Digital Earth Africa - Copernicus Global Land Service - Lake Water Quality

The Copernicus Global Land Service – Lake Water Quality products offer a comprehensive, satellite-derived monitoring system for assessing key water quality indicators in major large lakes, typically those greater than 50 hectares. These datasets are generated using optical satellite sensors, primarily Sentinel-2 MSI and Sentinel-3 OLCI, with earlier archives derived from Envisat MERIS. Spanning multiple spatial resolutions (100 m and 300 m) and temporal scales (10-day composites), they support both near-real-time and retrospective assessments of inland water quality. Key parameters include surface reflectance, turbidity, total suspended matter (TSM), chlorophyll-a concentration, trophic state index, and floating cyanobacteria risk—all essential for monitoring eutrophication, ecological health, and harmful algal blooms (HABs). The datasets cover the period from 2002 to the present, providing long-term continuity for environmental monitoring and scientific research, with focused coverage in Europe and Africa. All products are delivered using standardized geospatial grids (EPSG:4326) and include quality flags, detailed metadata, and validation against in situ observations to ensure reliability. Continuous improvements across product versions—such as enhanced atmospheric correction and updated retrieval algorithms—have significantly improved accuracy and usability. In addition, comprehensive user manuals, technical documentation, and support materials are available, making the data highly accessible to researchers, policymakers, and environmental managers. Digital Earth Africa (DE Africa) hosts these datasets for the African region, providing free and open access to both the data and associated tools.