COASTAL WATER ASSESSMENT AND MONITORING BY HYPERSPECTRAL REMOTE SENSING TECHNIQUES: SELECTED APPLICATIONS IN THE ADRIATIC SEA

Abstract Observation of coastal areas may address to different aspects of the environment such as parameters and processes of water quality, hydrodynamics, geomorphology, meteorology and ecology. Satellite and airborne remote sensing can provide an important contribute for assessing and monitoring the status of water quality. Selected case studies, which describe data acquisition and processing, outline improvements in the advanced methodologies and provide examples of gaps and barriers to produce useful applications in coastal areas, are presented. Keywords: Coastal Waters, Remote Sensing, Adriatic Sea Introduction Coastal areas are characterized by small-scale processes, high spatial and temporal variability of the main physical and biogeochemical properties of the water, hazards and unpredictable events. These areas are very sensitive to the impact of human activities and land use in watersheds, along the coast and further inland, of fluvial discharges, and of marine processes. Local and national authorities require innovative methods and technologies for managing coastal risks and monitoring water quality, in order to satisfy operational, spatial and qualitative requirements with a good cost-benefit ratio. In the recent decades, a helpful contribution has been obtained by the Remote Sensing data, which can significantly enhance the information available from traditional data sources providing synoptic views of large portions of Earth with a relatively high revisiting frequency and therefore early detection of anomalies and degradation of the ecological status. Remote sensing of the bio-optical parameters can be an important way for monitoring the coastal environment. Whereas the optical properties of open ocean (Case 1 water) are primarily a function of phytoplankton concentration, coastal waters (Case 2 water) represent a more complex optical environmen