Remote Sensing in Australia–A Hitch-Hiker’s Guide

Dr Fred Prata

CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research

Aspendale, Victoria, Australia

Abstract

Australia has enjoyed remarkable success in remote sensing, encompassing fields as diverse as geology and meteorology, despite the fact that Australia has virtually no indigenous space industry. The political stability, open spaces, weathered terrain, continuous blue skies and clarity of the atmosphere have contributed to Australia’s use of this technology to tackle a variety of enviornmental problems. Another reason for Australia’s success in this field lies in the strong collaborations developed with international agencies–allowing us to “hitch-hike” on NASA, NOAA, ESA, NASDA and other foreign-based remote sensing platforms.

In this talk I will take you on a tour around Australia, stopping from time to time to introduce some of the interesting phenomena studied using remote sensing. Some of the topics I will touch on include, ocean currents, ‘mysterious’ lines on the Nullarbor plain, land surface temperatures and albedos, radiation budgets, smoke, dust storms, volcanic ash detection, meteorological clouds and fires.