AIRS Research Areas

Air-Sea Exchange

  • Gas and Heat
  • Biogeochemical Cycling
  • Rainfall

Coastal Region

  • Rivers
  • Tidal Flats
  • Nearshore

Ocean/Atmosphere

  • Climate Change
  • Ocean Circulation
  • Atmospheric Rolls
  • Hurricanes

Sensors

  • Microwave
  • Infrared
  • Laser
  • Hydrophone
  • Dissolved Gas

Waves

  • Wave Breaking
  • Internal Waves

Educational Opportunities

Graduate and undergraduate students who wish to study the intersection of atmospheric sciences, oceanography, and engineering at the Applied Physics Laboratory may work with AIRS advisors who have joint apointments in UW academic departments.  More>>

What We Do

The Air-Sea Interaction and Remote Sensing (AIRS) Department is a diverse group of scientists, engineers, technical support staff, and students that conducts research focused on the air-sea interface by using a wide variety of remote sensing techniques.

Our interests range from the global scale of climate change and ocean circulation to the smallest scales of the physics of air-sea heat and gas exchange.

Our remote sensing tools also span a wide range of scales—from satellite remote sensing, to field experiments using surface and airborne platforms, and to laboratory experiments in wave tanks. Remote sensing instruments used include electro-optical sensors (microwave, infrared, and laser) and acoustic sensors (sonars and hydrophones).

Department Chair
Air-Sea Interaction and
Remote Sensing


What's New?


Listening to marine mammals and their undersea soundscapes

Acoustic remote sensing applications include the use of hydrophones to record ambient sound, to measure oceanic rainfall, and to monitor marine mammals.  More>>


Remote sensing of river flow

Electro-optical sensors developed here study coherent structures in rivers and estuaries where surface signatures are used to infer physical phenomena in river flows.  More>>