Surface waters are generally viewed as a hydrologic continuum, flowing from inland water sources through estuaries to the open oceans. The GEO Working Group on Earth Observations of Inland and Near-Coastal Waters (WA-01-C4) has organised the Water Quality Summit in Geneva 20-22nd April 2015 with the aim of charting the future of earth observation and in situ measurements based global water quality monitoring and forecasting systems. The relationship to GEO Blue Planet lies in the coastal zone. There is a crucial need for timely, accurate, and widespread assessment and monitoring and forecasting of inland and near-coastal water quality. However, existing measurement and forecasting capabilities have significant logistical, technical, and economic challenges and constraints, impacting both developed and developing nations. This summit was endorsed by GEO as a part of the water quality task (WA-01-C4) and the GEOSS Water Strategy with the mission to deliver, on a routine and sustained basis, timely, consistent, accurate and fit-for -purpose water quality data products and information to support water resource management and decision making in coastal and inland waters. The Summit goal is to define specific requirements of the water quality system components and develop a plan to implement integrated global end-to-end water quality monitoring and forecasting service. We present the results of this meeting: Development of a strategic implementation and a phased action plan including baseline and threshold service build-outs, with both a short-term and a long-term plan for a global-scale water quality monitoring and forecasting service. Some feedback will be given on the CEOS–GEOSS Water Strategy Implementation plan as well as other international related activities.

1. GEO Water Strategy and Blue Planet Linkages
EARTH OBSERVATION INFORMATICS FUTURE SCIENCE PLATFORM
Arnold Dekker , Paul DiGiacomo and Stephen Greb (and many others)
Earth Observation & Informatics
Blue Planet, Cairns, May 2015

2. The GEO Global Water Quality Community and Blue Planet (should)
interface in the freshwater-tidal-coastal zone:
(GEO focus)
Applications (atmospheric correction, algorithms, L2, L3 and L4
products such as eutrophication index, catchment to coast
modelling etc)
(CEOS-GEO focus)
Earth Observing Sensors
(CEOS focus)

3. Ocean Optics XXII, Portland, Maine, October 2014
Ocean Colour Applications in Inland Waters: Mission Requirements
Stewart Bernard, Mark Matthews, Derek Griffith, Lisl Robertson, Michel Verstraete, Carsten Brockmann,
Daniel Odermatt, Steven Greb, Paul DiGiacomo, Arnold Dekker & Blake Schaeffer

4. The Bigger Picture: The Economic Costs of Declining Water Quality
In freshwater systems, potential total eutrophication-related losses in the United
States are estimated at up to US$4.6 billion annually (Dodds et al, 2009).
The 1998 season of cyanobacterial blooms in the Lake Tai catchment (China)
resulted in estimated economic losses of US$6.5 billion (Le et al., 2010);
Annual costs of freshwater algal blooms in Australia were estimated at ±A$200
million in 2000 (Atech, 2000),
Annual eutrophication costs in the United Kingdom estimated at ±US$150 million
(Pretty et al., 2003) and in South Africa at ±US$250 million (Frost and Sullivan,
2010).
Global economic losses due to pollution, eutrophication and declining water quality
have been estimated at ± US$6 - 10 billion (OECD 2012)
Taking a typical Value of Information estimate of maximum 1% (Macauley, 2006) of
the value of the “resource” – in this case eutrophication related economic loss, a
global Water Quality observation system could be valued at up to ± US$50 - 100
million….

5. Where inland/fresh waters are mentioned in Blue Planet Docs:
Blue Planet Symposium, Brazil - 2012: Session 2: GEO Global Inland Water Quality
Information Service –Tiit Kutser:
• Lakes are optically more complex than oceans, therefore the development of
specific sensors is needed. Another issue is that lakes are considered more of a
national problem than an international one…..It is important to consider how best
to integrate the Blue Planet and Water Task within GEO………
Blue Planet White paper P 15 :
• ....factors that contribute to the added value of the Blue Planet are that it:
• Provides new platforms to demonstrate importance of sustained in situ and
satellite observations of marine and freshwater environments, and the value of
integrating these with models;
Oceans and Society: Blue Planet Book 2014 Website main page:
• Blue Planet ....discussed issues including: coordination of, and information access
from, global ocean observing systems for open ocean, coastal and inland
ecosystems; operational ocean forecasting; applications of observations for
sustainable fishery and aquaculture; and capacity building.

6. But where are inland/freshwaters in the Blue Planet
workplan..........................
The Blue Planet is divided into six components. They are:
• C1: Sustained Ocean Observations
• C2: Sustained Ecosystems and Food Security
• C3: Ocean Forecasting and Services
• C4: Services for the Coastal Zone
• C5: Ocean Climate and Carbon
• C6: Developing Capacity and Social Awareness

7. GEO Water Quality Summit
Geneva 20-22nd April 2015
• The GEO Working Group on Earth Observations of Inland and
Near-Coastal Waters (WA-01-C4) organised the Water Quality
Summit in Geneva 20-22nd April 2015
• This summit was endorsed by GEO as a part of the GEOSS Water
Strategy with the mission to deliver, on a routine and sustained
basis, timely, consistent, accurate and fit-for -purpose water
quality data products and information to support water resource
management and decision making in coastal and inland waters.
• The relationship to GEO Blue Planet lies in the freshwater -
estuarine -coastal zone

8. GEO Water Quality Summit
Geneva 20-22nd April 2015 Draft Outcomes
• Define specific requirements of the water quality system
components and develop a strategic implementation and a phased
action plan including baseline and threshold service build-outs,
with both a short-term and a long-term plan for a global-scale
water quality monitoring and forecasting service.
• Some feedback will be given on the CEOS–GEOSS Water Strategy
Implementation plan as well as other international related
activities.

