AquaWatch Australia will integrate Earth Observation (EO) and in situ measurements with predictive water quality modelling to monitor and predict inland and coastal water quality and habitat condition for Australia and across the globe. It will measure key aquatic environmental and biogeochemical variables required to understand processes affecting the quality of aquatic ecosystems to provide early warning of extreme events, accurate information on recovering or threatened ecosystems, and to help predict and manage water quality threats by empowering timely management decisions.
AquaWatch Australia is co-led by CSIRO and the SmartSat Cooperative Research Centre and national and international partners, leveraging their expertise in EO, in situ sensing and modelling of water quality A key aspect of AquaWatch Australia is that it is end-user driven. these end-user requirements will be translated into systems requirements, e.g., for the satellite component the spectral bands, spatial resolution and, if possible, revisit times, which previously has restricted the range of water quality and benthic parameters that can be measured from space as well as the number of waterbodies from which these parameters can be measured. Coastal and marine end-user requirements will be addressed in this presentation. The AMSA community will be asked for input and feedback.