The Project for On-Board Autonomy (PROBA), which is a mission of the European Space Agency, was successfully launched on 22 October 2001. Compact High Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (CHRIS) is one of the instruments fixed on the PROBA platform. CHRIS provides superspectral images (18 or 36 spectral bands) in a spectral region from 410 nm to 1050 nm in different modes (Land/Aerosols, Water, Chlorophyll, etc.) and under different viewing angles. This offers various possibilities in the field of land and water studies, monitoring of atmospheric aerosols and many other investigations. Remote sensing techniques have already been used for water quality monitoring (especially for ocean water monitoring), but CHRIS is the first satellite superspectral scanner providing images with a spatial resolution of 18 x 18 in and in 18 spectral bands. These spectral bands in mode 2 are designed for water researches. In the present study the test site is the MAZURY area, located in northeastern Poland in the Masurian Lake District. Those investigations are provided for CHRIS data and focused on using satellite superspectral data for the determination of various water quality parameters. This test site is included in the MEMAMON project (Monitoring of the Mecklenburg and Masurian Lake Districts), which is coordinated by GFZ Potsdam. The data sets for water quality monitoring should have minimum three CHRIS images registered in characteristic, specific "limnological moments". At the same time in-situ measurements of several water quality parameters like: water temperature, Secchi depth, concentration of chlorophylla. suspended particulate material, phosphorous, etc. were made. Using different methods of image processing, we extracted interesting information about water quality parameters from the registered spectral radiance, and the results obtained were compared with in-situ measurements. CHRIS data gave a very good correlation with water quality parameters measured in-situ. This project shows the potentials of superspectral satellite images like CHRIS and confirms their suitability for water quality monitoring.
