Cop4ESTCoast – A web application for monitoring Estonian coastal waters

Clean water is fundamental to human health, ecosystems, and economic activities, making its monitoring and management a global priority. However, human activities, climate change, and pollution continue to threaten water quality, leading to issues such as eutrophication, harmful algal blooms, and declining biodiversity.

To address these challenges, the European Union has implemented the Water Framework Directive (WFD), which obliges all member states to assess, report, and improve the ecological status of their surface waters. The goal is to achieve at least a "Good" water quality status across all European waters by 2027.

In Estonia, coastal waters are particularly affected by nutrient enrichment, which leads to excessive phytoplankton growth and reduced water transparency. Effective monitoring tools are essential to assess these impacts and support decision-making for water management and environmental protection.

A web application for monitoring Estonian coastal Waters

The Cop4ESTCoast project was developed to provide a user-friendly web application that enables stakeholders to track key water quality indicators—Chlorophyll-a and transparency—using data from Copernicus Marine Service products (Figure 1). By delivering daily and monthly statistics, the tool supports water quality assessment, early detection of eutrophication, and compliance with WFD reporting requirements. In addition, the platform incorporates nutrient level data (PO₄ and NO₃) for a more comprehensive analysis of eutrophication trends.

In the second phase of the project, water quality status classifications will be assigned to each Estonian coastal region, allowing policymakers and local authorities to make informed decisions about water resource management, conservation efforts, and tourism-related activities.

This initiative not only helps Estonia meet EU environmental regulations but also contributes to the broader goal of preserving and improving the ecological health of the Baltic Sea.

Cop4ESTCoast – How does it work?

Cop4ESTCoast integrates CMEMS products and OpenStreetMap to provide accurate and up-to-date water quality information.eekvaliteeti toitainete üleküllus, mis soodustab liigset fütoplanktoni kasvu ja vähendab vee läbipaistvust. Kaugseire pakub võimalusi hinnata nii fütoplanktoni hulka kui vee läbipaistvust sagedasti ja ülevaatlikult, aidates teha otsuseid keskkonnakaitse ja veemajanduse valdkondades.

  • Transparency calculation: Chlorophyll-a is obtained directly from CMEMS products, while transparency is derived using the algorithm by Alikas et al., 2015 based on Kd490 values.
  • Spatial data processing: A buffer zone of 500 meters around islands and 1 km around the mainland is applied to reduce adjacency effects from land and sea bottom reflectance, ensuring better data accuracy.
  • Computing infrastructure: The system runs on a University of Tartu server capabilities.

What products are used?

Baltic Sea Biogeochemistry Analysis and Forecast

Baltic Sea Multiyear Ocean Colour Plankton, Reflectances and Transparency L3 daily observations

What are the benefits for users?

  • Monitoring water quality indicators (Chlorophyll-a and Transparency) in Estonian coastal areas, supporting better overview of the general phytoplankton bloom situation for summer tourism.
  • Cop4ESTCoast helps Estonia meet the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) requirements by providing reliable, science-backed data for official reports.

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Copernicus Marine Service
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