IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society

The IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society (GRSS) is a professional society of the IEEE, active in the fields of geoscience and remote sensing.^[1]

History

The IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society was first established on April 20, 1961 as the IRE Professional Group on Geoscience Electronics.^[2]

Fields of Interest

From the IEEE GRSS website: "The fields of interest of the Society are the theory, concepts, and techniques of science and engineering as they apply to the remote sensing of the earth, oceans, atmosphere, and space, as well as the processing, interpretation and dissemination of this information."

Fields of interest by category:^[1]

• Remote Sensing of Land - The advances of desertification is a menace to agriculture and urban settlements in many areas of the world. Urban areas, natural resources and crop monitoring and critical for our development and sustainability.
• Oceanic Remote Sensing - Oceans cover 71 percent of the Earth's surface and contain 97 percent of the planet's water. Oceans contain the largest food and energy stocks, necessary for the development of an increasing population, and play an integral role in many of the Earth's systems including climate and weather.
• Atmospheric Remote Sensing - Katrina’s hurricane is a clear example of a devastating event due to an uncontrolled atmospheric event. Predicting hurricane trajectories helps save hundreds of lives and goods.
• Remote Sensing of the Cryosphere - The cryosphere contains an immense amount of solid water. During the past decades the amount of ice has been continuously decreasing, while the mean sea level has been slightly rising. Cryospheric monitoring provides the clues of the past of our planet, and may provide a clear indication of its future.
• Analysis Techniques - Data gathered from a number of remote sensors must be processed before it is converted into useful information. Classification techniques help in this process.
• EM and Radiative Transfer - Remote Sensors are all based on some sort of electromagnetic phenomena (scattering or emission). Understanding the propagation of the electromagnetic waves and their interaction with matter is critical to design new sensors and understand the measurements.
• Sensors and Platforms - Active and passive sensors, either in the microwave or in the visible and infrared parts of the spectrum are systematically used to gather data of a number of physical phenomena from ground, airplane and space.
• Education and Public Policy - Information (mainly from remote sensors) for the benefit of society is the moto of the Global Earth Observation System of Systems.

Publications

IEEE GRSS publishes five publications ^[1] focusing on its Fields of Interest:

• Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing (TGARS)
• Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters (GRSL)
• IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing (JSTARS)
• The GRSS Magazine
• The GRSS eNewsletter

Conferences

The IEEE GRSS sponsors a number of annual, international conferences,^[3] including

• The International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS)

References

1. "IEEE GRSS Home". Retrieved 12 May 2015.
2. IEEE Global History Network (2011). "IEEE Geoscience & Remote Sensing Society History". IEEE History Center. Retrieved 6 July 2011.
3. IEEE GRSS Events