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AN INTRODUCTION TO OCEAN REMOTE SENSING

Second edition

Fully updated, with significant new coverage of advances in satellite oceanography and
results from new satellite missions, the second edition of this popular textbook intro-
duces students to how remote sensing works, how to understand observations from Earth-
observing systems, and the importance of these observations to physical and biological
oceanography. It provides full explanations of radiative transfer, ocean surface properties,
satellite orbits, instruments and methods, visible remote sensing of biogeochemical prop-
erties, infrared and microwave retrieval of sea surface temperature, sea surface salinity
retrieval, passive microwave measurements, scatterometer wind retrieval, altimetry and
SAR. This new edition also includes descriptions of the online archives where data can be
obtained, and where readers can obtain online tools for working with the data enabling
hands-on engagement with real-world observations.
This is an ideal textbook for graduate and advanced undergraduate students taking
courses in oceanography, remote sensing and environmental science, and provides a prac-
tical resource for researchers and Earth science professionals working with oceanographic
satellite data.

Online resources at www.cambridge.org/oceanremotesensing:

r Links to online archives where data can be obtained
r Links for readers to obtain online tools for working with the data
r Full sets of figures from the book in JPEG and PPT formats

seelye martin is Emeritus Professor in the School of Oceanography at the University

of Washington. He has been involved with passive microwave, visible/infrared and radar
ice research since 1979, and has made many trips to the Arctic for research on sea ice
properties and oceanography. Professor Martin has served on a number of NASA and
NOAA committees and panels involving remote sensing and high-latitude processes. From
2006 to 2008, he worked at NASA Headquarters as Program Manager for the Cryosphere,
where he also served as program scientist for the ICESat-1 and ICESat-2 missions. From
2009 to 2012, he worked in a variety of roles for the NASA high-latitude IceBridge remote
sensing aircraft program. For this work, in 2012 he was awarded the NASA Exceptional
Public Service Medal.

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A N I N T RO D U C T I O N TO O C E A N
R E M OT E S E N S I N G
second edition

S E E LY E M A RT I N
School of Oceanography, University of Washington

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Seelye Martin
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University Printing House, Cambridge CB2 8BS, United Kingdom

Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York
Cambridge University Press is part of the University of Cambridge.
It furthers the Universitys mission by disseminating knowledge in the pursuit of
education, learning and research at the highest international levels of excellence.

www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9781107019386
First edition 
c Cambridge University Press
Second edition 
c Seelye Martin 2014
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception
and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,
no reproduction of any part may take place without the written
permission of Cambridge University Press.
First edition published 2004
Paperback edition published 2011
Second edition published 2014
Printing in the United Kingdom by TJ International Ltd. Padstow, Cornwall
A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data
Martin, Seelye, 1940
An introduction to ocean remote sensing / Seelye Martin. Second edition.
pages cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-107-01938-6 (hardback)
1. Oceanography Remote sensing. I. Title.
GC10.4.R4M375 2014
551.46028 7 dc23 2013048911
ISBN 978 1 107 01938 6 Hardback
Additional resources for this publication at www.cambridge.org/oceanremotesensing
Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of
URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication,
and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain,
accurate or appropriate.

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To the memory of my mother

Lucy Gray Martin
April 19, 1915June 13, 2002

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Contents

Preface page xi
List of chemical symbols xiv
List of mathematical symbols xv
List of abbreviations and acronyms xxi
1 Background 1
1.1 Introduction 1
1.2 Definition of remote sensing 3
1.3 Satellite orbits 4
1.4 Geosynchronous satellites 12
1.5 Sun-synchronous satellites 13
1.6 Imaging techniques 15
1.7 Processing levels, archives, data records and processing 22
1.8 Past, present and pending satellite missions 26
2 Ocean surface phenomena 35
2.1 Introduction 35
2.2 Ocean surface winds and waves 35
2.3 Ocean currents, geostrophy and sea surface height 46
2.4 Sea ice 50
3 Electromagnetic radiation 53
3.1 Introduction 53
3.2 Descriptions of electromagnetic radiation 53
3.3 Ways to describe EMR 61
3.4 Radiation from a perfect emitter 66
3.5 The ideal instrument 71
4 Atmospheric properties and radiative transfer 79
4.1 Introduction 79
4.2 Description of the atmosphere 79
4.3 Molecular absorption and emission 86
4.4 Scattering 90

