Global Observatory of Lake Responses to Environmental Change (GloboLakes)
Lead Research Organisation:
Plymouth Marine Laboratory
Department Name: Plymouth Marine Lab
Abstract
There are around 304 million lakes globally. These provide essential resources for human survival and are an important component of global biogeochemical cycles. Lakes are also fragile systems that are sensitive to multiple pressures including nutrient enrichment, climate change and hydrological modification, making them important 'sentinels' of environmental perturbation. However, traditional monitoring has only produced data from a tiny fraction of the global population of lakes and disentangling the causes of change requires consistently-produced data from a large number of lakes, along with measurements of possible causes of change. Satellite observations (remote sensing) and the establishment of a global lake observatory would produce a step-change in our ability to detect and attribute the causes of changes in lakes world-wide. This is now possible for three reasons: (1) the improved wavebands, spatial resolution and frequency of data collection from satellite sensors is now sufficient to monitor inland waters; (2) formulae to correct for atmospheric properties and to convert the detected reflected light to useful lake properties have been developed; and (3) computing power has increased to the point that allows near real time and archived information from satellites to be processed. GloboLakes will analyse 20 years of data from more than 1000 large lakes across the globe to determine 'what controls the differential sensitivity of lakes to environmental perturbation'. This is an ambitious project that is only possible by bringing together a consortium of scientists with complementary skills. These include expertise in remote sensing of freshwaters and processing large volumes of satellite images, collation and analysis of large-scale environmental data, environmental statistics and the assessment of data uncertainty, freshwater ecology and mechanisms of environmental change and the ability to produce lake models to forecast future lake conditions. The eight objectives of GloboLakes are to:
(i) develop remote sensing algorithms to estimate lake biogeochemical and physical parameters;
(ii) make these algorithms operational and process satellite data;
(iii) compile integrated spatio-temporal information on climatic and catchment data for >1000 lakes;
(iv) integrate data and assess uncertainty in data sources;
(v) detect spatial and temporal patterns in lake water quality;
(vi) attribute the causes of lake response to environmental conditions;
(vii) forecast lake sensitivity to environmental change;
(viii) apply data to lake management and the monitoring of freshwater resources.
The project will focus on the retrieval of surface water temperature as this has a fundamental effect on lake ecology, the concentration of coloured dissolved organic matter and suspended solids that derive largely from the catchment, the abundance of phytoplankton measured as the concentration of the pigment, chlorophyll a, and the abundance of cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) that can potentially be toxic. Knowledge of the conditions of lakes and their sensitivity to change is also extremely valuable for the management of lakes and reservoirs and GloboLakes will provide information and products specifically for environmental managers. A satellite due to be launched during the course of the project, called Sentinel 2, will provide even greater spatial resolution allowing data to be collected and exploited from even smaller lakes. This will be investigated by GloboLakes and incorporated into the framework of a global lake observatory.
(i) develop remote sensing algorithms to estimate lake biogeochemical and physical parameters;
(ii) make these algorithms operational and process satellite data;
(iii) compile integrated spatio-temporal information on climatic and catchment data for >1000 lakes;
(iv) integrate data and assess uncertainty in data sources;
(v) detect spatial and temporal patterns in lake water quality;
(vi) attribute the causes of lake response to environmental conditions;
(vii) forecast lake sensitivity to environmental change;
(viii) apply data to lake management and the monitoring of freshwater resources.
The project will focus on the retrieval of surface water temperature as this has a fundamental effect on lake ecology, the concentration of coloured dissolved organic matter and suspended solids that derive largely from the catchment, the abundance of phytoplankton measured as the concentration of the pigment, chlorophyll a, and the abundance of cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) that can potentially be toxic. Knowledge of the conditions of lakes and their sensitivity to change is also extremely valuable for the management of lakes and reservoirs and GloboLakes will provide information and products specifically for environmental managers. A satellite due to be launched during the course of the project, called Sentinel 2, will provide even greater spatial resolution allowing data to be collected and exploited from even smaller lakes. This will be investigated by GloboLakes and incorporated into the framework of a global lake observatory.
