Science Group

Earth Observation Science & Applications

Improving the understanding and management of the ocean through the development and application of cutting-edge Earth Observation (EO) techniques and the pioneering of digital innovations in areas such as artifical intelligence (AI) and machine learning.

At a time when the sustainability of the ocean is under increasing threats from unprecedented and rapid changes, the “Earth Observation Science & Applications’ group is committed to harnessing new ways to monitor and evidence the changes and impacts taking place.

Building on PML’s world-class expertise in satellite-based ocean colour remote-sensing and in-situ marine monitoring, this includes:

  • driving innovations in marine science, exploiting past, existing and new generation Earth Observation (EO) data.
  • exploiting the opportunities afforded by machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) to address key environmental and societal questions
  • improving the synergy between in-situ, airborne and satellite observations to provide cost-effective monitoring of a variety of parameters (e.g. water quality, harmful algal blooms and eutrophication)
  • harnessing the capabilities of the latest Sentinel mission products, open-source tools and novel autonomous in-situ technologies.

The group’s areas of focus include the ocean carbon cycle; phytoplankton dynamics, community structure and function, harmful algal bloom (HAB) detection, fisheries and aquaculture, coastal and inland water quality, links between ecosystem health and human health, and data-driven decision making.

The group also leads research into, and the production of, climate data records in ocean colour, sea-surface height, sea state, and lake-water colour, with a view to assessing the status of our oceans for policy-making.

PML Projects