the objective of ocean color remote sensing is to retrieve the values of certain geophysical parameters, either atmospheric or oceanic, from satelite measurements of the upwelling radiation field. these include the phytoplankton type and concentration, sediments, yellow substances, aerosol type and vertical distribution, for instance. the subject therefore refers to a variety of inverse problems. in this talk, we present some statistical methodologies adapted to these problems. \\ this is a joint work with robert frouin (scripps institution of oceanography, uc san diego).