Remote Sensing and Physical Modelling Approach for Macrophytes and Water Quality Parameters Monitoring

Aquatic macrophytes form a major component of many aquatic ecosystems and play an important role in the recycling of nutrients since they provide habitat for many fish species and macro-invertebrates. Due to their great sensitivity to water quality they represent also an important indicator of aquatic ecosystems status. In this framework an area, within the Africa continent, has been selected for our study. This is the Lake Victoria, one of the largest freshwater bodies of the world, where, in the recent years environmental challenges and human impact have perturbed the ecological balance affecting the biodiversity. The main aims of the research are: evaluate new methods and algorithms efficiency in remotely retrieving local waters quality parameters combining optical model and mapping techniques; provide thematic products (i.e. water hyacinth and water compounds concentrations maps) which can be useful in the support of a farsighted environment and resources management of the territory and can also be used to understand the preconditions for the 'macrophytes blooms'.