Finnish Workshop on Radiative Transfer – connections across disciplines

FMI-SPACE hosted the first Finnish Workshop on Radiative Transfer in 6–7 May, 2019. National experts on computational modelling and theory of radiative transfer gathered together to present their research and exchange ideas. The workshop was organized jointly by FMI, University of Eastern Finland, and University of Helsinki.

Researchers and group leaders across Finland presented radiative transfer modelling work applied to the atmosphere, biomedical optics, vegetation, snow, and astronomical objects. Recent and ongoing theoretical progress on combining different scales was also introduced. “Advanced modelling framework and fast solutions are crucial in the quickly developing field of atmospheric remote sensing“, says Hannakaisa Lindqvist, organiser of the workshop at FMI-SPACE. “For example, new satellites produce increasing amounts of data that benefit from efficient algorithms,” Lindqvist describes the FMI interests in the workshop.

The aim of the workshop was to connect Finnish researchers across scientific disciplines and to create a community for future collaboration in joint projects and enhanced researcher mobility. Prof. Tanja Tarvainen, organiser of the workshop from University of Eastern Finland, emphasizes the importance of collaboration: “We wanted to bring together radiative transfer researchers to advance collaboration and build networks especially for the young generation of researchers.” Tarvainen sees strong collaboration necessary for a multidisciplinary research community of younger generation that can benefit of the joint theoretical and methodological basis. “Our research field has significantly advanced from the huge development of computational resources during recent decades, and it is now possible to solve such modelling problems in realistic 4D scenarios that could not have been considered 10 years ago”, Tarvainen highlights.

The workshop finished with a visit to the scattering laboratory at the University of Helsinki. “Measurements involving the scattering and absorption of light by complex media have tremendous value in giving the ground truth reference to our computational models,” concludes Antti Penttilä, workshop organiser from University of Helsinki.

Finnish Workshop on Radiative Transfer was attended by 23 invited participants from the Finnish Meteorological Institute, University of Helsinki, University of Eastern Finland, VTT, University of Oulu, and the Finnish Geospatial Research Institute. The next workshop will be arranged in spring 2020 at the University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio.

More information:
Hannakaisa Lindqvist, Head of Group: hannakaisa.lindqvist@fmi.fi