Planned Impact
In the UK, the main direct beneficiaries of the project would be the UK environment agencies (EA, SEPA, NIEA) and water utilities who all have a statutory requirement to ensure safe surface waters for public recreation and water supply for drinking and irrigation. The UK environment agencies also have monitoring requirements for the Water Framework Directive (WFD), which include monitoring the frequency and severity of algal blooms. The operational platform to be developed could lead to significant economic benefits for these organisations as it would provide more frequent and much greater geographic coverage of monitoring at a lower cost. The main UK beneficiaries (all UK environment agencies and Scottish Water) have all been involved with the project team developing the research needs through a previous NERC research grant (NE/E009328) and through co-membership of the UK Technical Advisory Group for the Water Framework Directive. They have all indicated full engagement and support (time, logistics and data) for the proposed research and will form the core of the Project Advisory Board.
More indirectly, the project is of benefit to other organisations and individuals who manage public access to surface waters as it would lead to more rapid dissemination of water quality results and more accurate warnings of algal blooms and associated health risks to the public and livestock. This includes relevant National Park authorities (English Lake District, Loch Lomond & Trossachs, the Broads Authority) and health authorities.
Scientific benefits are described elsewhere under "Academic beneficiaries", but a key to wider dissemination is the commitment from international scientists within the remote sensing, water quality and limnology communities. This commitment is illustrated by the letters of support and include scientists across Europe, Africa, China, Australia and the USA.
Wider dissemination of the project and its finding will be achieved through a dedicated project website which will provide both non-technical information aimed at the general public as well as information for a scientific audience. More targetted dissemination will be supported by the Communications and Media Department at University of Stirling, working alongside those of the consortium partners. We anticipate regular publications in popular and peer-reviewed science press throughout the lifetime of the project. More specifically, we will target communication of the project results through regular project newsletters sent to key users with responsibilities or interests in monitoring the state of the environment (UK conservation agencies, relevant National Park authorities (English Lake District, Loch Lomond & Trossachs, the Broads Authority), the European Environment Agency and the World Wildlife Fund for Nature.
There are a number of additional end-users who will benefit from hearing the final outcomes of this project, including the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs, Scottish Government, Department for International Development, Department of Health - Global Health Programme, and international organisations including the WHO, UNESCO and a number of international aid charities. As the project progresses, with operational tools and results, we plan additional focused direct engagement with these organizations and will invite them to the final end-user workshop. Towards the end of the project, we will highlight the value of the platform and the science underpinning it at a global stage, through attendance in Stockholm at World Water Week. Similarly, as the tool becomes operational with validated results, we will publish an annual summary each year on World Water Day of the water status of 1000 global lakes.
More indirectly, the project is of benefit to other organisations and individuals who manage public access to surface waters as it would lead to more rapid dissemination of water quality results and more accurate warnings of algal blooms and associated health risks to the public and livestock. This includes relevant National Park authorities (English Lake District, Loch Lomond & Trossachs, the Broads Authority) and health authorities.
Scientific benefits are described elsewhere under "Academic beneficiaries", but a key to wider dissemination is the commitment from international scientists within the remote sensing, water quality and limnology communities. This commitment is illustrated by the letters of support and include scientists across Europe, Africa, China, Australia and the USA.
Wider dissemination of the project and its finding will be achieved through a dedicated project website which will provide both non-technical information aimed at the general public as well as information for a scientific audience. More targetted dissemination will be supported by the Communications and Media Department at University of Stirling, working alongside those of the consortium partners. We anticipate regular publications in popular and peer-reviewed science press throughout the lifetime of the project. More specifically, we will target communication of the project results through regular project newsletters sent to key users with responsibilities or interests in monitoring the state of the environment (UK conservation agencies, relevant National Park authorities (English Lake District, Loch Lomond & Trossachs, the Broads Authority), the European Environment Agency and the World Wildlife Fund for Nature.
There are a number of additional end-users who will benefit from hearing the final outcomes of this project, including the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs, Scottish Government, Department for International Development, Department of Health - Global Health Programme, and international organisations including the WHO, UNESCO and a number of international aid charities. As the project progresses, with operational tools and results, we plan additional focused direct engagement with these organizations and will invite them to the final end-user workshop. Towards the end of the project, we will highlight the value of the platform and the science underpinning it at a global stage, through attendance in Stockholm at World Water Week. Similarly, as the tool becomes operational with validated results, we will publish an annual summary each year on World Water Day of the water status of 1000 global lakes.
