A variety of passive and active remote sensors, space-borne, air-borne, and ship-borne, are providing global, synoptic, and local observations of water composition, underwater objects, and benthic habitats. These sensors include passive visible and infrared radiometers, lidars, passive microwave radiometers, scatterometers, altimeters, and synthetic aperture radars. The data are interpreted in terms of surface temperature, chlorophyll concentration, sea level, wind stress, wave height, salinity, etc., and allow detection and monitoring of oil spills, pollution, river effluents, and navigational hazards. They are used in studies of ocean dynamics, water properties, marine boundary layer, air-sea transfer, sea-ice conditions, ocean and freshwater ecosystems, biological-physical interactions, and environmental change. This conference will address current and future remote sensing technologies to study and monitor the marine environment and inland waters, i.e., oceans, seas, bays, estuaries, river systems, lakes and reservoirs, lagoons and reefs, including land and atmosphere interactions. The focus will be on optically complex waters, atmospheric correction issues in coastal regions and over inland waters, and new applications and possibilities.