Ivanna Waight, ERI Monitoring Officer, Visits Ithaca, NY For RS Training
During June 1st -15th ERI’s Monitoring Officer, Ivanna Waight, was at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York participating in a Satellite Remote Sensing Training. As posted on the University’s website, “the goal of the course is to teach participants the basic skills needed to work independently to acquire, analyze and visualize data sets derived from a variety of satellite sensors” including SeaWiFS, MODIS (aqua), MERIS, SSM/I etc.
The training, conducted by Dr. Bruce Monger, Senior Research Associate of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Cornell University, focused specifically on remote sensing as it relates to biological oceanography and is described as “highly methods-oriented”. The course featured various lecture sessions throughout the two weeks which encompassed introduction to remote sensing, working with UNIX and IDL command modes, sea surface temperature, wind theory etc. Problem sets were performed at the beginning of the course to assist participants in becoming acquainted and gain experience in writing IDL command scripts. Practical exercises on LINUX computers were also conducted to order data from satellite sensors (SeaWiFS, MODIS aqua etc.) and for analyzing and visualizing the ordered data using the SeaDAS interactive mode as well as the UNIX and IDL command mode.
“The course was very intense, but at the same time very interesting and informative.”
This being her very first remote sensing course and not having prior experience with programming, she felt she managed well especially since she was able to complete all the problem sets and practical exercises. Ivanna provides good reviews for Dr. Monger, and his two teacher assistants for being as helpful as they were throughout the running of the course. The knowledge and experience gained will certainly assist her in independently conducting data processing and research analysis especially in her role at the ERI as Monitoring Officer. She plans to continue exploring different data sets and areas in remote sensing for both marine and terrestrial realms.
