suggested in the published literature that were developed for Case II waters. The optimum algorithms will then be used to the entire set of 25 lake sites to map water quality and check for patterns within the individual sites, but also check for interregional trends possibly related to climate variability and other factors that may affect lake ecology. In the end, the merits and limitations in terms of the environmental and operational character of the application are specified, and thus, provide a reference for future assessments of the ecological characteristics of temperate lakes.
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