Satellite remote sensing techniques have long been developed to understand diverse oceanographic and atmospheric processes which are responsible for the current environmental changes of the earth as well as future climate change. The ocean is one of the largest reservoirs of heat on the earth which ultimately affects our lives by controlling the atmosphere and earth environment through multiple air-sea interactions and feedback mechanisms. Understanding and predicting the changes in the ocean environment requires high quality earth/ocean observational data and in-situ measurements. Numerous satellites and sensors have provided us with a large amount of satellite measurements of the ocean and earth. Such a tremendous satellite database has given us an opportunity to investigate spatial structures of oceanic phenomena and their temporal changes over the decades. Satellite oceanography requires diverse skills and abilities from researchers in terms of computer programming, high level mathematics and physics, and a deep knowledge of the specific subjects involved.

This summer school intends to help and motivate postgraduate students, early-career scientists, and other professionals as well as newcomers to satellite oceanography by providing basic knowledge of remote sensing for advanced applications. The 4-day summer school will cover satellites and sensors, the principles of deriving oceanic parameters from satellite data in the three major areas (optical, infra-red, and microwave) of satellite oceanography. Courses will be composed of lectures, seminars, and hands-on training in satellite-data receiving procedures (e.g. NOAA/HRPT), including data calibration, image processing, and examples of application case studies. Specifically, some portion of this summer school will be devoted to introducing the first Korean Geostationary Satellite, “COMS”, which will be launched just before the summer school in 2009.

It is recommended that participants preview fundamental Linux or Unix commands before the summer school.

The official language of the school is English.