PORSEC2008 was successfully held in Guangzhou China
PORSEC2008 - the 9th Pan Ocean Remote Sensing Conference was successfully held in Guangzhou China on December 2 – 6， together with the “International Remote Sensing Tutorial Workshop” held on 27-30 Nov 2008. PORSEC2008 was hosted by the South China Sea Institute of Oceanology (SCSIO), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), organized by the South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, CAS, the International PORSEC Association, the National Nature Science Foundation of China and the Guangzhou Association for Science and Technology.
Former Minister of the Ministry of Science & Technology of China, Academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xu Guanhua was the Honorary Chairman of the conference. Dr. Danling Tang from the South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, CAS, and Dr. Kristina Katsaros, President of the International PORSEC Association, were the General Chairmen of the conference. Many governmental officials attended the conference, such as Director of the National Remote Sensing Center of China, Dr. Zhang Guocheng; Director of the High-tech Division of the Ministry of Science & Technology of China, Mr. Shao Liqin; Deputy Director of the Guangdong Science and Technology Department, Mr. Zhong Xiaoping; Vice president of the Guangzhou Association for Science and Technology, Mr. Huang Min; Department Chief of the Bureau of the Science and Technology for Resources and Environment, CAS, Mr. Ren Xiaobo; and Executive Director, Dr. Zhang Si, of the South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, CAS.
The biennial conferences-PORSEC held in different places in the world represents the most advanced scientific exchange in the realm of remote sensing. The theme of this conference – the 9th PORSEC was Oceanic Manifestation of Global Changes. It attracted around 400 scientists from about 40 different countries or regions such as USA, Russia, Canada, Japan, India, Ukraine, Argentina, Korea, Syria, Belgium, Norway, Croatia, Estonia, Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Vietnam, The Netherlands and so on to gather in Guangzhou to discuss the heated issues of Remote Sensing science and technology and Global environmental changes. Approximately 300 academic presentations were presented at the conference.
On 3rd December, Dr. Danling Tang, Chairman of the PORSEC2008, presided over the opening ceremony. Dr. Zhang Si, Executive Director of SCSIO, CAS, gave the opening remark. Academician Xu Guanhua, Prof. Ola M. Johannessen and Prof. Jim Gower gave keynote speeches respectively on topics of global environmental changes and studies on remote sensing applications. Dr. Xu Guanhua mentioned that a distinguished feature of the current development of ocean science research was to promote scientific developments through the implementation of major international scientific programs such as CODP, IMBER; marine environmental monitoring tended to become long-term, real-time, continuous, and multiplatform. And ocean remote sensing technology met the requirements.
The conference consisted in four parts- satellite observation system, global changes, natural hazards and coastal environment, two workshops- Workshop on South China Sea and Indian Ocean: Ocean Processes in relation to Climate Changes and Workshop on Data Sampling, Consistency, Archiving, Distribution, Sharing and International Co-operations, and a poster session with more than 80 posters. Scientists discussed the heated issues concerning ocean remote sensing studies and applications, multi-sensor studies, links between physical and biological mesoscale oceanic processes, SAR application, global water cycles, passive and active microwaves, satellite based air-sea flux estimates, polar oceanography, natural hazards, analysis of satellite water color data in case 2 waters, coastal ecosystems, and remote sensing and GIS application to coastal waters and coastal zone management. Potential international cooperations were catalyzed.
The cruise banquet was held in the big antique designed ship named God of the South China Sea on the evening of December 5th. Participants enjoyed the beautiful night scenes on both sides of the Pearl River as the ship slowly moved on. During the cruise, award certificates-First, Second, Third and Outstanding prizes were given to the 25 poster prize winners out of the 80 competitors..
On the closing ceremony on 6th December, remote sensing experts-Pan Delu, H.Shimoda, Stan Wilson, Yves Crevier, Susanne Lehner, Craig Donlon from China, Japan, the USA, Canada, Germany and The Netherlands respectively, gave speeches in the special session on space agencies-current missions and plans, introducing trends of the development of satellite remote sensing technology and remote sensing research.
Before the conference, there was the pre-conference PORSEC2008 workshop “International Remote Sensing Tutorial Workshop” organized by Dr. Danling Tang. 10 renowned scientists in the field of remote sensing were specially invited to gave lectures to more than 50 young scholars and students. And there was a science expedition on a ship along the Pearl River for optics work and sample collection on the last day of the tutorial workshop. The pre-conference tutorial workshop had made considerable contribution to training and preparing young remote sensing scientists.
Nowadays, researches on world environmental issues are mostly based on satellite remote sensing. It is a consensus among the participants of the conference that the PORSEC 2008 provided a very good opportunity for mutual communication and strengthening international cooperation. The conference shown that the ocean remote sensing of China played an important part in the field of remote sensing in the world, and also demonstrated the important progress made in ocean remote sensing in recent years by the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Co-organizers:
Key Lab of Tropical Marine Environmental Dynamics, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, CAS
Chinese Society of Oceanography
Institute of Remote Sensing Applications, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Key Lab of Ocean Circulation and Wave, Institute of Oceanography, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Institute of Space and Earth Information Science, The Chinese University of HK
Key Laboratory of Marine Sciences and Numerical Modeling, State Oceanic Administration, China
National Remote Sensing Center of China
Key Laboratory of Ocean Remote Sensing, Ministry of Education, The Ocean University of China
State Key Lab of Marine Environmental Science, Xiamen University
State Key Lab of Satellite Ocean Environment Dynamics, the Second Institute of Oceanography, SOA
Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research for Sustainable Development, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Sponsors:
Canadian Space Agency
Fisheries and Oceans CANADA
European Space Agency (ESA)
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, JAXA
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
US National Science Foundation
National Nature Science Foundation of China, Grant No.40576053
