The image was acquired by Envisat’s MERIS sensor, a programmable, medium resolution imaging spectrometer operating in the solar reflective spectral range. Fifteen spectral bands can be selected by ground command. This .tif file contains all 15 spectral bands (channels) of the sensor. The characteristics of each band/channel can be found in the table below:  
 

MERIS Channel Number Centre Wavelength / Bandwidth (nm) Application 1 412.5 (purple) / 10 Yellow substance and detrial pigments 2 442.5 (blue) / 10 Chlorophyll absorption maximum 3 490 (blue-cyan) / 10 Chlorophyll and other pigments 4 510 (cyan-green) / 10 Suspended sediment, red tides 5 560 (green) / 10 Chlorophyll absorption minimum 6 620 (orange-red) / 10 Suspended sediment 7 665 (red) / 10 Chlorophyll absorption and fluorescence reference 8 681.25 (red) / 7.5 Chlorophyll fluorescence peak 9 708.75 (NIR) / 10 Fluorescence reference, atmospheric corrections 10 753.75 (NIR / 7.5 Vegetation, cloud 11 760.625 (NIR) / 3.75 Oxygen absorption R-branch 12 778.75 (NIR) / 15 Atmosphere corrections 13 865 (NIR) / 20 Vegetation, water vapour reference 14 885 (NIR) / 10 Atmosphere corrections 15 900 (NIR) / 10 Water vapour, land

 
 
Open and inspect some of the different bands of the file. For instance, open both a red (e.g. channel 8) as well as a NIR (e.g. channel 13), and arrange them side by side.

Take a look at the description of their field of application and identify the reasons for the difference in appearance of certain features of the image.

Create an RGB view. Note that channel 8 provides the best red values for this purpose.
 
 

Real colour combination (channels 8, 5, 2)

False colour combination (channels 13,4,2)

After trying different colour combinations, select the one you think is best for differentiating different image features. Write a description of this image. Make a note of the difficulties you encountered in delineating the lake.