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viii Contents

4.5 Atmospheric attenuation 96

4.6 Application to the ideal instrument 99
4.7 The radiative transfer equation 101
4.8 Specific solutions of the radiative transfer equation 105
4.9 Diffuse transmittance and skylight 110
5 Reflection, transmission and absorption at the atmosphere/ocean interface 113
5.1 Introduction 113
5.2 The interface 115
5.3 Transmission across an interface 122
5.4 Absorption and scattering properties of seawater 126
5.5 Reflection from foam 135
6 Ocean color 136
6.1 Introduction 136
6.2 Absorption and scattering by phytoplankton, particulates and
dissolved material 139
6.3 Ocean color satellite instruments 147
6.4 SeaWiFS, MODIS, VIIRS and their calibrations 152
6.5 Atmospheric correction and retrieval of the water-leaving radiance 159
6.6 Surface validation data sets and the vicarious calibration 169
6.7 Chlorophyll reflectance and fluorescence 171
6.8 The empirical, semianalytic and biogeochemical algorithms 174
6.9 The Pre-Aerosol, Clouds and ocean Ecosystem (PACE) mission 192
7 Infrared observations of sea surface temperature (SST) 194
7.1 Introduction 194
7.2 What is SST? 197
7.3 Properties of AVHRR, MODIS and VIIRS bands used in the SST
retrieval 200
7.4 Atmosphere and ocean properties in the infrared 203
7.5 SST algorithms 208
7.6 Cloud-detection and masking algorithms 221
7.7 Error and bias of the data sets 227
7.8 Other GHRSST data sets and merged products 229
7.9 Illustrations and examples 231
8 Introduction to microwave imagers 236
8.1 Introduction 236
8.2 General antenna properties 237
8.3 Measurement of a surface radiance with an antenna 242
8.4 Conical scanners and the surface emissivity 244
8.5 Antenna pattern correction (APC) 245
8.6 Passive microwave imagers 248

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Contents ix

9 Passive microwave observations of the atmosphere and ocean surface 260

9.1 Introduction 260
9.2 Atmospheric absorption and transmissivity in the microwave 260
9.3 Radiative transfer in the microwave 266
9.4 Dependence of the emissivity on surface waves and foam 273
9.5 Temperature and salinity 285
9.6 Open ocean algorithms 288
9.7 WindSat retrieval of wind speed and direction 295
9.8 Sea-ice algorithms 300
10 Introduction to radars 308
10.1 Introduction 308
10.2 Radar equation 309
10.3 Determination of 0 within an FOV 313
10.4 Range binning 315
10.5 Doppler binning 319
10.6 Oceanic backscatter 324
11 Scatterometers 331
11.1 Introduction 331
11.2 Background 333
11.3 How scatterometers derive the wind velocity 336
11.4 NSCAT scatterometer 342
11.5 AMI and ASCAT scatterometer 343
11.6 The rotating beam scatterometers 346
11.7 Advantages and disadvantages of the different scatterometers 354
11.8 The ISS-RapidScat 355
11.9 Cross-calibrated multi-platform winds (CCMP) 356
11.10 Applications and examples 356
12 The altimeter 362
12.1 Introduction 362
12.2 Shape of the Earth 363
12.3 Past, present and future altimetric satellites 368
12.4 TOPEX/POSEIDON 368
12.5 JASON-1/JASON-2 378
12.6 Altimeter interaction with a specular sea surface 380
12.7 Effect of surface waves on the altimeter return 385
12.8 Errors and biases in the retrieval of sea surface height 389
12.9 Applications and examples 393
13 Imaging radars 401
13.1 Introduction 401
13.2 Background 402

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x Contents

13.3 Resolution of side-looking radars (SLRs) 409

13.4 How the SAR achieves its resolution 409
13.5 RADARSAT-2 SAR 415
13.6 Other operational SARs 422
13.7 Applications and examples 423
14 Other instruments: the gravity missions, ICESat-1 and -2, CryoSat-2, SMOS
and Aquarius/SAC-D 436
14.1 Introduction 436
14.2 Gravity missions 436
14.3 The ICESat-1, ICESat-2 and CryoSat-2 missions 441
14.4 SMOS and Aquarius/SAC-D 449
Appendix 455
References 458
Index 489
The color plates will be found between pages 260 and 261

