The ABDMAP (Algal Bloom Detection, Monitoring and Prediction) Concerted Action

This paper describes the ABDMAP ( Algal Bloom Detection, Monitoring And Pre diction) project, which was a Concerted Action funded by the European Commi ssion and carried out from April 1997 to March 1999. In the course of the p roject a number of workshops were held in various European countries. These workshops were devoted to various scientific aspects of algal blooms and, in particular, to the use of Earth observation (remote sensing) data for th e study of such blooms. Great attention was given to the needs of users or potential users from the academic and research communities, from organizati ons with operational responsibilities for the introduction of legislation o r for the monitoring of algal blooms. A state-of-the-art review of scientif ic knowledge and of applications of this knowledge was compiled and a numbe r of actions were undertaken to widen the appreciation of the potential use of Earth observation (remote sensing) data for the study of algal blooms, including toxic algal blooms.