Certain environmental satellite systems may have restrictions on data distribution.
Just because the satellite exists does not necessarily mean you have access to its data
for your particular area of interest. Usually, such restrictions involve systems that have
security or military applications. Some systems may have been designed for restricted
research purposes or simply does not produce data over certain areas. Often, simply
knowing the country, agency or enterprise of origin (i.e. who owns the satellite), and
what the satellite system was designed to detect provides insight into (a) the likelihood
of you obtaining data and (b) whether or not you will need to pay for it. As a result, we
also identify the sensor’s country or agency of origin, and type (commercial, research
and development, military, etc).
As this chapter is intended to be a practical guide for aquatic coastal managers, this
section is limited to polar-orbiting satellites that are: (i) in orbit and functioning as of
2005, (ii) able to sense the Earth at mid-latitudes, and (iii) have a spatial resolution that
is less than 70 km. There is no attempt to list satellites that have been launched but are
no longer being used, or have been proposed or are being built for future launch. Nor do
we review academic literature pertaining to these sensors and their applications, or
provide engineering details of the satellites and sensors. Comprehensive presentations
of this type of information are available elsewhere (e.g. Kramer, 2002 and other
chapters in this volume).
Other than Figure 2, we provide no sample images derived from satellite data in
this generalized chapter. For managers, the most immediately fulfilling means to
appreciate this aspect of spaceborne remote sensing is to search the internet. Thus, we
provide a primary Web address for each sensor. Note that many of these Web sites are
hosted by the space agency which owns the satellite, and therefore the site may have a
space engineering focus. Similarly, the sites for satellites owned by private companies
tend to have a commercial focus. Most of these sites, however, have linkages to the
academic and applied aquatic communities. We encourage managers to explore the
linkages to these sites as a means of viewing the now countless examples of how these
Earth-observation sensors are being employed in aquatic environments.
It should be evident that these satellite sensors have natural groupings, with each
grouping having near-identical aquatic applications. As a result, although there is a
buffet of satellites and at least thirty relevant sensors, they can be viewed as comprising
seven distinct groups of satellite sensors: land-oriented multispectral sensors, marineoriented multispectral sensors, thermal IR sensors, altimeters, synthetic aperture radars,
passive microwave sensors and scatterometers.
4.1 MULTISPECTRAL SENSORS
Multispectral sensors are listed in Tables 1A and 1B. They fall into two categories:
those that are designed primarily for terrestrial applications but are employed in coastal
environments (Table 1A), and those whose spectral bands and sensitivities have been
optimized for aquatic applications (i.e. to observe aquatic constituents – Table 1B). The
sensors in both groups are restricted by the presence of clouds. As defined in the table
caption, applications of a given sensor are identified by a grey or black bar. If the
application is reasonably well founded, it is identified with a black bar. In practice,
these are the only applications that are likely to be of immediate operational value to
coastal managers. One relevant consideration is that most of these sensors are flown on
commercial satellites and therefore their data must be purchased.
206
Whitehouse and Hutt
Just because the satellite exists does not necessarily mean you have access to its data
for your particular area of interest. Usually, such restrictions involve systems that have
security or military applications. Some systems may have been designed for restricted
research purposes or simply does not produce data over certain areas. Often, simply
knowing the country, agency or enterprise of origin (i.e. who owns the satellite), and
what the satellite system was designed to detect provides insight into (a) the likelihood
of you obtaining data and (b) whether or not you will need to pay for it. As a result, we
also identify the sensor’s country or agency of origin, and type (commercial, research
and development, military, etc).
As this chapter is intended to be a practical guide for aquatic coastal managers, this
section is limited to polar-orbiting satellites that are: (i) in orbit and functioning as of
2005, (ii) able to sense the Earth at mid-latitudes, and (iii) have a spatial resolution that
is less than 70 km. There is no attempt to list satellites that have been launched but are
no longer being used, or have been proposed or are being built for future launch. Nor do
we review academic literature pertaining to these sensors and their applications, or
provide engineering details of the satellites and sensors. Comprehensive presentations
of this type of information are available elsewhere (e.g. Kramer, 2002 and other
chapters in this volume).
Other than Figure 2, we provide no sample images derived from satellite data in
this generalized chapter. For managers, the most immediately fulfilling means to
appreciate this aspect of spaceborne remote sensing is to search the internet. Thus, we
provide a primary Web address for each sensor. Note that many of these Web sites are
hosted by the space agency which owns the satellite, and therefore the site may have a
space engineering focus. Similarly, the sites for satellites owned by private companies
tend to have a commercial focus. Most of these sites, however, have linkages to the
academic and applied aquatic communities. We encourage managers to explore the
linkages to these sites as a means of viewing the now countless examples of how these
Earth-observation sensors are being employed in aquatic environments.
It should be evident that these satellite sensors have natural groupings, with each
grouping having near-identical aquatic applications. As a result, although there is a
buffet of satellites and at least thirty relevant sensors, they can be viewed as comprising
seven distinct groups of satellite sensors: land-oriented multispectral sensors, marineoriented multispectral sensors, thermal IR sensors, altimeters, synthetic aperture radars,
passive microwave sensors and scatterometers.
4.1 MULTISPECTRAL SENSORS
Multispectral sensors are listed in Tables 1A and 1B. They fall into two categories:
those that are designed primarily for terrestrial applications but are employed in coastal
environments (Table 1A), and those whose spectral bands and sensitivities have been
optimized for aquatic applications (i.e. to observe aquatic constituents – Table 1B). The
sensors in both groups are restricted by the presence of clouds. As defined in the table
caption, applications of a given sensor are identified by a grey or black bar. If the
application is reasonably well founded, it is identified with a black bar. In practice,
these are the only applications that are likely to be of immediate operational value to
coastal managers. One relevant consideration is that most of these sensors are flown on
commercial satellites and therefore their data must be purchased.
206
Whitehouse and Hutt