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Ocean, Measurements and Applications

  • Reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Remote Sensing

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series ((EESS))

  • 331 Accesses

Synonyms

Oceanography from space; Satellite oceanography

Definition

Oceanography. The scientific study of the ocean and its contents, including the biology, chemistry dynamics, and physics of the sea and the geological and geophysical processes affecting the sea floor.

Impact of remote sensing on oceanography

Introduction

It is well over four decades since oceanographers first started to consider what they might learn about the ocean by observing it from above, using sensors on high-altitude platforms. It is remarkable how creative and farseeing their early proposals were (Ewing, 1965). Long before low-power electronics, computer-based digital signal processing, and high-capacity data storage devices were technologies familiar to environmental scientists, the first pioneers envisaged temperature- and phytoplankton-mapping radiometers, altimeters for determining ocean currents, and radars to measure wind, waves, and other phenomena that create sea surface roughness patterns. It took...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ocean and Earth Science, University of Southampton, at National Oceanography Centre, European Way, Southampton, Venezuela

    Ian Robinson

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  1. Ian Robinson
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ian Robinson .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA

    Eni G. Njoku

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Robinson, I. (2014). Ocean, Measurements and Applications. In: Njoku, E.G. (eds) Encyclopedia of Remote Sensing. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-36699-9_121

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