Yesterday, the AIR Centre traveled to Madrid to showcase the IWS (Internal Waves Service) at SPIE Sensors + Imaging 2025.

João Pinelo, Head of AIR Centre’s Data Science, Cloud Infrastructure, and Development Program, chaired the Marine Sensing II session at the conference Remote Sensing for Agriculture, Ecosystems, and Hydrology XXVII and presented his invited paper “The Internal Waves Service (IWS): A World-First Open Repository for Planetary-Scale ISW Monitoring”.

The IWS is the first global service for detecting internal solitary waves (ISWs) from space, using SAR satellite data and machine learning. It has already produced a validated global ISW map, uncovering events in both well-known hotspots and under-reported regions. ISWs influence ocean mixing, climate variability, and ecosystems. They are also critical for offshore energy, marine safety, and subsea operations.

The IWS has become more than a platform. It has grown to a community of 23 institutions across 12 countries co-designing the future of ocean monitoring.
By integrating data from past, present, and upcoming satellite missions with in-situ measurements, the IWS will evolve into a comprehensive analysis and monitoring hub supporting both scientific research and operational applications.

This presentation reflects the AIR Centre’s ongoing commitment to strengthening global ocean monitoring capabilities.