Science10 min read
Why the Ocean Changes Colour: Chlorophyll From Space
Why the sea turns green, turquoise or milky — and how ocean-colour satellites read chlorophyll from orbit to map blooms, currents and ocean life.
Dr. Mara Ellison ·
#satellites
9 articles
Blue Carbon12 min read
Eyes in the Sky: Remote Sensing for Kelp and Blue Carbon
Satellites have tracked giant kelp canopies since the 1980s. How remote sensing maps kelp forests, feeds carbon accounting, and where the pixels stop short.
Dr. Mara Ellison ·
Science8 min read
Ocean Colour from Space: How Satellites Read the Sea
Ocean colour satellites turn faint light reflected from the sea into maps of phytoplankton, sediment and kelp. How the sensors work, what they see — and what they miss.
Dr. Mara Ellison ·
Science7 min read
How Satellites Measure Sea Surface Temperature (and Where They Get It Wrong)
How satellites derive sea surface temperature from infrared and microwave radiometers, why clouds and fog mask kelp coasts, and how scientists validate SST.
Dr. Lena Fischer ·
Science9 min read
Reading the Ocean from Orbit: How Sea Surface Temperature Sensing Actually Works
From photon to map: the orbits, instruments, processing levels and data products behind satellite sea surface temperature — and how to read an SST map like an oceanographer.
Dr. Lena Fischer ·
Blue Carbon11 min read
The Digital MRV Stack: Sensors, Satellites and eDNA for Blue Carbon
How satellites, drones, in-water loggers and eDNA sampling combine into a digital MRV stack that makes ocean carbon projects measurable, auditable and affordable.
Priya Raman ·
Science11 min read
Hyperspectral Eyes on the Ocean: Seeing Kelp in a Hundred Colours
Hyperspectral sensors split light into hundreds of bands, separating kelp species, plankton groups and sediment that multispectral satellites blur together. Here's how.
Dr. Mara Ellison ·
Science11 min read
How Satellites See Kelp: Remote Sensing of Coastal Canopies
From Sentinel-2 pixels to drone orthomosaics, here's how scientists detect, map and track kelp forest canopies from space — and where the limits are.
Dr. Mara Ellison ·
Blue Carbon8 min read
The MRV Revolution: How Satellites, Drones and AI Are Cutting the Cost of Proof
Digital MRV — satellites, drones, acoustics, eDNA and machine learning — is collapsing the cost of verifying coastal carbon. Here's what works and what doesn't.
Priya Raman ·