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INFORMATION ASPECTS OF OCEANOGRAPHIC REMOTE SENSING DATA 
by 
P.J.F. Geerders 
Netherlands Centre for 
Oceanographic Data 
c/o KNMI 
P.O.Box 201 
3730 AE DE BILT 
the Netherlands 
This paper will illustrate some experiences of oceanographers 
with the use of Remote Sensing as a tool for their work. This 
work can be in the open ocean or near the coast or in estuaries. 
Especially, the problems of acquisition and processing of RS data 
will be given attention. The paper will try to describe a feasible 
‘link between the data- and information exchange within the 
oceanographic world and the distribution of Remotely Sensed 
oceanographic data. 
IOC/IODE Task Team on Oceanographic Remote Sensing Data 
In January 1979, the Working Committee on International Oceano- 
graphic Data Exchange, IODE, of the Intergovernmental Oceano- 
graphic Commission, IOC, established a Task Team on "Exchange and 
Archival of Air- and Spaceborne Remotely Sensed Oceanographic 
Data". The terms of reference include activities like: 
- identify the needs for RS data and for formats for exchange 
of such data, 
- identify available data and make recommendations on their 
exchange and archiving. 
The Task Team has recognised that the main problem today is the 
problem of "awareness". Although the present RS dataholders make 
large efforts to advertise their dataholdings and the dataproducts 
they can produce, still a major part of the oceanographic 
community is unaware of this. 
The IODE forms the meeting point for the many national oceano- 
graphic datacentres that exist in the world. They are responsible 
for the exchange of oceanographic data and information to the 
benifit of the oceanographic community. The working Committee 
gives its support to various international programmes with oceano- 
graphic aspects. Besides the national datacentres, there are data- 
centres for specific subjects. Finally, as main focal points, 
there are two World Data Centres for Oceanography, one in 
Washington and one in Moscow. For the exchange of data and 
information within this "network", standards have been developed 
Recently the General Format 3 (GF-3) was developed and accepted 
for oceanographic data exchange. 
Satellite data 
Satellites for ocean observation produce immense amounts of 
information and data. As an example, SEASAT produced,from 
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