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Preface

Since the publication of the first edition a decade ago, the variety and use of ocean observing
satellites has continued to grow. Combined with a similar expansion in computer resources
and in surface receiving and distribution networks, this growth has greatly increased our
knowledge of the properties of the upper ocean and the overlying atmosphere.
Ten years ago, many satellites were large, managed by single countries and carried
multiple sensors. Now, by international agreement, different countries collaborate on con-
stellations of smaller satellites that fly in complementary orbits and focus on a single
oceanic or atmospheric feature such as biology, winds or sea surface temperature (SST).
Many of these data sets such as SST from the constellations are available in a common
format from public archives that also provide software tools for working with the data.
These constellations and their archives greatly improve research opportunities for students
and professionals.
For remote sensing, the use of the electromagnetic spectrum combined with our under-
standing of the oceanic surface and atmospheric properties has stimulated innovations
in instrumentation. Satellite remote sensing also uses gravity measurements that have
improved our knowledge of the Earths geoid, measured the ice loss from the major ice
caps, and monitored changes in the ocean circulation. Many of the experimental sensors
of the 1980s are now the operational tools of oceanography. These include narrow-band
optical sensors to estimate biological productivity, infrared sensors to measure sea sur-
face temperature that approach an accuracy necessary to observe climate change, passive
microwave sensors that provide global cloud-independent observations of winds and sea
surface temperature and salinity, and altimeters capable of measuring sea surface height to
within 2 cm.
Because remote sensing involves many disciplines, the book provides under one cover
the necessary background in electromagnetic theory, atmospheric and seawater properties,
physical and biological oceanography, physical properties of the sea surface and the prop-
erties of satellite orbits. The contents range from the reflective and emissive properties of
clouds and foam to the radar-scattering properties of ocean waves, to the optical properties
of plankton-associated pigments. It also includes many examples. The book describes
the development of satellite oceanography from 1975 to 2013, and outlines pending

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xii Preface

missions. The book requires only an introductory knowledge of electromagnetic theory

and differential equations.
The text divides into five parts. Chapters 13 introduce satellite systems, ocean surface
properties and electromagnetic theory. Chapters 47 discuss remote sensing in the visible
and infrared spectrum, including atmospheric properties, the ocean/atmosphere interface,
the visible retrieval of ocean color and the infrared retrieval of sea surface temperature.
Chapters 8 and 9 discuss the passive microwave, including antennas, instruments, atmo-
spheric properties and the retrieval of ocean surface and atmospheric variables. Chapters
1013 discuss the active microwave, including a variety of radars to retrieve wind speed and
direction, sea surface height and images of the ocean surface. Finally, Chapter 14 describes
a variety of gravity and sea surface salinity missions, and sea ice and ice sheet laser and
radar altimeter satellites.
I began this book during 199394, when I was a visiting scientist at the National
Institute of Polar Research in Tokyo. I wrote this edition following my retirement from the
University of Washington in 2011. The book benefited from my work with the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); from my service on committees in the
1980s and 1990s, from 20062008 when I worked at NASA Headquarters as program
manager for the cryosphere, and from 20092012, when I performed a variety of services
for the Airborne Operation IceBridge (OIB) program. I am grateful to NASA for these
opportunities. I particularly thank Dixon Butler, who was head of the Earth Observing
System (EOS) program, and Waleed Abdalati and Jack Kaye for their support during my
time at headquarters.
At the University of Washington, I taught remote sensing both singly and jointly with
Miles Logsdon. I thank Miles and all of our students, who always managed to focus on
those points that I did not understand. In my teaching and writing, I benefited from the class
notes of Dudley Chelton, James Mueller and Carlyle Wash, and the textbooks of Charles
Elachi, George Maul, Ian Robinson and Robert Stewart.
At NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), I thank Ziauddin Ahmad, Gene Eplee,
Don Cavalieri, Josephino Comiso, Charles McClain, Claire Parkinson, Jeremy Werdell
and Meng-Hua Wang; at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Ron Kwok, Lee-Lueng Fu,
Ben Holt and Simon Yueh. At MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates (MDA), I thank
Jeff Hurley and Wendy Keyser. At the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA), I thank Alexander Ignatov, Boris Petrenko and Mayra Pazo; at Oregon State
University, Dudley Chelton; at Earth and Space Research, Gary Lagerloef and Hsun-Ying
Kao; at Remote Sensing Systems, Chelle Gentemann, Tom Meissner and Frank Wentz; at
NASA Headquarters, Paula Bontempi. I also thank Peter Wadhams from the University of
Cambridge and Peter Minnett from the University of Miami for their encouragement and
support. At Cambridge University Press, I thank Kirsten Bot, Laura Clark, Susan Francis
and David Mackenzie for their help and support. For his careful line-by-line reading of the
manuscript, I thank my freelance editor, Steven Holt.
At the University of Washington, I thank Jamie Morison, Cecilia Peralta-Ferriz as well
as the staff of the UW Libraries for their support and for their extensive online collection

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Preface xiii

of journals. For their critical readings of draft chapters I thank Peter Cornillon for Chap-
ter 1 and Boris Petrenko for Chapter 7. I also thank Alexander Ignatov for his help with
understanding the NOAA SST processing. Any errors are my own.
I thank my son and daughter, Carl William Coryell-Martin and Maria Elizabeth Coryell-
Martin, for putting up with all this even after they have left home and my wife, Julie Esther
Coryell, for her optimism that I might finish the book, for reading all of the chapters in
draft and for her support. Finally, I ask the reader to remember that each of the satellites,
instruments and algorithms described in this book began as an idea generated by a single
individual or a small committee.

