The general objective of the PONDER project is to develop and validate a generic atmospheric correction algorithm for very high resolution satellite imagery, and to exploit the imagery for a number of case studies to develop new applications.

Scientific questions to be answered with case studies are:

• What are the uses for ocean colour data at 2 m resolution, or at 50 cm resolution using the panchromatic channel?
• How do different atmospheric correction methods perform?
• What are uses of multi-look ocean colour imagery?
• Can a time-series of very high resolution images be used to detect algal blooms in inland waters?
• Can these images also be used to monitor submerged aquatic vegetation in shallow lakes or in the littoral zone of deep lakes?
• Can the atmospheric correction for water pixels be extended to land pixels?

A practical objective of the project is to produce a publicly available well-documented very high resolμtion satellite image processor (with focus on Pleiades) for marine and inland waters, open-source and published in an appropriate journal. This objective requires:

• converting the prototype processor at RBINS from a licensed (IDL) to an open source environment
• generalising the processor as far as possible, with extensibility to new sensors in mind
• automating and improving the aerosol correction over clear and turbid waters
• validation of the processor.