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Great Barrier Reef

Curtin’s Remote Sensing & Satellite Research Group (RSSRG)

A quantitative approach to satellite remote sensing of Australia oceans and land environments

Latest news

RSSRG inaugurates a new facility in Belmont, to host the NASA MarONet activity

RSSRG inaugurates a new facility in Belmont, to host the NASA MarONet activity

February 2024

The “Marine Optical Network” (MarONet) is a NASA-funded project by which Curtin’s RSSRG are responsible for deployment and operation of a large marine infrastructure used for so-called “system vicarious calibration” of the NASA PACE mission.

The new facility is where the 2 MarONet moorings and buoys will be assembled, calibrated, tested and prepared for successive 4- to 6-month deployments at sea.

The facility combines a large warehouse (~400 sqm) where all equipment and operations will take place, and office space where our technical team will be able to work and where we will regularly host our collaborators from the US part of this program.

The MarONet mooring is deployed!

The MarONet mooring is deployed!

February 2024


MarONet, has been specifically developed to support the “Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem” (PACE) mission, the first global hyperspectral ocean colour mission.
MarONet consists of two identical buoys deployed off Hawaii and Perth, which host a new generation of field deployable state-of-the-art spectrometers used for calibration of the satellite sensors. The rationale for 2 sites as part of MarONet is to collect more data in any given time frame, to include different atmospheric and oceanic conditions in the SVC, and to combine geometries of observation by having sites in both hemispheres. The Perth site was chosen in particular for its often extremely clear atmosphere, moderate variability of ocean optical properties.
The second part of the system, a 15-m tall spar buoy hosting the sea-deployable spectrometer, will be connected to the mooring around April 2024.

RSSRG welcomes Timothy (Tim) Burrell, Marine Optical Engineer working for our MarONet and “Blue Water Cal/val” IMOS activities.

RSSRG welcomes Timothy (Tim) Burrell, Marine Optical Engineer working for our MarONet and “Blue Water Cal/val” IMOS activities.

February 2024


Tim joined the RSSRG in February 2024 and will divide his time between two projects: the Marine Optical Network (MarONet) Project and the Ocean Color–Blue Water Calibration/Validation Project under the Australian Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS).

Before joining RSSRG, Tim earned his PhD from Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. He then pursued a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Hawai’i Center for Microbial Oceanography: Research and Education (C-MORE) before transitioning into a role as a Senior Research Specialist at the University of Hawai’i. During this time, Tim actively participated in the monthly Hawai’i Ocean Time-series (HOT) project and contributed to the Simons Collaboration on Ocean Processes and Ecology (SCOPE) supported by the Simons Foundation. With a strong foundation in field-based oceanographic science, Tim brings a diverse skill set to his work at Curtin University and looks forward to applying his expertise.

Research Associate Chandanlal Parida and Prof David Antoine attended the 5th International Ocean Colour Science (IOCS) meeting

Research Associate Chandanlal Parida and Prof David Antoine attended the 5th International Ocean Colour Science (IOCS) meeting

November 2023

As said on the meeting website, “The primary focus of the IOCS is to serve as a venue for the ocean colour community to communicate their views, ideas, concerns and issues with the satellite agencies. The programme for the IOCS-2023 meeting included invited keynote lectures, agency talks, breakout workshops, poster sessions and community Town Halls. Training events and side meetings were also scheduled”

C. Parida presented a poster on his work, and D. Antoine chaired the opening session and participated to 2 side meetings on the modelling of ocean primary production from space and on the newly established “System Vicarious Calibration” task force.

RSSRG participated to the 3rd research forum of the Australian Centre for Excellence in Antarctic Science (ACEAS)

RSSRG participated to the 3rd research forum of the Australian Centre for Excellence in Antarctic Science (ACEAS)

November 2023

The ACEAS research community gathered at the Hobart Function and Conference Centre, Tasmania, for their 3rd research forum.
Curtin’s RSSRG is part of this ARC-funded Centre and contributed to this event.
PhD student Rony Golder presented a poster on his research and Prof D. Antoine attended as co-lead of ACEAS program 1 and to contribute to the forum breakout and plenary sessions.

RSSRG participated to a forum of the “Australian-French Association for Research and Innovation” (AFRAN) on Developing research connections for the Indian Ocean

RSSRG participated to a forum of the “Australian-French Association for Research and Innovation” (AFRAN) on Developing research connections for the Indian Ocean

October 2023

The 2023 AFRAN Forum was held on Thursday 26 and Friday 27 October 2023 at Murdoch University in Perth and was supported by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade of the Australian Government.

Research capability presentations and discussions of potential collaborative project in the Indian Ocean region were at the centre of this event. Follow up meetings should happen in 2024.