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Chemical symbols

Ar Argon
CH4 Methane
CO Carbon monoxide
CO2 Carbon dioxide
Fe Iron
H2 O Water
N2 Nitrogen
N2 O Nitrous oxide
O2 Oxygen
O3 Ozone
H, H, H Hydrogen lines in the Fraunhofer spectrum
MgI Magnesiumiodine line
O2 -A Oxygen-A line

xiv

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Mathematical symbols

Symbol Unit Definition

A m2 Area, or instrument aperture area
Ae m2 Effective antenna aperture area
AFOV area Antenna half-power field-of-view
Ai (400) m1 Reference absorption at 400 nm; i refers to particulates or
CDOM
a() m1 Volume absorption coefficient
a (; , ) Ratio of graybody to blackbody absorption; in VIR, the
absorptance, in microwave, the absorptivity
aCDOM m1 CDOM absorption coefficient
aw m Amplitude of ocean surface waves
aw (), ap , a , aT m1 Absorption coefficients for seawater, particulate,
phytoplankton and total absorption
B W m2 sr1 Brightness, used for radiance in the passive microwave
B tesla m1 Magnetic field vector
Bf J m2 sr1 Frequency form of spectral brightness
b() m1 Volume scattering coefficient of seawater
bb (), bbw () m1 Backscatter coefficient of pure seawater
bbT () m1 Total backscatter coefficient of seawater
C Degrees Celsius
Ca mg Chl-a m3 Chlorophyll concentration
Cw , C1 Concentrations of open water and sea ice
c m s1 Speed of light in vacuum
c() m1 Volume attenuation coefficient of seawater
D cm, m Aperture diameter of a lens or length of an antenna
d () Normalized absorption depth
da () m Absorption depth of radiation in seawater
E W m2 Irradiance, the incident flux density per unit area
E V m1 Electric field vector
E J Energy of a photon
E0 V m1 Reference amplitude of an electric field vector
Ed (, 0+ ) W m2 Downwelled solar irradiance measured just above the ocean
surface

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xvi Mathematical symbols

ER ( , ) km Height of reference ellipsoid above Earths center of mass

Eu (0 ) W m2 Upwelled solar irradiance just below the water surface
EV , EH V m1 Vertically and horizontally polarized components of the
electric field vector
e(; , ) Emissivity, which is the ratio of graybody to blackbody
radiance
e0 Temperature- and salinity-dependent emissivity of a specular
ocean surface
F(, z) W m2 nm1 Solar irradiance at a height z in the atmosphere
Fn Normalized power or radiation pattern
FS () W m2 nm1 Solar irradiance at the top of the atmosphere
FS () W m2 nm1 FS () attenuated by two passes through the ozone layer
f s1 Coriolis parameter
f Hz Frequency
f(x) V m1 Antenna illumination pattern
fL m Focal length
fN s1 Nyquist sampling frequency
fp (T, ) W m3 sr1 Planck blackbody radiance
G Antenna gain
G0 Maximum antenna gain
GR Gradient ratio used in the derivation of sea-ice concentration
g m s2 Acceleration of gravity
H km Radial distance of a satellite from Earths center of mass
H1/3 m Significant wave height
Hz s1 Cycles per second
h length Height of satellite above ocean surface
hS length Height of sea surface above Earths ellipsoid
hs length Temporal mean of sea surface height
h Js Planck constant, 6.626 1034 J s
I deg Inclination, the angle between the Earths rotation axis and
the normal to the orbit plane
I(r, , ) W sr1 Radiant intensity
I0 W sr1 Maximum radiant intensity
i Imaginary part of complex number
J Joules
K Degrees Kelvin
k, kim m1 Real and imaginary part of the wavenumber
k m1 Vector wavenumber
kB J K1 Boltzmann constant, 1.38 1023 J K1
kw m1 Wave number of ocean waves
L mm Columnar equivalent of nonraining cloud liquid water
L() W cm2 nm1 sr1 Radiance
W m3 sr1 (Alternative units of L)
LA () W cm2 nm1 sr1 Path radiance generated by aerosol atmospheric scattering
LE km Equatorial separation between successive orbits