Organisations
- Plymouth Marine Laboratory (Lead Research Organisation)
- Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Collaboration)
- BANGOR UNIVERSITY (Collaboration)
- Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology (Collaboration)
- Michigan Technological University (Collaboration)
- University of Stirling (Collaboration)
Publications
Carrea L
(2023)
Satellite-derived multivariate world-wide lake physical variable timeseries for climate studies.
in Scientific data
Fink G
(2018)
Management Options to Improve Water Quality in Lake Peipsi: Insights from Large Scale Models and Remote Sensing
in Water Resources Management
Gong M
(2022)
Adaptive smoothing to identify spatial structure in global lake ecological processes using satellite remote sensing data
in Spatial Statistics
Gong M
(2021)
State space functional principal component analysis to identify spatiotemporal patterns in remote sensing lake water quality
in Stochastic Environmental Research and Risk Assessment
Liu G
(2018)
A Four-Band Semi-Analytical Model for Estimating Phycocyanin in Inland Waters From Simulated MERIS and OLCI Data
in IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing
Liu X
(2021)
Retrieval of Chlorophyll-a concentration and associated product uncertainty in optically diverse lakes and reservoirs
in Remote Sensing of Environment
Markelin L
(2016)
Atmospheric Correction Performance of Hyperspectral Airborne Imagery over a Small Eutrophic Lake under Changing Cloud Cover
in Remote Sensing
Palmer S
(2020)
Remote Sensing-Driven Pacific Oyster (Crassostrea gigas) Growth Modeling to Inform Offshore Aquaculture Site Selection
in Frontiers in Marine Science
Spyrakos E
(2017)
Optical types of inland and coastal waters
in Limnology and Oceanography
Tyler AN
(2016)
Developments in Earth observation for the assessment and monitoring of inland, transitional, coastal and shelf-sea waters.
in The Science of the total environment
Warren M
(2019)
Assessment of atmospheric correction algorithms for the Sentinel-2A MultiSpectral Imager over coastal and inland waters
in Remote Sensing of Environment
Description | GloboLakes research was crucial to establishment of the Copernicus Global Land lakes service now run by Brockmann Consult, DE, with PML, UK. Users are from a wide variety of sectors as with all Copernicus services - Copernicus Global Land Monitoring - Lake Water: 4000 lakes every 10 days + monthly assessment for UNEP SDG6.1/6.3 - Lakes Climate Change Initiative - 2000 lakes, multi-sensor time series - Additional large international R&D projects to further evolve the state-of-the-art , e.g. CERTO (transitional/coastal), TAPAS (aquaculture), EOMORES (high resolution inland) |
First Year Of Impact | 2019 |
Sector | Environment |
Impact Types | Societal Economic Policy & public services |
Description | (CERTO) - Copernicus Evolution - Research for Transitional-water Observation |
Amount | € 2,843,000 (EUR) |
Funding ID | 870349 |
Organisation | European Commission |
Sector | Public |
Country | European Union (EU) |
Start | 01/2020 |
End | 12/2022 |
Description | (MONOCLE) - Multiscale Observation Networks for Optical monitoring of Coastal waters, Lakes and Estuaries |
Amount | € 4,999,862 (EUR) |
Funding ID | 776480 |
Organisation | European Commission |
Sector | Public |
Country | European Union (EU) |
Start | 02/2018 |
End | 01/2022 |
Description | (Water-ForCE) - Water scenarios For Copernicus Exploitation |
Amount | € 2,999,575 (EUR) |
Funding ID | 101004186 |
Organisation | European Commission |
Sector | Public |
Country | European Union (EU) |
Start | 01/2021 |
End | 12/2023 |
Description | Copernicus Global Land Service |
Amount | € 2,500,000 (EUR) |
Organisation | European Commission |
Department | Joint Research Centre (JRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | European Union (EU) |
Start | 06/2016 |
End | 07/2020 |
Description | EC FP7 EartH2Observe |
Amount | £300,000 (GBP) |
Funding ID | 603608 |
Organisation | European Commission |
Sector | Public |
Country | European Union (EU) |
Start | 01/2014 |
End | 12/2017 |
Description | EC FP7 INFORM |
Amount | € 160,000 (EUR) |
Organisation | European Commission |
Sector | Public |
Country | European Union (EU) |
Start | 01/2014 |
End | 12/2017 |
Description | EC H2020 EOMORES |
Amount | € 2,000,000 (EUR) |
Funding ID | 730066 |
Organisation | European Commission |
Sector | Public |
Country | European Union (EU) |
Start | 12/2016 |
End | 11/2019 |
Description | ESA CLIMATE CHANGE INITIATIVE - Lakes Essential Climate Variable |
Amount | € 1,748,627 (EUR) |
Organisation | European Space Agency |
Sector | Public |
Country | France |
Start | 02/2019 |
End | 01/2022 |
Description | H2020-INFRADEV-2016-2 DANUBIUS PP |
Amount | € 4,000,000 (EUR) |
Funding ID | 739562 |
Organisation | European Commission |
