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The Institute of Space and Earth Information Science (ISEIS) of The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) successfully hosted the Advanced Training Course in Ocean Remote Sensing of ESA-MOST China Dragon Cooperation last week. This is an essential part of the Dragon Programme of European Space Agency (ESA) and Ministry of Science & Technology (MOST) of China. Dr. LIAO Xiaohan, Director-general of the National Remote Sensing Center of China (NRSCC) and Prof. LIN Hui, ISEIS director were the co-chairmen of the training course. On the first day of the course, Professor Lin chaired the opening session, while Prof. FUNG Tung, Associate Pro-Vice-Chancellor of CUHK; Dr. Yves-Louis DESNOS, Head of Research and Development Section and Senior Advisor of Science, Applications and Future Technologies Department, European Space Research Institute (ESRIN); and Dr. ZHANG Songmei, Division Chief of NRSCC delivered speeches on behalf of CUHK, ESA, and MOST respectively. 

This one-week advanced programme consists of six sessions: Retrieval of sea Surface Salinity; Geophysical parameters from Radar Altimeters; Ocean Color & retrievals; Geophysical parameters from Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) remote sensing; Sea surface temperature (SST); and Models, Data Assimilation & Climate Variables. European scientists also introduced their new Earth observation satellites ‘Sentinels’ and latest algorithms and software for processing satellite images. 

45 Ph.D. students and young scientists from mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, India, Niger, Pakistan, Vietnam participated in the training course. There are also 16 teachers from France, Germany, mainland China, UK, Italy, Netherlands, and Hong Kong. All of them are leading scholars in optical, thermal and microwave remote sensing. Besides classroom learning, a student poster session was also arranged during the week to enhance the exchange among students. Six students received best poster awards for their excellent research results in satellite remote sensing. 

ISEIS is the Hong Kong Base of NRSCC. Major ISEIS research projects sponsored by NRSCC include Hong Kong Satellite Ground Receiving, cross-boundary water security for Hong Kong and Guangdong Province, and the air quality simulation of Pearl River Delta (PRD) region. ISEIS has been taking the lead to organize the PRD environmental remote sensing forum with universities and research institutions in Hong Kong, Macao, and Guangdong Province. One of the goals of ISEIS is to build up the tropical and subtropical remote sensing center of China.