This study presents an assessment of a model inversion approach to derive shallow water bathymetry in optically complex waters, with the aim of both understanding localised capability and contributing to the global evaluation of Sentinel-2 for coastal monitoring. A dataset of 12 Sentinel-2 MSI images, in three different study areas along the Irish coast, has been analysed. Before the application of the bathymetric model two atmospheric correction procedures were tested: Deep Water Correction (DWC) and Case 2 Regional Coastal Color (C2RCC) processor. DWC outperformed C2RCC in the majority of the satellite images showing more consistent results. Using DWC for atmospheric correction before the application of the bathymetric model, the lowest average RMSE was found in Dublin Bay (RMSE ¼ 1.60, bias ¼ )