Access water quality products for Belgium via Terrascope
Since December 13, 2021 you can access brand new water quality products via our Terrascope services. The products are based on 10-20 m optical Sentinel-2 data, using iCOR atmospheric correction and WorldCover and Idepix for masking of land and clouds.
These quality products are particularly useful in water management programs, like water treatment, aquaculture, recreational use (e.g. bathing), sediment transport modelling, navigability in channels or longevity of dams and reservoirs.
- Turbidity
These data products indicate the relative cloudiness of the water column. It is an optical property of water and a measure for the amount of light scattered by materials in the water column when light is shined through the water sample. The higher the intensity of scattered light the higher the turbidity. Material that causes water to be turbid include clay, silt, very tiny inorganic and organic matter, algae, dissolved coloured organic compounds, plankton and other microscopic organisms.Unit: Formazin Nephelometric Units (FNU) (according to the ISO 7027 method).
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Suspended Particulate matter
Suspended Particulate Matter (SPM) is a term used to describe nano-scale to sand size particles which are suspended in the water column of streams, rivers and lakes. Some particles are present naturally in river water, such as plankton, fine plant debris and minerals (sand, silt or clay) while others stem from human activity (organic and inorganic matter). SPM and turbidity are linked: increased SPM concentrations will increase the water turbidity.Unit: mg l-1 or g m-3
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Chlorophyll- a
The chlorophyll-a data products show the concentration chlorophyll-a, which is a green pigment found in plants, present in the water column. It absorbs sunlight and converts it into sugar during photosynthesis. Chlorophyll-a concentrations are an indicator of phytoplankton abundance and biomass in inland, coastal and estuarine waters.Unit: μg l-1 or mg m-3
Other regions easily available upon request
The Terrascope water quality products are freely available for Belgian coastal and inland water surfaces and can be used by environmental managers, policy-makers, researchers, PhD students, MSc students or companies who want to develop fully customized services.
The data can be accessed through the Terrascope viewer, Virtual Machines, Notebooks, webservers, and also via https://openeo.cloud/.
The automated and operational character of the processing workflow enables data processing of other regions across the world upon request.
