Ocean Remote Sensing#

Welcome to an Introduction to Ocean Remote Sensing!

This resource is designed to be a practical guide to introduce the physical basis and interpretation of remotely-sensed observations of the ocean. Here, we walk through many of the common remote sensing platforms, the measurements they make, and how they are used in oceanographic science.

Note

This book is currently being written for a MS 274 Special Topics Course at the Moss Landing Marine Labs, San José State University. It is a work in progress and will continue to be updated through Fall 2024. If you have any feedback or constructive suggestions, feel free to submit an issue on the Github repository for this book.

This book is for people new to ocean remote modeling sensing it will hopefully also serve as a convenient reference for those who have been at it for a while. People with an introductory background in coding, some knowledge of calculus, and an understanding of Earth science topics will be most suited to leverage these resources.

The book is organized into four main sections:

  1. Getting Started - instructions for installing tools used throughout this book

  2. Physical Principles - a short background in various physics topics underlying remote sensing observations

  3. Measurements - description of the physical measurements made by remote sensing platforms

  4. Variables - overview of the oceanographic variations inferred from remote measurements

None of these sections is intended to be exhaustive - rather, the aim is to generate a practical introduction to the topic. Additional references are provided at the end of each section.

Table of Contents#

Resources

This book is created for an MS 274 Advanced Topics Course at Moss Landing Marine Labs, San José State University.