Department of Remote Sensing and Marine Optics

The Estonian Marine Institute's Department of Remote Sensing and Marine Optics mainly focuses on developing optically complex remote sensing methods, suitable for coastal sea and inland waters, and applying those methods. The department also studies the relationship between underwater light field and wildlife. 

Specific research fields of the Department of Remote Sensing and Marine Optics are for example identifying the flowering of potential toxic phytoplankton and its quantitative sensing with remote sensing methods, mapping of phytobenthos and the depth of shallow waters using satellites and airplane mounted sensors, and researching the global carbon cycle. Furthermore, the department concentrates on developing primary production models and remote sensing methods for evaluating the quality of the water in Baltic Sea and in lakes. 

The Department of Remote Sensing and Marine Optics has one of Europe’s perfect measuring devices kit, which consists of an underwater device kit (Wet labs AC-S, ECO-BB3, ECO-VSF3 to measure spectral absorption, attenuation, optical scattering and optical backscattering coefficient, Trios Ramses underwater spectrometers, Trios fluorometers for measuring the concentration of chlorophyll-a, phycocyanin and dissolved carbon) and laboratory equipment (e.g. CytoBuoy flow cytometer) and of hyperspectral remote sensing spectrometer located on the plane (HySpex).