Claudia Giardino(1), Mariano Bresciani(1) Remote sensing of lakes: the main results after eight years of MELINOS project Claudia Giardino(1), Mariano Bresciani(1)  (1) National Research Council, Institute for Electromagnetic Sensing of the Environment, CNR-IREA, Milano (Italy) Email: (giardino.c; bresciani.m)@irea.cnr.it Since 2002 the MELINOS Project (AO-553), mainly emanated from the progress within the EU-FP4 Salmon project, has enabled us to monitor water quality in various Italian lakes (Garda, Maggiore, Trasimeno) and international water courses, the Curonian lagoon (Lithuania-Russian), lake Chaohu (China) and the Himalayan lakes (China-Nepal), by using satellite images (MERIS, AVNIR2, PROBA) provided by the European Space Agency (ESA). A total of 350 images have allowed us to map chlorophyll-a, suspended solid matter, yellow substance concentrations and water transparency. For some lakes we were also able to monitor intense blooms of cyanobacteria. Finally, macrophytes were mapped using high spatial resolution images. Satellite images were corrected for atmospheric and adjacency effects and water quality parameters were estimated by using different approaches: VISAT-BEAM neural network, bio-optical models and semi-empirical algorithms. List of images Characteristics of the inland water ecosystems and the sensors used List of products 22/07/2003 19/07/2005 18/07/2007 19/07/2009 Maps of yellow substance obtained with C2r processor, in two different seasons of the Curonian lagoon Identification and evaluation of health status of reed beds on Lake Garda from IKONOS image Multitemporal comparison of chl-a concentrations in Lake Garda Odermatt, D. Giardino, C. & Heege, T. (2010). Chlorophyll retrieval with MERIS Case-2 Regional in perialpine lakes. Remote Sensing of Environment, 114: 607-617. Bresciani, M. Stroppiana, D. Fila, G.L. Montagna, M. & Giardino, C. (2009). Monitoring reed vegetation in environmentally sensitive areas in Italy. Italian Journal of Remote Sens., 41: 125-137. Giardino, C. Bresciani, M. Pilkaityté, R. Bartoli, M. & Razinkovas, A. (2010). In situ measuraments and satellite remote sensing of case2 waters: first results from the Curonian Lagoon. Ocenalogy, 52 (2): 197-210. Characterization of optical properties from in situ measurements in the Curonian lagoon Map of Lake Maggiore anomaly, caused by cyanobacteria blooms, created by merging maps of chl-a and water transparency (10-23 September 2009) Mapping cyanobacteria blooms of Lake Chaohu Bortoluzzi, A. Foltran, F. Panizza, A. Pietrosanti, A. Ren, Y.M. Giardino, C. Bresciani, M. De Biase, L. Mezzanotte, V. Canobbio, S. Nurizzo, C. Antonelli, M. (2010). Monitoring, environmental emergencies management and water treatment improvement of freshwater lakes in China: the Chaohu lake case study. World Water Congress (19-24 September 2010, Montreal, Canada). Chl-a concentrations of Mantua lakes from Chris-Proba Bresciani, M. Giardino, C. Longhi, D. Pinardi, M. & Bartoli, M. (2010). Assessment of chlorophyll-a and algal blooms in inland water from hyperspectral data. Hyperspectral Workshop, ESRIN, 17-19 March 2010, Frascati, Italy. 2 4 [m] Calibration model Validationmodel Assessment of suspended solids in Himalayan lakes to measure the glacier dynamics from ALOS-AVNIR2 Monitoring water transparency (z90) of Lake Trasimeno from MERIS (August 2008) Giardino C., Oggioni A., Yan H., Bresciani M., Lami A. 2010. Remote sensing based methods for the assessment of suspended particulate matter in Himalayan lakes: a case-study of alpine lakes in northern and southern Mount Everest. Mountain Research and Development. IN PRESS Giardino, C. Bresciani, M. Villa, P. & Martinelli, A. (2010). Application of remote sensing in water resource management: the case study of lake Trasimeno, Italy. Water Resources Management, IN PRESS. Conclusions Validation of the results showed the potential of MERIS data and of other satellite images for monitoring water quality Products were used by the environmental protection agencies to understand and manage the lake and lagoon ecosystems Some issues related to the accuracy of the atmospheric correction remain Acknowledgemnts We are grateful to the EOHelpdesk for the support and we thank all people whose help have made possible the achievement of the results during these eight years