Earth Observation Science & Applications

Our Comprehensive Monitoring Approach

Our monitoring systems work at multiple scales to create a complete picture:

• Satellites provide wide-scale, timely observations of Earth’s surface
• Aircraft and drones deliver detailed, focused views
• In-person, shipboard and autonomous surface and subsurface measurements complete our data collection.

This multi-layered approach captures crucial information about how oceanic, coastal, and inland waters function and interact with the atmosphere and land environments. These insights feed directly into projections about environmental health in the face of human-driven change.

Our Strengths and Impact

• Global leadership in environmental observation techniques using satellites, aircraft, and drones
• Data that drives action at global, regional, and local levels, supporting sustainable management practices
• Real-world applications informing environmental management and understanding societal impacts on food security, water quality, and industrial operations
• Policy influence through science referenced in key documents and lead author roles in major international assessments (e.g. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES))
• Accessibility through our portal providing easy access to global and region-specific data.

PML also hosts the NERC Earth Observation Data Analysis and Artificial-Intelligence Service (NEODAAS) which provides a range of services to support the use of Earth Observation (EO) within the UK research community and beyond.

Innovation at the forefront of real-world solutions

PML leads in developing and refining techniques that improve the accuracy of information gathered from satellites, aircraft, and drones. Our Earth observation data products are vital for informed environmental management and understanding impacts on society. Our work delivers practical applications that address pressing challenges:

• Protecting public health by improving operational forecasting of waterborne diseases and collaborating with health authorities to integrate this technology into existing surveillance systems
• Safeguarding aquaculture through advanced early warning systems for harmful algal blooms (HABs), reducing risks to human health and economic losses
• Managing invasive species including Pacific oysters through targeted monitoring and intervention
• Supporting coral conservation by developing satellite-based detection of coral spawn slicks to guide reef conservation and restoration efforts
• Preventing environmental disasters through satellite-based oil spill detection and dispersal modelling
• Protecting marine ecosystems by understanding and managing human impacts, of, for example, artificial light at night (ALAN)
• Tracking climate change and improving our understanding the ocean’s role in the global carbon cycle, including leading the creation of global records of essential climate variables from ocean colour data.
• Developing innovative approaches to tracking biodiversity and ecosystem health from space, supporting the valuation of ecosystem services
• Harnessing digital innovation by exploiting machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) to address key environmental and societal questions

• PML Projects