EAWAG Represents DiMark at ESA Living Planet Symposium 2025
Source: Living Planet Symposium 2025 – Home
Last week, two representatives from EAWAG – the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology and a DiMark project partner – attended ESA Living Planet Symposium. As part of their presentations, they also shared updates on DiMark’s work, mentioning some of the results and plans within the project.
Alplakes Platform: Visualising Alpine Lake Data
One of the presentations introduced the Alplakes platform (www.alplakes.eawag.ch), which provides accurate, real-time lake information and predictions across the European Alps. All key lakes identified for DiMark and additional lakes proposed by the project partners were added to the platform in the past months.
The platform is continuously being improved and refined according to requirements developed on the basis of stakeholder interactions and international workshops. The first DiMark workshop in May 2025 has added to the platform’s ongoing development in such manner.
Alplakes combines remote sensing products and advanced models into a unified, user-friendly data visualization interface for citizens, water professionals, and scientists. The current Alplakes products were validated and selected for selected alpine lakes in Italy and Switzerland during the ESA Alplakes project. Now, as part of the Interreg DiMark project, we’re creating a shared reference database to improve how satellite and sensor data are translated into useful lake information – so that this can be applied more reliably across the entire Alpine region.
Lake Geneva: A Living Laboratory
Another presentation called “How Earth observation, citizen science, automated sensors and models are bringing Lake Geneva to life.” emphasized the potential for improving remote sensing products with model and sensor data. It also highlighted that while physical processes are relatively straightforward to model, biological processes are more complex and variable. The key message was that complex systems demand a diverse toolbox of solutions.
6 September 2021, Sentinel-2A image by ESA
Finally, the presentation underlined that upscaling these approaches requires collaboration with the international community, which is where DiMark can make a significant contribution.
As we continue to share project vision with a wider community we are looking forward to contributing to discussions around lake monitoring, data accessibility and sustainable freshwater management in the Alpine region.
