About NordBaltRemS

With increasing requirements for the European Commission Water Framework Directive, monitoring of coastal areas is in the focus of research as well as related industries. Remote sensing is of special interest, as large areas can be sampled at once, beyond country borders and even automatically. 

The Baltic Sea is one of the most polluted areas in the world and is especially vulnerable to environmental changes caused by climate change. Issues that are particularly important in the Baltic Sea are monitoring of harmful algal blooms, which is important for marine aquaculture, fisheries and tourism, and monitoring of snow and ice, necessary for safe travelling on ice. Remote sensing of the Baltic Sea is a challenge, as it is very heterogenic, contains large amounts of humic substances and often has a low solar angle. However, it has been shown that with dedicated and locally calibrated algorithms the remote sensing data can be used for monitoring. This requires well educated researchers and intense co-operation between all countries bordering the Baltic Sea.

In all Baltic Sea countries remote sensing research is carried out, some of them being world leading groups. However, most groups are relatively small and it is not feasible to organize courses at each university separately. The NordBaltRemS network acts here as an umbrella research school for Msc and PhD students and young researchers in marine remote sensing, and as a discussion forum for researcher and other experts in the field.

Seatruthing course at Askö, 2010 - Polish research vessel the 'Oceania' of IOPAS