RSSRG participated in the <a href=Indo-Pacific Space & Earth Conference“>

RSSRG participated in the Indo-Pacific Space & Earth Conference

October 2023

The goal of this 2-day conference (23-24 October) was to bring together leaders from across the Indo-Pacific and beyond for opportunities in space and cross-sector technologies and innovation.
Prof D. Antoine attended as RSSRG lead, to network for possible connections in the frame of developing an “Earth observation training centre” at Curtin.

The end-to-end satellite mission simulator got its way for publication in Sensors.

The end-to-end satellite mission simulator got its way for publication in Sensors.

September 2023

The SmartSAT CRC-funded project named “AquaWatch Pathfinders: Earth Observation Sensor Design Simulator Testbed (End to End Simulator)” was completed in 2022. This project was a collaboration with Cyanolakes Pty Ltd (https://www.cyanolakes.com), CSIRO, ANU, UQ and SatDek Pty Ltd, and was part of the development of the Aquawatch Australia mission (https://www.csiro.au/en/about/challenges-missions/aquawatch).

The project lead, Mark Matthews, had led publication of a demonstration study using the simulator, published in Sensors (https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/23/18/7824). In this work, RSSRG’s role was to define and run the numerical simulation of radiative transfer needed for the forward part of the simulator.

RSSRG welcomes Andrew Gray, Marine Optical Engineer for our new MarONet project.

RSSRG welcomes Andrew Gray, Marine Optical Engineer for our new MarONet project.

July 2023

In July, we welcomed Andrew Gray, moving to Perth from Hawaii to become the lead engineer on our new MarONet project.
MarONet stands for “Marine Optical Network” and will consist in deploying a specifically-designed optical buoy off Perth, in support to the “System Vicarious Calibration” of the upcoming NASA PACE mission (https://pace.gsfc.nasa.gov/) (“Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud and ocean Ecosystem”).
The optical system has been developed under leadership by the US NIST in particular (https://www.nist.gov/news-events/news/2023/01/ocean-color-system-gets-refresh-allowing-more-precise-and-accurate). It is a unique prototype allowing extremely accurate and stable measurement of the ocean reflectance, which is the primary product the PACE mission will derive, and from which multiple parameters of the marine ecosystem can be inferred.

Welcome Andrew!

RSSRG was awarded funding as part of a project on Marine Heat Waves (MHW) funded by the WA state Government

RSSRG was awarded funding as part of a project on Marine Heat Waves (MHW) funded by the WA state Government

July 2023

The WA Government, through its Department of Jobs, Tourism, Science and Innovation (JTSI), has selected a 4-year project involving four Perth Universities (UWA, lead, plus Curtin, Murdoch and Edith Cowan), and developed as part of the WA Government will to answer the challenges of the United Nations “Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030)” (https://oceandecade.org/).

RSSRG’s role will be to use satellite Earth Observation to characterise past MHWs off WA and to analyse their large-scale drivers. This work will be carried out by a PhD student under supervision by Prof. D. Antoine.

As every year, RSSRG have participated to the annual planning meeting of the Australia Integrated Marine Observing System, to which we contribute since 2014

As every year, RSSRG have participated to the annual planning meeting of the Australia Integrated Marine Observing System, to which we contribute since 2014

February 2023

This year the meeting was held in Hobart, Tasmania, 20th – 23rd February 2023.
As indicated on the meeting web page (https://imos.org.au/calendar/events/annual-planning/annual-meeting-2023), “The intent for this meeting is to provide updates on key topics and elements of the program, as well emerging NCRIS processes for the years ahead. The IMOS Governing Board will open the 2023 meeting with a discussion on the national research landscape, national challenges, and the relevance of IMOS. We will also discuss the emerging topic of observing in Sea Country and what the IMOS partnership should play.”

Full agenda here.

RSSRG attended the 2023 International Indian Ocean Science Conference (IIOSC2023)

RSSRG attended the 2023 International Indian Ocean Science Conference (IIOSC2023)

February 2023

The 2023 annual meetings of IIOE-2 Steering Committee, IOGOOS, IndOOS Resource Forum (IRF) and SIBER were held in Perth 6-10 February 2023, at the Indian Ocean Marine Research Centre (IOMRC).

Chandanlal Parida, research associate with RSSRG, and Prof. D. Antoine, RSSRG lead, attended various sessions in order to keep existing connections with these programs alive and to develop new ones.

Our Capabilities

The RSSRG has access to a number of research facilities, as described below

Dark room radiometric calibration

Dark room radiometric calibration

RSSRG calibration facility allows optical instruments to be calibrated against a National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) source.

The Thetis autonomous platform

The Thetis autonomous platform

A unique set of optical and oceanographic equipment has been put together onto a profiling platform, as shown of the left here.

Access to the Pawsey supercomputing centre

Access to the Pawsey supercomputing centre

RSSRG have access to the Pawsey Supercomputing Centre to processing large quantities of satellite remote sensing observations.