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Mathematical symbols xvii

Lf () J m2 sr1 Frequency form of spectral radiance

LR () W cm2 nm1 sr1 Path radiance generated by Rayleigh scattering
Ls () W cm2 nm1 sr1 Solar radiance at the top of the atmosphere
LT () W cm2 nm1 sr1 Total radiance received at the satellite
Lw () W cm2 nm1 sr1 Water-leaving radiance
[Lw ()]N W cm2 nm1 sr1 Normalized water-leaving radiance
L () W cm2 nm1 sr1 Wavelength form of spectral radiance
l m Length of an imaging radar
M W m2 Exitance, or emitted flux or power density
N( , ) m Geoid undulation, or height of geoid relative to the
reference ellipsoid ER
Np, nepers Units of atmospheric absorption used in microwave
NET K Noise-equivalent delta-temperature
NEL W cm2 nm1 sr1 Noise-equivalent delta-radiance
NE 0 Noise-equivalent delta-sigma-zero
n Real part of the index of refraction
P For radiometers, subscript indicates V or H polarization.
For radars, subscript indicates VV or HH polarization
P() sr1 Atmospheric scattering phase function
PR Polarization ratio used in the derivation of sea-ice
concentration
PR ( ) sr1 Rayleigh atmospheric scattering phase function
p kg m1 s2 Atmospheric pressure
Q Coefficient used in description of the water-leaving
radiance
R() Plane irradiance reflectance
R(, 0 ) Irradiance reflectance evaluated just below the surface
R0 km Distance from radar to target
Rc mm, m Radius of curvature of the sea surface
RF () Irradiance reflectance of foam
RR mm h1 Rain rate
Rrs () Remote sensing reflectance
r length Radius
r length Vector radius (r, , )
r( ) Unpolarized radiance reflectance
S psu Salinity
SN Signal-to-noise ratio
SS psu Surface salinity
T C, K Temperature
T C, K Mean temperature of the lower troposphere
T( ) Interface transmittance
T3 , T 4 , T 5 K AVHRR brightness temperatures for bands 3, 4, 5
T22 , T23 , T31 , T32 K MODIS brightness temperatures for bands 22, 23, 31,
32
TA K Antenna temperature

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xviii Mathematical symbols

Ta K Air temperature
Tb K Brightness temperature
Tb C Buoy or bulk temperature
TBV , TBH K Vertically and horizontally polarized components of
brightness temperatures
Text K Extraterrestrial brightness temperature exclusive of the
Sun
Tgal K Brightness temperature of the Milky Way galaxy
TS C, K Ocean surface skin temperature
Tsfc C, K Externally supplied surface temperature to algorithms
Tsol K Solar contribution to the antenna brightness temperature
Tsun K Solar brightness temperature
Tuniv K The 2.7-K universe background temperature
Tw s Period of ocean surface waves
t Time
t In the visible/infrared, the atmospheric transmittance; in
the microwave, the atmospheric transmissivity
tD () Diffuse transmittance
U m s1 The scalar wind speed at a 10-m height
U0 m s1 Spacecraft velocity
ULOS m s1 Line-of-sight wind speed, the wind speed in the
azimuthal look direction of a passive microwave
radiometer
u, v m s1 x- and y-components of an ocean current
V mm Equivalent height in liquid water of the columnar water
vapor
v m s1 Local phase speed of light
w m Width of an imaging radar
x length Vector position (x, y, z)
X, Y Coefficients used in discussion of particulate scattering
properties
XS length Imaging radar cross-track swath width
YS length Imaging radar along-track swath width
ZH km Reference height for the top of the atmosphere
deg Scattering angle relative to the forward direction

Angstrom exponent used to describe aerosols
S sr Solid angle resolution of an ideal optical instrument
(, ) km1 sr1 , m1 sr1 Atmospheric and oceanic volume scattering function
)
(, sr1 Oceanic scattering phase function
0 km1 sr1 , m1 sr1 Isotropic scattering phase function
T, w, p, m1 sr1 Total, pure seawater, particulate and phytoplankton
volume scattering function
E J Energy difference associated with a change in the
internal state of a molecule or atom
f Hz, MHz Instrument bandwidth, also used to describe Doppler
shift

