Earth observation for land-based pollution assessment & monitoring in the Mediterranean coastal waters

MedEOS

Mediterranean coastal water monitoring

MEDEOS is part of the ESA Mediterranean Sea Regional Initiative and it aims to develop and produce high-resolution, gap-free maps of experimental Earth observation water quality products. MedEOS employs data fusion techniques to combine the high temporal resolution of S3-OLCI and high spatial resolution of S2-MSI data. 

Products & Services

Three different families of products are being developed and validated with the user communities:

Earth Observation Direct Derived Water Quality Products

Environmental information derived directly from reflectance measured by satellites, taking advantage of the temporal and spatial resolution improvements provided by fusion of data from Sentinel-2 and Sentinel-3 data.

• Total Suspended Matter (TSM)
• Turbidity
• Chl-a Concentration
• Secchi Depth
• Colored Dissolved Organic Matter (CDOM)

Earth Observation Indirectly Derived Water Quality Products

Key indicators produced by combining different satellite-derived parameters, numerical modelling, in situ measurements, statistical analysis and Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques, specifically tailored for Mediterranean coastal areas

• Faecal bacterial contamination indicators
• Eutrophication indicators
• Global environmental anomaly detection

River Plume Monitoring

Systematic detection of plumes related to major rivers discharging freshwater into the Mediterranean basin based on an algorithm applicable to all MedEOS products which include a signature related to the river or sewer system plumes.

Project Pilot Areas

Five different pilot areas in France, Greece, Spain, Egypt, and Tunisia were selected for the service development and demonstration throughout the Mediterranean region. They exhibit a variety of biogeographical and climatic features, while being influenced by different socioeconomic and political context.

Involvement of the marine community

A strong co-design collaboration with users is envisioned from the early development of solutions, including collection and analysis of requirements in terms of both products and services, and identification of the existing gaps. This engaged user shall also provide access to the information/data necessary to produce and validate the service products and participate in the interpretation, validation and evaluation of the new products and services, helping the consortium to access the adequacy and benefits provided by them from the end-user viewpoint.

Partners

MedEOS consortium is
comprised of 7 partner organizations led by Elecnor DEIMOS:

CERTH
DEIMOS
i-Sea
Murmuration SAS
kartECO
Center Rivages Pro Tech of SUEZ SES
Telespazio France