WATeRS: A Web Map Service with near-real time MODIS standard chlorophyll products of the North Sea

<p>No abstracts are to be cited without prior reference to the author.</p>WATeRS, a portal for water quality information products from operational remote sensing http://ivm10.ivm.vu.nl/mapserver/WATeRS serves near-real time satellite derived water quality information open and interactively available for all on the Internet. It is based on automated conversion of satellite data (in scientific formats) to GIS formats, and comprises a customised ArcIMS-application with a WMS ArcIMS-OGC connector. It enables users to interactively explore remote sensing products, and to seamlessly combine this data with other data with a geographic component. The robust service has been used for automated data collection since Jan 2005, has a growing user group, and should be embedded into a larger framework to ensure continuity of the near-real time service.