Sector | Public |
Country | European Union (EU) |
Start | 12/2016 |
End | 11/2019 |
Description | NERC Innovation |
Amount | £153,000 (GBP) |
Funding ID | NE/R014965/1 |
Organisation | Natural Environment Research Council |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 01/2019 |
End | 06/2020 |
Description | Tools for Assessment and Planning of Aquaculture Sustainability (TAPAS) |
Amount | € 6,922,187 (EUR) |
Funding ID | 6922187 |
Organisation | European Commission |
Sector | Public |
Country | European Union (EU) |
Start | 03/2016 |
End | 02/2020 |
Description | UK EO Climate Information Service (UKEO-CIS) |
Amount | £7,741,000 (GBP) |
Funding ID | NE/X019071/1 |
Organisation | National Centre for Earth Observation |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 01/2023 |
End | 03/2025 |
Title | Bio-optical in situ dataset |
Description | In situ optical data including absorption, scattering and backscattering collected during Globolakes in situ campaigns over three years. |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2016 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | Data being used to improve satellite algorithms by other groups in the project. |
Title | Code for insitu optical data processing in Globolakes |
Description | Code used to produce the Globolakes in situ optical dataset for absorption, scattering and backscattering for sampling during the project. |
Type Of Material | Data analysis technique |
Year Produced | 2016 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | The processing code has been used by the other researchers allowing them to process the in situ data during a cruise |
Title | Global data set on lakes |
Description | • Dataset of remotely sensed water quality of 1000 lakes worldwide delivered to partners in NERC-GloboLakes and selected parts to partners in EC FP7 INFORM and EC FP7 Earth2Observe |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2015 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | Use in subsequent research |
Title | Global lake water quality dataset 2020, from Calimnos v1.3 (4265 lakes, 10 + 3 years) |
Description | A complete reprocessing of all MERIS + OLCI satellite data records to provide water quality information on 4265 lakes globally. This data set was generated as part of the Copernicus Land Service Lake Water Quality with data generated by PML using its Calimnos processor, as requested by the UN Environment Programme to support its global assessment of Sustainable Development Goal 6.3.2. |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2020 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | For the first time, a satellite-derived dataset of 10-yr trends in water quality will be provided through UNEP to all countries to aid their assessment for SDG 6.3. Particularly in countries where in situ sampling of water quality is lacking this marks a significant increase in the potential to monitor the ambient quality of waterbodies. |
URL | https://land.copernicus.eu/global/products/lwq |
Title | Global lake water quality dataset from Calimnos processor, v1.04 |
Description | Dataset of remotely sensed water quality of 1000 lakes worldwide delivered to partners in NERC-GloboLakes and selected parts to partners in EC FP7 INFORM |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2017 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | Increased collaboration between lake observation scientists in terms of in situ data sharing for dataset validation. |
Description | BC/USTIR/PML MoU |
Organisation | University of Stirling |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Joint development of an inland waters processing system called Calimnos |
Collaborator Contribution | Joint development of an inland waters processing system called Calimnos |
Impact | Involvement in Copernicus Land project; unknown income yet |
Start Year | 2015 |
Description | EOCIS |
Organisation | Bangor University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Will be providing coatal and transtional water data |
Collaborator Contribution | R&D Land data |
Impact | Hasnt started yet |
Start Year | 2023 |
Description | Eawag - collaboration on aquatic/terrestrial vegetation phenology from satellite products |
Organisation | Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology |
Country | Switzerland |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | Our team provide phytoplankton biomass time-series from the operational Calimnos satellite data processing chain for >4000 lakes over the period 2002-2020. I provide scientific expertise contributing to global analysis of linkages and changes in phenology of aquatic and terrestrial production patterns. |