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Mathematical symbols xix

hion m Range delay caused by atmospheric free electrons

T45 K Temperature difference between AVHRR channels 4 and 5,
T45 = T4 T5
T53 K Temperature difference between AVHRR channels 5 and 3,
T53 = T5 T3
x, y m Radar resolution in the cross-track and along-track directions
1/2 deg Half-power beamwidth; for imaging radars, the half-power
beamwidth in the cross-track direction
1/2 deg Half-power beamwidth in the along-track direction
farad m1 Electrical permittivity
(, 0 ) Single-scattering color ratio for aerosols
0 farad m1 Permittivity in vacuum
r Complex dielectric constant, r =  + i
m Sea surface height relative to the geoid
D m Dynamic height, or the oceanographic height calculated from
the vertical density structure
Complex index of refraction, = n + i
m Vertical displacement of ocean surface waves
M Main beam efficiency of a microwave antenna
deg Incidence, look or zenith angle
S deg Solar zenith angle
v deg View or scan angle
A, E, S km1 Atmospheric absorption, extinction and scattering coefficients
R km1 Rayleigh scattering attenuation coefficient
oxy km1 Oxygen absorption coefficient
vap km1 Water vapor absorption coefficient
nm, m Radiation wavelength
w mm, m Wavelength of ocean surface waves
henry m1 Magnetic permeability
0 henry m1 Vacuum permeability
 W m4 sr1 Atmospheric radiative source term
kg m3 Density of seawater
a kg m3 Density of air
H, V Horizontal, vertical reflection coefficients
ion TECU Free-electron columnar density
w () Extraterrestrial reflectance generated by the water-leaving
radiance
[ w ()]N Normalized extraterrestrial reflectance
siemens m1 Electrical conductivity
m2 Radar scattering cross section
2 Mean-square sea surface slope
0 Normalized radar scattering cross section (pronounced
sigma-zero)
N Standard deviation of noise

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xx Mathematical symbols

VV , HH , HV , VH Normalized radar scattering cross section for VV, HH, HV

and VH transmitting and receiving
m Root-mean-square sea surface height
s Pulse duration or length
() Optical depth
A Optical depth associated with aerosol scattering
OZ Optical thickness of the ozone layer
R () km Rayleigh optical thickness, atmosphere
 W Radiant flux or power
N W Noise generated internally to an instrument
T W Total radiant flux or power transmitted by an antenna
(V, H) W V-pol or H-pol radiant flux received by an antenna
 W m1 Spectral form of the radiant flux
 W Received power corrected for atmospheric attenuation
deg Azimuth angle
R deg Azimuthal angle relative to the wind direction
W deg Azimuthal wind direction
Imaginary part of the index of refraction
, deg Latitude, longitude
 sr Solid angle
E s1 Angular rotation of the Earth
M sr Main beam solid angle of a microwave antenna
P sr Pattern solid angle of a microwave antenna
s1 Radian frequency of an electromagnetic wave
0 () Single-scattering atmospheric albedo
A () Aerosol single-scattering albedo
R () Rayleigh single-scattering albedo

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Abbreviations and acronyms

A-Train The A- or afternoon train is a constellation of satellites in the

same orbit with a 1:30 pm equator crossing time
AATSR Advanced ATSR (ESA)
ABI Advanced Baseline Imager (instrument on GOES-R)
ACSPO Advanced Clear-Sky Processor for Ocean (NOAA)
ADEOS-1, -2 Advanced Earth Observing Satellite (Japan)
AGC Automatic Gain Control (altimeter function)
AHRPT Advanced High Resolution Picture Transmission (METOP)
ALOS Advanced Land Observing Satellite (Japan)
ALT Altimeter on TOPEX/POSEIDON
AMSR Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (Japan) on
ADEOS-2
AMSR-E AMSR-EOS (Japan) on AQUA
AOML Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (NOAA)
AOP Apparent Optical Properties
APC Antenna Pattern Correction
APT Automatic Picture Transmission (data transfer mode for AVHRR)
AQUA Second major EOS satellite (not an abbreviation)
ASAR Advanced SAR (ENVISAT)
ASCAT Advanced Scatterometer (METOP)
ATSR Along-Track Scanning Radiometer (ESA)
AVHRR Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (United States)
AVISO Archiving, Validation and Interpretation of Satellite
Oceanographic data (France)
Caltech California Institute of Technology
C-band Frequencies of about 5 GHz
CCMP Cross-Calibrated Multi-Platform (wind dataset)
CDOM Colored Dissolved Organic Material
CHAMP CHAllenging Minisatellite Payload (German gravity mission)
Chl-a Chlorophyll-a

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xxii Abbreviations and acronyms