9. MODIS Jan 2007 – River flood plumes – Great Barrier Reef
Princess Charlotte Bay
Reef structure
Clouds
Plume boundary

10. MODIS Jan 2007 – River flood plumes – Great Barrier Reef
Clouds
Reef structure
Plume boundary

11. The GEO Global Water Quality Community and Blue Planet (should)
interface in the freshwater-tidal-coastal zone:
(GEO focus)
Applications (atmospheric correction, algorithms, L2, L3 and L4
products such as eutrophication index, catchment to coast
modelling etc)
(CEOS-GEO focus)
Earth Observing Sensors
(CEOS focus)

12. Wet season Nov 2009 – Apr 2010
Maximum CDOM absorptionBurdekin
Mackay
Fitzroy

13. Whole GBR:
2002/03-2009/10
(Schroeder et al., 2012, Mar.
Poll. Bull.)

14. Why eReefs?
Cedric Robillot [crobillot@barrierreef.org]

17. Ecological Risk Assessment

18. Ecological Risk Assessment

19. The GEO Global Water Quality Community and Blue Planet (should)
interface in the freshwater-tidal-coastal zone:
(GEO focus)
Applications (atmospheric correction, algorithms, L2, L3 and L4
products such as eutrophication index, catchment to coast
modelling etc)
(CEOS-GEO focus)
Earth Observing Sensors
(CEOS focus)

20. Contents
Earth Observing Sensors (CEOS focus)
1. Are terrestrial sensors relevant and appropriate?
2. Are ocean colour sensor relevant and appropriate?
3. Should there be dedicated EO sensors for inland, estuarine, deltaic,
lagoonal, coral waters for water quality, bathymetry, macrophyte,
seagrass, macro-algae , benthic micro-algae coral & coral bleaching

21. GOESS Water Strategy recommendation to CEOS:
C10: A feasibility assessment should be undertaken to
determine the benefits and technological difficulties of
designing a hyperspectral satellite mission focused on water
quality measurements.

22. Water quality signals in spectral reflectance
Phycocyanins
Chlorophyll
Suspended
Solids
Suspended
Solids
Colored
dissolved
organic matter

23. Water quality signals in spectral reflectance
Phycocyanins
Chlorophyll
Suspended
Solids
Suspended
Solids
Colored
dissolved
organic matter

24. Landsat series, Sentinel 2 series
• With 2 extra spectral bands ( e.g. centred at 625 nm and at 676
nm) both Landsat and Sentinel-2 would be excellent inland-
estuarine-near coastal water sensors
Costs to increase spectral bands/ resolution: marginal compared to
whole of mission costs

25. EO-resolvable water bodies in Australia
Dekker & Hestir 2012, CSIRO
EO data now available at pixel sizes of 2 to 300 meters
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
30 m 60 m 250 m
Percentofareaofwaterbodies
Percentofnumberwaterbodies
Pixel Size
Continental Australia
Count of water bodies Area of water bodies
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
30 60 250
Percentofnumberofwaterbodies
Pixel Size
watercourses
lakes
storages
floodplains

26. Italian lakes Of the Mediterranean countries Italy has the
highest number of lakes
Lakes with a surface >
0.5 km2 need to be
monitored according to
the European rules
(WFD EC 2000/60)
Garda Maggiore Como Trasimeno
Surface 370 km² 212 km² 145 km² 128 km²
0
20
40
60
80
100
5 10 20 30 60 90 300 1000
%ofmappableItalianlakes
Pixel size (m)
RapidEye
Sentinel-2
Sentinel-2
PRISMA_Multisp
HyspIRI
HICO
Sentinel-3(MERIS)
MODIS
In Italy there 457 lakes
within the WFD frame

27. Ocean Colour /SST Sensors:
• Spatial resolution: going from 1 km pixels to 300-250 m pixels ( S-3
and SGLI) to 100 m to 30 m pixels would make ocean colour
sensors (with sufficient 550 nm to 720 nm bands) excellent for
inland-estuarine-near coastal waters:
• Covering approximately resp., : 2%, 10%, 50%, 90% of inland ,
estuarine, delta’s, lagoonal and near coastal and coral reef waters.
Costs to increase (some) spatial resolution: marginal compared to
whole of mission costs

28. GOESS Water Strategy recommendation to CEOS:
C10: A feasibility assessment should be undertaken to determine the benefits and
technological difficulties of designing a hyperspectral satellite mission focused on
water quality measurements.
:Draft CEOS response (to be edited and confirmed by CEOS):
A feasibility assessment should be undertaken to
1. determine the benefits and technological difficulties of designing a hyperspectral
satellite mission focused on inland, estuarine, deltaic and near coastal waters as
well as mapping macrophytes, macro-algae, seagrasses and coral reefs at
significantly higher spatial resolution than 250 m.
2. Assess possibility of augmenting designs of spaceborne sensors for terrestrial
and ocean colour applications to allow improved inland, near coastal waters and
benthic applications by e.g. establishing threshold and baseline requirements to
adapt these sensors so they add this relevant application area to their mission
designs.
3. CEOS also recommends to commence the process of defining inland and near-
coastal and benthic habitat essential (climate)(environmental) variables.

29. Earth Observation Informatics FSP
Dr Arnold Dekker
t +61 (0)419411338
E arnold.dekker@csiro.au
w www.csiro.au
‘
Let us make sure we link GEO Global Water with GEO Blue
Planet and advise/advocate to CEOS to ensure fit-for-
purpose earth observation sensors for both !