The AMS Short Course on Remote Sensing Methods and Applications in
Air-Sea Interaction, co-sponsored by the AMS Committees on Air-Sea
Interaction and Satellite Meteorology and Oceanography, was held
on 9 February 2003 preceding the 83rd AMS Annual Meeting in Long
Beach, California. An interactive approach was used to provide
sufficient background and experience for the novice in remote
sensing to determine which of the available products are of use
for solving a particular problem, how to validate the data against
more conventional measurements, and how to take advantage of
remotely sensed data to answer scientific questions. There were 20
attendees from a variety of organizations. Each attendee had a
PC equipped with Powerpoint versions of the presentations and the
MATLAB (Mathworks, Inc.) software package to run the interactive
labs prepared by the instructors.
The course reviewed basic principle of satellite-mounted remote
sensors, with an emphasis on the best uses and the limitations of
the measurements. Methods for making comparisons between remote
and in situ measurements were presented, along with examples of
applications of the data to research in air-sea interaction and atmosphere-ocean coupling. Topics included vector winds from scatterometry
(Dr. Michael Freilich, Oregon State University), sea level
anomalies from the altimeter (Dr. Kathryn Kelly, University of
Washington), sea surface temperature (Dr. Gary Wick, NOAA/ETL),
precipitation (Dr. George Huffman, Goddard Space Flight Center),
fluxes (Dr. Carol Anne Clayson, Florida State University), and
comparisons with TAO data (Dr. Yolande Serra, NOAA/PMEL).
Three 45-minute presentations in the morning were followed by a
45-minute lab period, during which the instructors circulated
among the attendees to assist with labs and answer questions. The
same format was followed in the afternoon with a second lab session.
The instructors found that the labs were particularly helpful in
encouraging the attendees to ask questions about the material and
applications of the data. Although the attendees were enthusiastic
about the content and format, more time could have been allotted
for the labs and a more uniform format for the labs would have
improved the presentation. Suggestions from attendees included
expanding the course to two days and including additional sensors.
AMS computer support for the course was excellent. The coordinator
for the course was
Dr. Kathryn Kelly, Applied Physics Laboratory, University of
Washington. The Powerpoint presentations and the lab files are
available at http://ultrasat.apl.washington.edu/ams_short.
