These properties include SST distributions, concentrations of chlorophyll and other phytoplankton pigments in the

surface layer and at various depths in PCI-32765 Baltic waters, the solar irradiance distribution at the Baltic Sea surface, vertical profiles of selected optical properties of the sea, spectral distributions of the light energy available for photosynthesis and of the energy absorbed by phytoplankton at different depths, vertical distributions of the quantum efficiency of photosynthesis, of the primary production of organic matter, and of the total primary production (under unit area of sea surface). The estimates of all these quantities obtained from satellite data processed using the DESAMBEM algorithm v. 2008 were validated by comparing them with in situ measurements. The results of this empirical validation are discussed in detail in Darecki et al. (2008). The accuracy of the estimated parameters is very close to or only slightly less than that of the measurements made in the sea. The effectiveness of satellite estimates is incomparably greater than that of

traditional measurements made from on board ships and other research platforms: a very much larger number of temporal and spatial sea surface pixels can be covered by satellite monitoring than by the existing numbers of measurement stations using ships, buoys and the like. Moreover, the costs of satellite monitoring are insignificant compared with those of traditional oceanographic methods. We, like our funding agencies, therefore consider that selleck products the results of the successfully concluded DESAMBEM project, generously financed by the Committee for Scientific Research, should be implemented in the interests of the efficient and systematic monitoring aminophylline of the state of the Baltic environment and the forecasting of the changes taking place in it. This imposes the duty of conserving the natural environment of the Baltic in accordance with international conventions and legal regulations, such as the Helsinki Convention, the EU’s New Water Directive and the GMES programme. The implementation

of remote sensing methods has become possible thanks to the acceptance of the SatBałtyk project by the Ministries of Science and Higher Education, and of Regional Development. Thus came into being project No. POIG.01.01.02-22-011/09-00 entitled ‘The satellite monitoring of the Baltic Sea environment’ (acronym SatBałtyk). A period of five years (2010–2014) are envisaged for the project’s realization. It is being implemented within the framework of the Innovative Economy Operational Programme7, financed from EU funds. The beneficiary appointed to see the project through is the SatBałtyk Scientific Consortium, consisting of four scientific institutions located on the Polish coast. They are the three institutes that have been cooperating for many years, i.e.