Remote Sensing Ocean Monitoring
This is an excerpt from the paper...
On a planet where three-fourths of the surface is covered by ocean, monitoring ocean currents is vital for a number of reasons (Churnside). Ocean currents affect climate, transportation, recreation, the food supply, and even pharmaceuticals (Churnside). Yet understanding the ocean has been difficult because of the ocean's extreme depth and the lack of appropriate means for taking measurements of it (Churnside). Fortunately, however, sensor technology has made it easier to probe the ocean and monitor its currents, temperature, salinity, color, sea surface height, bathymetry, and the "distribution and abundance of biota" (Churnside). Everything from "optical imagers and acoustics on submersibles and surface ships" to "LIDAR, radar, multi- and hyper-spectral imagers, and optical and microwave radiometers on aircraft" exists today in ocean-monitoring venues. However, these sensors must be mounted on a vessel and taken to the section of ocean to be monitored. Given the vast size of the world's oceans, this means that very little of the ocean can be monitored at a time using these types of sensors. The ability to monitor an entire ocean at once using these sensors does not exist. Therefore, remote ocean sensing via satellite provides a valuable option allowing scientists to look at much larger sections of the ocean and get a better idea of how the ocean functions overall. This paper will discuss ocean remote sensing, its history, ap
. . .
to view the planet in its entirety (Morain 30). By the time the unmanned satellite Landsat emerged in the mid 1960s, remote sensing was rapidly gaining interest around the world (Morain 35).
From these early beginnings, remote sensing has grown to become extremely advanced and far more effective than in the past, largely because there was a need for more accurate and detailed information, concerns about national security, commercial opportunities, and a focus on international cooperation and international law (Morain 30-34). Remote ocean sensing, in particular, has benefited from the development of related technologies and scientific concepts, two of which are neural networks and radar. As Topouzelis, Karathanassi, Pavlakis, and Rokos (264) point out, Synthetic Aperture Radar, or SAR, images are used to detect dark formations in the ocean, because they are not affected by clouds and weather. Dark formations can be man-made(the result of oil spills, for example(or due to natural phenomena common in the ocean, such as "natural slicks" (Topouzelis, Karathanassi, Pavlakis, & Rokos, 264). Neural networks are capable of detecting dark formations in high-resolution SAR images and to tell the difference between real oil spil
. . .
Some common words found in the essay are:
Remote SensingSatellites, Churnside Fortunately, Arthur Clarke, ESA's ENVISAT, Civil War, Pavlakis Rokos, Morain Verne, Michigan ERIM, Radar SAR, Churnside Ocean, remote sensing, fundamentals remote, remote sensingsatellites, sensingsatellites sensors, tutorial fundamentals remote, remote sensingsatellites sensors, fundamentals remote sensingsatellites, tutorial fundamentals, topouzelis karathanassi pavlakis, ocean remote, sensors seawifs, karathanassi pavlakis rokos, topouzelis karathanassi, karathanassi pavlakis, pavlakis rokos,
Approximate Word count = 1484
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)
More Essays on Remote Sensing Ocean Monitoring
|