The motivation for making offshore wind measurements for the wind energy industry is summarized including identifying the key parameters of interest, and providing a limited summary of available best practice recommendations for the offshore wind energy industry. A précis of in situ measurement technologies, installation guidance and uncertainty analyses, and best practice recommendations is provided. Next wind measurement devices are reviewed that are based on optical remote sensing (ground-based, airborne, and satellite-based techniques and applications) are relevant to the demands of the wind energy industry. Emphasis is placed on a review of lidar measurement techniques and use of lidar. For both ground-based and satellite-borne instrumentation, a précis of the technologies, uncertainty analyses, and best practice recommendations are given. Finally, the report concludes by providing a number of recommendations for future work.