B) SATELLITE REMOTE SENSING IN REGARD TO OCEANOGRAPHIC PURPOSES 
The technical feasability of viewin 
established during the last years, 
ture. 
Aims and purposes of viewing the oceans via satellite in a systematic manner 
can be associated with or attached to three general categories : 
g the oceans from space, obviously has been 
and results have been documented in litera- 
1. the study of the circulation, heat content, and horizontal heat flux of 
the global oceans, their susceptibility to the atmosphere and their 
influence on climate. 
2. the investigation and the study of the primary productivity of the ocean 
and it's susceptibility by the oceanic circulation and the atmosphere, 
as well as its influence on the marine food web, co, uptake, and climate, 
3. the caracteristics of sea ice, how they are influenced by the atmosphere 
and the ocean, and in turn they influence climate. 
During the last years there have been fundamental technological developments 
influencing future remote sensing (I), generally and also with regard to ocea- 
nographic remote sensing : 
f. the development of the space shuttle and its reusable principal compo- 
nent, the orbiter vehicle. 
II. the multi mission modular spacecraft (MMS), a basic vehicle for future 
unmanned missions in low earth orbit, to be launched and retrieved by 
the shuttle. 
111. the tracking and data relay satellite system (TDRSS), consisting of two 
geostationary communication satellites and a single ground station in 
White Sands, New Mexico. The System serves to relay communication from 
the space craft, and data vice versa. 
IV, the thematic mapper of LANDSAT 4, started on July 16, 1982 having an 
instantaneous field of view of 30 m in the visible and short wave infra- 
red wavelength bands, and. 
V. the global positioning system, consisting of an array of ultimately 18 
separate satellites, serving to establish the position of any vehicle 
on the ground or in space within several meters in all three coordinates. 
The estimated impact of ocean remote sensing on commercial operations adds up 
to many millions of dollars : offshore oil and gas, environmental forecasting, 
marine transportation, deep ocean mining, and marine fisheries, ... 
Spacerborne instruments for viewing the sea can be grouped into two different 
categories, active and passive instruments. Active instruments, lasers, lidars, 
radars, send out a signal and observe the reflected signal, intensity, angle of 
reflection, etc... The passive instruments like radiometers, observe the natural 
radiation. Wavelengths of observed radiation are the visible light, 0.4 to 0.8 um, 
the infrared, 3.5 to 4.0 um and 10 to 12 um, and the radio 
signals with wave- 
lengths between 1 and 10 cm. 
   
The ins! 
tellite: 
MSS, 92€ 
tellite. 
C) OVERV 
  
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