A solution is provided to a common inverse problem in satellite remote sensing, the retrieval of a variable y from a vector x of explanatory variables influenced by a vector t of conditioning variables. The solution is in the general form of a field of nonlinear regression models, i.e., the relation between y and x is modeled as a map from some space to a subset of a function space. Elementary yet important mathematical results are presented for fields of shifted ridge functions, selected for their approximation properties. These fields are shown to span a dense set and to inherit the approximation properties of shifted ridge functions. A serious mathematical difficulty regarding the practical construction of continuous fields of shifted ridge functions is pointed out; it is circumvented while providing grounding to a large class of construction methodologies. Within this class, a construction scheme that builds upon multilinear interpolation is described. When applied to the retrieval of upper-ocean chlorophyll-a concentration from space, the solution shows potential for improved accuracy compared with existing algorithms.