Department Surface Waters - Research and Management

As part of the European Copernicus program and preparatory projects, various historical and recent global water quality indicators are being derived from Earth observation satellite data. The data are freely accessible and, depending on the source, comprise up to ten biophysical parameters or more than a thousand lakes. The data are mainly based on ENVISAT (2002-2012) and the Sentinel satellites (since 2015), and cover the corresponding periods. Satellite Earth observation data are characterized by consistent global quality and are the first accessible source of information for many regions.

We facilitate the evaluation of such global datasets regarding the issues of and in cooperation with different scientists of Eawag and other institutions. On the one hand, the focus is on the recognition and interpretation of global developments in connection with land use and climate change, and on the other, the support of lake-specific investigations with synoptic observations.