Dr David Blondeau-Patissier

Prior to joining CSIRO Environment in Brisbane in September 2015 as a Research Scientist, I have worked at the Research Institute for the Environment and Livelihoods in Darwin (RIEL, Charles Darwin University - currently maintaining an Honorary position), CSIRO Land & Water (Black Mountain) in Canberra, Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML, UK) and in France with the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), France's largest governmental research organization, at the Laboratoire d'Océanographie de Villefranche (LOV), where I contributed to a variety of projects (casual contracts / term positions) on the water quality of North Australia's tropical waters, the Great Barrier Reef, the North Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea.

Over the past 20 years, I have specialized in the development of remote sensing approaches for coastal applications. More specifically, my research focuses on coastal water quality monitoring, ranging from the detection of phytoplankton (algal) blooms to the surveillance and monitoring of surface marine pollution, such as illegal oil discharges, using data from cutting edge satellite sensors. This includes the use of ocean colour, Synthetic Aperture Radars (SAR), and occasionally thermal, satellite sensors, mostly from the European Space Agency’s Sentinel satellite missions.

I have been involved in high-impact initiatives, including the development of a semi-automated SAR-based detection system for (illegal) oil discharges along the Australian coastline using transfer learning approaches and since 2015, I am part of the eReefs team, contributing to the water quality ocean colour remote sensing work package of this multi-agency partnership project for the monitoring of the iconic Great Barrier Reef.

Please visit my ResearchGate profile for more information.