Collaborator Contribution | Eawag recruited a post-doc to work full-time on this topic for one-year, with possibility of continuation. Eawag coordinates a team across several Swiss research organisations contributing data and analysis. |
Impact | not yet applicable |
Start Year | 2020 |
Description | Michigan Tech - Global lake primary production modelling |
Organisation | Michigan Technological University |
Country | United States |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Our team provide time-series of global lake phytoplankton biomass from our operational Calimnos satellite data processor, scientific expertise to interpret model results |
Collaborator Contribution | Modelling and data analysis, production of novel research outcomes |
Impact | not yet applicable |
Start Year | 2020 |
Description | Presentation of Globolakes Research at ESA S3VT |
Organisation | University of Stirling |
Department | School of Applied Social Science Stirling |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Presentation of Globolakes Research at ESA S3VT |
Collaborator Contribution | Data and figures for ppt |
Impact | Multi-disciplinary: Optics Remote Sensing |
Start Year | 2017 |
Description | VIsiting Researcher Fellowship - Xinyan Li |
Organisation | Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology |
Country | China |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | We have entered into a collaboration to host Xinyan Li of the Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology (NIGLAS, Chinese Academy of Sciences) at PML for 1 year, to jointly work with inland water quality satellite data and watershed nutrient modelling. |
Collaborator Contribution | The partner has secured research funding from China for this fellowship and is contributing expertise on nutrient modelling of Chinese lakes. |
Impact | no outputs yet |
Start Year | 2016 |
Title | Calimnos |
Description | satellite data processing chain for inland / coastal waters |
Type Of Technology | Software |
Year Produced | 2015 |
Impact | Used for Globolakes to produce 1000 lakes' data; contributed to other projects |
Title | PyTrioS |
Description | PyTrioS - sensor control software for field spectroradiometers |
Type Of Technology | Software |
Year Produced | 2015 |
Open Source License? | Yes |
Impact | Being used by community |
URL | https://github.com/StefanSimis/PyTrios |
Description | ASLO Aquatic Sciences Conference Session: Global Remote Sensing of Inland Waters |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | A session was organised at this conference to showcase the latest results from the project, with 3 talks from the project contributing to the same session. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
URL | http://www.sgmeet.com/aslo/honolulu2017/sessionschedule.asp?SessionID=031 |
Description | ASLO2015, Granada (Spain) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Chaired session 'bio-optics, optical biochemistry, and remote sensing of optically complex waters" and presented paper "Remote sensing of sun-stimulated fluorescence from phycobilipigments" |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
Description | ESA Living Planet Symposium |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Project results presented to wide community of Earth Observation scientists, which led to further contributions to the project database of in situ results. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
URL | http://lps16.esa.int/ |
Description | ESA Mapping Water Bodies from Space 2015 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Oral presentation "Mapping lakes, catchments, and land use impacts on water quality: the GloboLakes 1000" |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
Description | GEO Water Qulaity Summit, Geneva |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | TO develop the Group on Earth Observations Water Quality community and define ways forward for a global service |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
Description | Presentation at JNCC / Copernicus EO4WAter |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Presenation on the CERTO project which includs ideas originally started in GloboLakes. AIm was to increase interest in the area of inland and coatal water quality |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
Description | University of Cape Town and CSIR visit |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Work visit to discuss algorithm development progress, including a seminar on project results |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
Description | Visit to NIGLAS, Nanjing, China |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Work visit following part of a European Space Agency Dragon workshop, including a seminar for groups at the institute and local universities |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |