Global Water Quality Maps

Many satellite systems monitor global water quality. The following maps display 13 different data sets in “RealEarth.” RealEarth is a web-mapping visualization platform developed at the Space Science and Engineering Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison that automates ingest and display of time series satellite data and makes it available in GIS formats. The following web maps are embedded here with the number of products in each set following in parentheses. Click the titles to jump to each map.   Watch the Recent GEO AquaWatch Webinar and Demonstration by Dr. Sam Batzli.

NOAA Multi-Sensor Gap-filled (3-products)

Copernicus Global Land Service (3-products)

CCI Ocean Color Daily Satellite Observations (1-product)

CEDA Archive of Lake Observations for CCI (6-products)

NOAA Multi-Sensor Gap-filled

The NOAA MSL12 multi-sensor DINEOF global gap-filled collection includes Chlorophyll-a, suspended particulate matter (SPM), and diffuse attenuation coefficient 490 nm Kd(490). These global gap-free data are generated using the data interpolating empirical orthogonal function (DINEOF) method (Liu and Wang, 2022). The data that go into this product currently come from 3 instruments: the VIIRS sensor aboard the SNPP satellite and the NOAA-20 satellite plus the Ocean and Land Colour Instrument (OLCI) on the Sentinel 3A satellite from the Copernicus program of the European Union. Back to Top

The Copernicus Global Land Service

The Copernicus Global Land Service – Lake Water products include an optical characterization of ~4000 of the world”s largest inland water bodies from observations by Sentinel-3 OLCI (Ocean and Land Color Instrument). Production and delivery of the parameters are over 10-day intervals starting the 1st, 11th and 21st day of each month and mapped to a common global grid at 300m resolution. The turbidity of a lake describes water clarity, or whether sunlight can penetrate deeper parts of the lake. Turbidity often varies seasonally, both with the discharge of rivers and growth of phytoplankton (algae and cyanobacteria). Back to Top

CCI Ocean Color Daily Satellite Observations

The map below displays CCI Ocean Color 2020-2021: Daily Satellite observations of ocean color from the ESA Ocean Color Climate Change Initiative project. Click the little clock face next to the product date in the table of contents for a list of other times to select. It’s a long list, so visit the RealEarth product list for an additional option. Back to Top

CEDA Archive of Lake Observations for CCI

The CEDA Archive forms part of NERC”s Environmental Data Service (EDS) and is responsible for looking after data from atmospheric and earth observation research. Data generated in the Lakes CCI project is derived from data from multiple instruments and multiple satellites. Merged inputs for the Chla product come from the following platforms (with sensors noted): Envisat (Meris), Sentinel-3 (OLCI A/B), Aqua (MODIS), Suomi-NPP (VIIRS), Orbview-2 (SeaWIFS). Back to Top