An Introduction to Ocean Remote Sensing

About this book

Fully updated, with significant new coverage of advances in satellite oceanography and results from new satellite missions, the second edition of this popular textbook introduces students to how remote sensing works, how to understand observations from Earth-observing systems, and the observations' importance to physical and biological oceanography. It provides full explanations of radiative transfer, ocean surface properties, satellite orbits, instruments and methods, visible remote sensing of biogeochemical properties, infrared and microwave retrieval of sea surface temperature, sea surface salinity retrieval, passive microwave measurements, scatterometer wind retrieval, altimetry and SAR. Also included are descriptions of the online archives where data can be obtained, and readers can obtain online tools for working with the data – enabling hands-on engagement with real-world observations. This is an ideal textbook for graduate and advanced undergraduate students in oceanography, remote sensing and environmental science, and a practical resource for researchers and professionals working with oceanographic satellite data.
 

Contents

Preface
List of chemical symbols
List of mathematical symbols
List of abbreviations and acronyms

1. Background
2. Ocean surface phenomena
3. Electromagnetic radiation
4. Atmospheric properties and radiative transfer
5. Reflection, transmission and absorption at the atmosphere/ocean interface
6. Ocean color
7. Infrared observations of sea surface temperature (SST)
8. Introduction to microwave imagers
9. Passive microwave observations of the atmosphere and ocean surface
10. Introduction to radars
11. Scatterometers
12. The altimeter
13. Imaging radars
14. Other missions: the gravity missions, ICESat-1 and -2, CryoSat-2, SMOS, Aquarius/SAC-D

Appendix: useful data tables
References
Index

Customer Reviews

Biography

Seelye Martin is an Emeritus Professor in the School of Oceanography at the University of Washington. He has been involved with passive microwave, visible/infrared and radar ice research since 1979, and has made many trips to the Arctic for research on sea ice properties and oceanography. Professor Martin has served on a number of NASA and NOAA committees and panels involving remote sensing and high latitude processes. From 2006–8, he worked at NASA Headquarters as Program Manager for the Cryosphere, where he also served as program scientist for the ICESat-1 and ICESat-2 missions. From 2009–12, he worked in a variety of roles for the NASA high-latitude IceBridge remote sensing aircraft program. For this work, in 2012 he was awarded the NASA Exceptional Public Service Medal.