Critical Remote Sensing is emerging as a field of study that takes a step back to evaluate remote sensing itself. It asks questions such as: Who paid for this satellite? Who determines who can access the data? How does the recent turn toward big-data cloud computing affect ‘open’ data? What does the emergence of commercial remote sensing companies like Planet and computing platforms like Google Earth Engine mean for geoscientists? Are data being used to directly overcome ground access that would otherwise be unfeasible for political or other reasons? Is this study reinforcing or dismantling an existing power structure? Does this study empower or disenfranchise people within the satellite’s the field of view? Is this study entrenching or alleviating environmental injustices?

Remote sensing is now rightly considered a pillar of the modern geoscience toolkit, but the questions above are being asked and answered within a growing body of literature outside the AGU orbit. We therefore find a growing gap between the critical and applied (i.e., geoscientific) scholarship of remote sensing, despite substantial interest in critical remote sensing from geoscientists. This gap is due in part to epistemological differences, but also because few geoscience journals regard Critical Remote Sensing scholarship as an area of interest. This partly stems from a perception of the subfield as lacking in a substantial applied component. However, recent efforts to pursue remote sensing, especially of socioeconomic issues, in a more critical and reflective manner point to opportunities to bridge critical and applied remote sensing.

We therefore convene this panel session to discuss how insights from Critical Remote Sensing might be applied to the remote sensing seen throughout Fall Meeting without meaningfully degrading either critical or applied scholarship. Speakers include critical scholars with an appreciation for geosciences and geoscientists with an appreciation for critical work. We note that trained geographers often fit this description, and highlight the value of a geographic education in this discussion. The goal of the panel is to provide insights from across different fields of scholarship in an open discussion and hopefully develop concrete suggestions for geoscientists and critical scholars alike.