Improved analysis of remote sensed data using combined physical and engineering approaches

The accurate analysis of complex satellite scenes is a critical component of many environmental studies. Unfortunately, satellite data often contain noise of various kinds which can compromise scientific analysis. Moreover, a satellite scene generally contains information on many different space scales associated with a variety of geophysical and/or biogeochemical processes. Thus, an accurate segmentation of such scenes is an essential step prior to scientific analysis. Only after such steps (e.g., noise reduction, segmentation) have been done can meaningful geophysical analyses be performed. The paper shows the natural synogestic relationship between the engineering and scientific components of the aforementioned problems. The benefits obtained by such a combined approach are illustrated with specific examples (oceanic, atmospheric and terrestrial) using both polar orbiting and geostationary satellite data