The project INSEA is focused on the development of integrated management tools for coastal eutrophication assessment combining Models, Satellite Remote Sensing and in situ Measurements. The INSEA specific objectives are:

• Downscaling physics from global to regional models and assimilating remote sensing data.
• Improve and develop new tools for real-time in situ measurements.
• Improve and develop new tools for processing and using remote sensing data (from Earth Observation).
• Improve and validate the ecological models of the areas under investigation, with especial emphasis for eutrophication related parameters. 
• Demonstrate the potential of the combination of Earth Observation data, numerical modeling and in-situ data for assessing eutrophication in coastal areas.
• Explore the forecasting capabilities of the modelling system achieved.

As result is expected that INSEA will provide innovation in the following areas:

• Assimilation techniques and sub-grid-scale processes knowledge: benefiting from large amounts of data made available by the project.
• Modelling & Data Managing Tools: Data acquisition, visualization and analysis.
• Management & Decision making: Forecasting capacity & better scenario evaluation and development of indexes.

INSEA potential Users

• Water administration authorities,
• Environmental protection authorities,
• Wastewater management companies,
• Water resources management companies,
• Civil protection services.

This project received financing from European Commission. Six Framework Program, GMES initiative. Contract SST4-CT-2005-012336

Coastal waters are transitional ecosystems buffered by variable landward-based freshwater input volumes and constituents, influences of oceanic provinces and human disturbances, including nutrient enrichment, superimposed on these natural regimes.
Considering coastal systems complexity, associated with highly dynamic spatial (horizontally and vertically) and temporal changes, it becomes obvious that any type of monitoring, either remote sensing or local data acquisition, can only give a brief perspective of the problems in coastal waters and estuaries. Satellite imagery has the capability of describing spatial distribution but, inevitably, short term temporal phenomena (in the range of hours) and vertical processes are impossible to track. On the other hand, local data measurements can show these short time trends but usually are unable to give a clear overview of spatial variation and have high costs. Adding to these different data sources the capabilities of proper modelling tools it provides means to fill the information gaps and make available added value managing tools capable to help to draw diagnostics and perform prognostics.

INSEA aims to set-up and validate numerically robust ecological modelling systems in order to describe biogeochemical cycling of carbon and nutrients occurring under different hydrographical and trophic regimes, and to explore the system capabilities in a forecast mode to support coastal zone management issues.
One of the most important issues of current eutrophication assessments is integrating information of different types (e.g. sampling data, numerical modelling results, stakeholdersˇ¦ preferences and common knowledge) to produce indexes representing the overall integrity of a particular ecosystem and to prioritize political options. The data integration system seek under INSEA will sustain the implementation of spatially and temporally dynamical indexes and will be able to support a way of addressing different scale predictions, complex geometries and to efficiently incorporate different data sources to define boundary and surface conditions.
INSEA will also give to data users, in particular to local decision makers, valuable information for assessing coastal eutrophication problems. The data delivery system behind INSEA will be supported by state of the art numerical tools, for simulating the complexity associated to these ecosystems, and the most recent information technology tools for supporting data delivery and storage.

Relevance of INSEA at European level
Water Framework Directive states that the results of the systems operated by each Member State shall be expressed as ecological quality ratios for the purposes of classification of ecological status. These ratios shall represent the relationship between the values of the biological parameters observed for a given body of surface water and the values for these parameters in the reference conditions applicable to that body.
INSEA assumes this objective as one of its main aims, which is translated by the development of methodologies to downscale physics from large scale data systems to regional models. INSEA will also demonstrate the potential of the combination of Earth Observation (EO) data, numerical modelling and in-situ data. The project's technological approach for dealing with eutrophication problems is inspired by GMES conclusions stating that in-situ and EO data alone can rarely satisfy the user's purposes. On the other hand, the use of remote sensing resources can be extremely useful especially in places where there is a lack of local data.
A complete decision support process, including synoptic, analytic and predictive capabilities, is generally needed. It is thus necessary, for most end-uses, to exploit EO and in-situ data jointly with numerical models, data assimilation, and information presentation methods of varying sophistication". Furthermore according to GMES, environmental services "must use those data sources that best meet user needs: In most cases this means that EO data, in-situ data and models must be used together to establish an integrated decision-support capability that is of practical use for policy and decision makers".