CDR Climate Data Record

CEOS Committee on Earth Observation Satellites
CONAE Comision Nacional de Actividades Espaciales (Argentinian
Space Agency)
CNES
Centre National dEtudes Spatiales (National Center for Space
Studies, France)
CryoSat-2 ESA radar satellite for sea ice and ice sheet studies
CRTM Community Radiative Transfer Model
CSA Canadian Space Agency
CZCS Coastal Zone Color Scanner
dB Decibels
DMSP Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (United States), also
name of a satellite
DOD Department of Defense (United States)
DORIS Doppler Orbitography and Radiopositioning Integrated by
Satellite (France)
ECMWF European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecasts
EDR Environmental Data Record
EFOV Effective Field-Of-View; shape of the FOV after time-averaging
EM Electromagnetic
EMR Electromagnetic Radiation
ENVISAT Environmental Satellite (ESA)
EOS Earth Observing System (United States, with international
components)
ERS-1, -2 European Remote-sensing Satellite
ESA European Space Agency
ESMR Electrically Scanned Microwave Radiometer (United States)
EUMETSAT European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological
Satellites
FLH Fluorescence Line Height
FM Frequency Modulation
FOV Field-Of-View, see also EFOV, IFOV
FRAC Full Resolution Area Coverage (AVHRR, MODIS, VIIRS)
FY Feng Yun (Wind and Cloud) as in FY-1C and FY-1D; name of
satellite (China)
FY First Year, as in first-year sea ice
GAC Global Area Coverage (AVHRR data mode)
Gbit Gigabit or 109 bits
GCOM Global Change Observation Missions (Japan)
GDAS Global Data Assimilation System (NCEP)
GEO Group on Earth Observations

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Abbreviations and acronyms xxiii

GES DISC Goddard Earth Sciences, Data and Information Services Center
(NASA)
GEOSS Global Earth Observation System of Systems
GLAS Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (United States)
GLI Global Imager, ocean color instrument on ADEOS-2 (Japan)
GMES Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (European
satellite program)
GOCE Gravity Field and Steady-State Ocean Circulation Explorer (ESA)
GODAE Global Ocean Data Assimilation Experiment
GOES Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (United
States)
GHz Gigahertz
GHRSST GODAE High Resolution STT
GIOVANNI Geospatial Interactive Online Visualization ANd aNalysis
Infrastructure; often written as Giovanni
GMPE GHRSST Multi-product Ensemble (UK Met Office)
GRACE Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment
GSM GarverSiegelMaritorena algorithm (ocean biology)
HH Antenna that transmits and receives with an H-polarization
H-pol Horizontally polarized
HRD Hurricane Research Division (NOAA)
HRPT High Resolution Picture Transmission (AVHRR data transfer
mode)
HV Antenna that transmits with an H-polarization and receives with a
V-polarization
HY Haiyang (Ocean) satellite as in HY-1 (China)
IAPSO International Association for Physical Sciences of the Ocean
ICESat Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite (United States)
IEEE Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
IFOV Instantaneous Field-Of-View, or Instrument Field-Of-View
IJPS Initial Joint Polar-orbiting operational satellite System (United
States, EUMETSAT)
IOP Inherent Optical Properties
IPO Integrated Project Office (NPOESS)
IR Infrared
ITCZ Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone
JASON-1, -2, -3 United States/France altimeter satellites (not an abbreviation)
JAXA Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (replaced NASDA)
JERS-1 Japanese Earth Resources Satellite
JMA Japan Meteorological Agency
JMR Jason Microwave Radiometer
JPL Jet Propulsion Laboratory (NASA), operated by Caltech

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xxiv Abbreviations and acronyms

JPSS Joint Polar Satellite System

K-band Frequencies between 11 and 36 GHz
Ku -band Frequencies of about 14 GHz
KOSMOS USSR satellite series
LAC Local Area Coverage (data mode for AVHRR)
L-band Frequencies of about 1 GHz
LRA Laser Retroreflector Array
M-AERI Marine-Atmosphere Emitted Radiance Interferometer (United
States)
Mbps Megabits-per-second
MCSST Multi-Channel Sea Surface Temperature (algorithm)
MEDS Maritime Environmental Data Service (Canada)
MERIS Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (ENVISAT)
METEOSAT Geosynchronous Meteorology Satellite (EUMETSAT)
METOP-A, -B, -C eorologie OPerationnelle (Operational Meteorology)
MET
(EUMETSAT satellite)
MHz Megahertz
MOBY Marine Optical BuoY (ocean color calibration buoy near Hawaii)
MODI Moderate Resolution Visible/Infrared Imager (China)
MODIS Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer on TERRA,
AQUA
MODTRAN Program for calculation of atmospheric transmissivity
MOS Modular Optical Scanner (Germany)
MSL Mean Sea Level
MVIRSR Multispectral VisibleInfrared Scanning Radiometer (China)
MY Multiyear, as in multiyear sea ice
NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration (United States)
NASDA National Space Development Agency (Japan), see JAXA
NCEP National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NOAA)
NDBC National Data Buoy Center (United States)
NDT Nitrate-Depletion Temperature
NESDIS National Environmental Satellite Data and Information Service
(United States)
NIR Near infrared
NLSST Nonlinear SST (algorithm)
NOAA National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (United
States)
NOAA-18, -19, . . . Names of NOAA operational polar orbiting satellites
NOMAD NASA bio-Optical Marine Algorithm Dataset
NPOESS National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite
System (United States)
NPP NPOESS Preparatory Project (United States)

