The name of our laboratory is meant to reflect that we are primarily interested in the interactions of light with living organisms in our environment and in using light as a diagnostic and predictive tool for studying our environment.


The release of man-made trace gases and the burning of fossil fuels pose a potential threat to our environment in terms of ozone depletion and increased exposure to harmful ultraviolet radiation as well as a warmer climate.


Our vision is to become a world leader in remote sensing of the environment and in the development of instruments for measuring environmental changes.

A major part of our research is centered around the development of highly sophisticated algorithms for remote sensing retrievals. Our algorithms are based on accurate simulations of the radiative transfer process in the coupled atmosphere-surface system. Examples of "surfaces" of interest are snow and ice as well as liquid water media.


One of our current research interests is focused on the use of satellite data for retrieval of atmospheric and surface properties in high-latitude environments where snow and ice cover are prevalent for large portions of the year. Another interest is remote sensing of ocean color and the development of accurate methods for such retrieval. We are currently working on algorithms suitable for retrieval of atmospheric and aquatic parameters in coastal waters, building on an algorithm designed for open ocean water. A third major interest is to develop methods and algorithms for identifying and monitoring the health of coral reefs from space.