Water Quality Information for the Benefit of Society

Earth Observation of inland and coastal water quality: recent developments, priorities & public engagement

29-31 August 2018, University of Stirling, Stirling, UK

A joint meeting co-organised by GEO AquaWatch & the NERC GloboLakes project

GEO AquaWatch and GloboLakes invite contributions to a workshop from the developer and user communities of Earth Observation (EO) data in inland and coastal environments.

Inland and near-shore coastal environments deliver multiple ecosystem services that benefit society, including food, water, energy, navigation and recreation resources that contribute to our economies, whilst also being crucial to regional and global-scale biogeochemical cycles.   Freshwater availability is ranked among the greatest threat to global economy, and yet only a fraction of global inland water systems are routinely monitored for water quality.

The United Nations development agenda now fully recognises the importance of managing water resources to reach sustainable development goals (SDG 6, and related) and fosters collaboration across countries.  Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) also recently deemed satellite-derived lake temperature, ice cover, and water-leaving reflectance as Essential Climate Variables. Data collection by EO satellites is expanding, and its suitability for observing inland and near-coastal water bodies makes remote sensing a valuable source of water quality data and ecosystem condition at local and global scales. The workshop marks the culmination of the six-year GloboLakes project funded by the UK Natural Environmental Research Council, featuring the latest applications of EO to inland and near-shore coastal waters at local, regional and global scales and contributions to improved water management, climate studies, and achieving SDGs. We will foster discussions of data and technology challenges, linkages between EO data providers and stakeholders, community-based water monitoring, and future GEO AquaWatch activities. The workshop will have presentations from many international projects and partnerships, providing unique opportunity to engage with the international water quality EO community.

Logistics: When: 29-31 August 2018

Where: Stirling UK (~30 miles from Edinburgh airport)

Registration:  Cost of Accommodation and Meals £85 per day

Please Click HERE to register and book and pay accommodation and meal

Deadline to Register: 31^st July 2018.

Organising committee:

Andrew Tyler: University of Stirling, UK

Evangelos Spyrakos: University of Stirling, UK

Steve Greb: GEO AquaWatch, USA

Carsten Brockmann: Brockmann Consult, Germany

Ghada El Serafy: Deltares, Netherlands

Douglas Cripe: GEO Secretariat, Switzerland

Merrie Beth Neely: GEO AquaWatch, USA

Eawag, the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, is an internationally networked aquatic research institute within the ETH Domain (Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology). It conducts research to achieve the dual goals of meeting direct human needs for water and maintaining the function and integrity of aquatic ecosystems.

Highly qualified individuals are invited to apply for a 2-Year Postdoctoral Fellowship to conduct research in any field in the area of aquatic science and technology.    For more information or to apply please click here.