Advances in Passive Remote Sensing of the Ocean

Abstract

Remote sensing of ocean processes using infrared, visible, and passive microwave data has advanced considerably over the last eight years. Although the basic sensors remained the same, techniques for processing and deriving geophysical and biological data have improved substantially. Infrared data are used routinely to derive high quality sea surface temperature estimates, and visible data are used to produce estimates of near‐surface phytoplankton pigment concentrations. Passive microwave data are used to estimate sea surface temperature, water vapor, wind speed, and rain rate. These basic data sets are then in turn used in estimating upper ocean velocities, water column primary production, and air/sea fluxes of latent heat and freshwater. Challenges remain in the area of algorithm development, but improvements in data processing and access has expanded the volume and range of oceanographic applications of these satellite data sets.

Phycocyanin detection from LANDSAT TM data for mapping cyanobacterial blooms in Lake Erie

“…Guided by advances in pigment analysis, the compositions of algal populations in aquatic systems are theoretically detectable by remote sensing. To date, the application of remote sensing to aquatic systems has focused mainly on the detection of chl a (Abbott & Chelton, 1991;Smith & Baker, 1982), the pigment common to all phytoplankton. Several satelliteborne sensors have been used for this purpose, including Coastal Zone Color Scanner (CZCS), Airborne Ocean Color Imager (AOCI), SeaWiFS, and Thematic Mapper (TM).…”

Satellite‐derived phytoplankton pigment structures in the Portuguese upwelling area

“…was that the southward extension of the Lisbon plume propagated with the same velocity as the coastal jet, indicating that the plume was probably fed by the jet. Satellite color images have been widely used to show large scale or mesoscale phytoplankton patterns and to provide synoptic and global views of pigment distributions (see, for example, the recent reviews by Abbott and Chelton [1991], Abbott and Zion [1985], and Peldez and McGowan [1986]). However, no systematic analysis of the Portuguese upwelling area has been performed previously using ocean color data.…”

Biological Oceanography by Remote Sensing

“…In this subsection three particular applications of ocean color relating to phytoplankton directly will be considered: measurement of chlorophyll and related pigments, of primary production, and of coccolithophores (a particular type of phytoplankton). The examples discussed are illustrative rather than comprehensive; other information may be found in the reviews of Abbott and Chelton 34 and Aiken et al 24 …”

“…A secondary effect may be through the influence of the horizontal and vertical currents on the swimming zooplankton that graze the phytoplankton. As numerous studies of mesoscale effects exist (see the review by Abbott and Chelton), 34 only a few examples will be discussed here.…”