On April 17, dive into this workshop organized under the EU Horizon-funded project BioEcoOcean, and explore advanced satellite monitoring of crucial marine ecosystems.
Join leading experts and innovators as we address the latest advancements and opportunities in the remote sensing of essential ocean variables (EOVs) for macroalgae and seagrass ecosystems.

Please register here

At the heart of our discussions: the game-changing EU Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission. With its enhanced spatial resolution and open-access data, this EU satellite mission is revolutionizing how we monitor our coastal oceans at global scales — though not without challenges. While Sentinel-2 satellite imagery offers an unprecedented opportunity due to its higher spatial resolution and open-access availability, various questions remain, particularly regarding resolution limitations, validation, and operational integration.

The session will focus on the current work and perspectives for making the most out of Sentinel-2 for improving the remote sensing of seagrass and macroalgae, across submerged, intertidal, and sea surface (floating) habitats.

By the end of the workshop, we aim to identify and collect the best approaches and recommendations for optimizing Sentinel-2 for macroalgae and seagrass monitoring, regarding:

• Datasets, Repositories & Data Management (e.g., ground-truth data, data curation and sharing, repositories and interoperability),
• Satellite Algorithms & Operational Workflows (e.g., current state of detection algorithms, scalable workflows, challenges in resolution, and spectral characteristics)
• Innovations & Downstream Applications (e.g., carbon sequestration, monitoring conservation/restoration, and policy implementation).

This workshop aims to shape the future of macroalgae and seagrass monitoring, ensuring that remote sensing contributes meaningfully to the protection, management, and sustainable use of coastal ecosystems worldwide, and will support the BioEcoOcean project to perform transformative changes in our approach to the biological and ecosystem ocean observation system.

PROGRAMME (CEST):

13:00-13:05 Introduction and Welcome, André Valente, AIR Centre

13:05-14:15 Round of 10 min presentations:

• The BioEcoOcean project – advancing biological and ecosystem ocean observations, Lina Nordlund (Uppsala University)
• Powering Remote Sensing with OBIS Data, Elizabeth Lawrence (OBIS / UNESCO)
• Mapping intertidal macroalgae with Sentinel-2 in BioEcoOcean’s Atlantic Living Lab, André Valente (AIR Centre)
• Copernicus and what it can offer in the mapping and monitoring of subtidal seagrass habitats, Dimitris Poursanidis (FORTH)
• An Initial Map of European Intertidal Seagrass, Bede Ffinian Rowe Davies (University of Nantes)
• Beach-cast macroalgae mapping using Sentinel-2 and future perspectives, Maria Del Mar Roca Mora (ICMAN-CSIC)
• Sargassum Watch from Space, Chuanmin Hu (University of South Florida, College of Marine Science)

14:15-14:30 Q&A from audience, led by André Valente, to all speakers

14.30-15:00 Discussion on Data, Algorithms, Operationalization, Uptake, led by André Valente, to all speakers

 
 Speakers

• Bede Ffinian Rowe Davies (Nantes Université)
• Chuanmin Hu (University of South Florida)
• Dimitris Poursanidis (Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas, Institute of Applied and Computational Mathematics)
• Elizabeth Lawrence (UNESCO / IOC Project Office for IODE, Ocean Biodiversity Information System)
• Lina Mtwana Nordlund (Uppsala University)
• Mar Roca Mora (Spanish National Research Council - ICMAN-CSIC)

Moderator

• André Valente (AIR Centre – Atlantic International Research Centre)

For more information, please read the workshop announcement on the Air Centre website.