Water Quality Monitoring in Coastal Lagoons

Coastal lagoons are dynamic transitional systems where freshwater meets marine environments, hosting diverse ecosystems and providing critical services such as fisheries, recreation and coastal protection. Monitoring water quality in these environments is essential to evaluate ecological health, detect anthropogenic impacts and inform management decisions. Key parameters include nutrient concentrations, chlorophyll-a levels, turbidity, salinity and dissolved oxygen. Traditional in situ sampling programmes, though accurate, are often constrained by temporal and spatial limitations, high operational costs and logistical challenges. Recent advances in autonomous sensors and profiling platforms enable high-frequency, near-real-time data collection, improving the capture of episodic events such as algal blooms and hypoxia. Meanwhile, satellite remote sensing techniques offer synoptic coverage of surface parameters, complementing field measurements and facilitating long-term trend analysis. Integration of these approaches with statistical and machine-learning models enhances predictive capacity, while emerging early-warning systems may support rapid response to eutrophication and contamination events. Despite progress, challenges remain in harmonising multi-source data, calibrating spectral algorithms in optically complex waters and scaling insights across diverse lagoon typologies.

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Water Quality Monitoring in Coastal Lagoons publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in water quality monitoring in coastal lagoons across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Eutrophication: A process in which excess nutrients, particularly nitrogen and phosphorus, lead to dense algal growth and subsequent oxygen depletion.

Chlorophyll-a: A photosynthetic pigment in algae used as an indicator of phytoplankton biomass and primary productivity.

Turbidity: A measure of water clarity affected by suspended particles, which influences light penetration and ecological processes.

Remote sensing: The acquisition of environmental information from airborne or satellite sensors, enabling observation of surface properties over large areas.

References

1. Design and development of a new stand-alone profiler for marine monitoring purposes. Applied Ocean Research (2024).
2. Remote Data for Mapping and Monitoring Coastal Phenomena and Parameters: A Systematic Review. Remote Sensing (2024).
3. Use of the Sentinel-2 and Landsat-8 Satellites for Water Quality Monitoring: An Early Warning Tool in the Mar Menor Coastal Lagoon. Remote Sensing (2022).
4. Using Machine-Learning Algorithms for Eutrophication Modeling: Case Study of Mar Menor Lagoon (Spain). International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (2020).