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Abbreviations and acronyms xxv

NRCS Normalized Radar Cross Section

NSCAT NASA Scatterometer (ADEOS-1)
NWP Numerical Weather Prediction
OC3M Ocean Chlorophyll Version 3 MODIS bio-optical algorithm
OC4 Ocean Chlorophyll Version 4 SeaWiFS bio-optical algorithm
OBPG Ocean Biology Processing Group (NASA)
OCTS Ocean Color and Temperature Sensor (Japan)
OISST Optimally Interpolated SST
OKEAN Series of satellites (Russia/Ukraine)
OLS Optical Line Scanner (visible/infrared instrument on DMSP)
OVWM Ocean Vector Wind Mission
OW Open Water (sea-ice algorithms)
PALSAR Phased Array L-band SAR (Japan)
Pixel Abbreviation for picture element
PMEL Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (NOAA)
POD Precision Orbit Determination
PO.DAAC Physical Oceanography Distributed Active Archive (NASA JPL)
POES Polar Operational Environmental Satellite (United States)
POLDER Polarization and Directionality of the Earths Reflectances
(France), ocean color instrument on ENVISAT
POSEIDON
Premier Observatoire Spatial Etude Intensive Dynamique Ocean
et Nivosph`ere, French contribution to TOPEX/POSEIDON
satellite
PRF Pulse Repetition Frequency
psu Precision salinity units (units of oceanic salinity)
RA-2 Radar Altimeter-2 (ENVISAT altimeter)
RADARSAT-1, -2 SAR satellites (Canada)
RGB RedGreenBlue color mixing
RGPS RADARSAT Geophysical Processing System (United States)
rms Root-mean-square
rss Root-sum-of-the-squares
RTE Radiative Transfer Equation
SAC-D Satelite de Aplicaciones Cientficas-D (CONAE)
SAR Synthetic Aperture Radar
SASS SEASAT-A Satellite Scatterometer (United States)
ScanSAR Wide-swath SAR imaging mode (partial abbreviation)
SDR Sensor Data Record
SeaBAM SeaWiFS Bio-optical Algorithm Mini-Workshop
SEASAT First ocean observing satellite (1979, United States)
SeaWiFS Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (United States)
SeaWinds Radar vector wind instrument (not an abbreviation)
SEVIRI Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infrared Imager (EUMETSAT)

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xxvi Abbreviations and acronyms

SGLI Second-generation GLobal Imager (Japan)

SIRAL SAR Interferometric Radar Altimeter (ESA)
SLAR Side-Looking Airborne Radar
SLR Side-Looking Radar
SLR Satellite Laser Ranging
SMMR Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer (United States)
SMOS Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity instrument (ESA)
SSALT Solid State Altimeter on TOPEX (France)
SSH Sea Surface Height
SSM/I Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (United States)
SSMI/S Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder (SSM/I upgrade)
SSS Sea Surface Salinity
SST Sea Surface Temperature
SWH Significant Wave Height (H1/3 )
TECU Total Electron Content Unit (1 TECU = 1016 electrons m2 ),
columnar concentration of free electrons
TERRA First major EOS satellite (not an abbreviation)
TIR Thermal-Infrared
TIROS-N Television Infrared Observation Satellite-N (early version of
POES satellite)
TIW Tropical Instability Waves
TMI TRMM Microwave Imager (Japan)
TMR TOPEX Microwave Radiometer
TOA Top Of the Atmosphere
TOGA-TAO Tropical Ocean Global AtmosphereTropical Atmosphere Ocean
TOMS Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer
TOPEX TOPography EXperiment (United States/France altimeter)
TRMM Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (United States/Japan)
TRSR Turbo Rogue Space Receiver BlackJack GPS receivers (Satellite
GPS receivers used on JASON-1)
UK Met Office United Kingdom Meteorological Office
UTC Universal Time Coordinated
UV Ultraviolet
VAM Variational Analysis Method
VH Antenna that transmits with a V-polarization and receives with an
H-polarization
VIRR Visible and Infrared Radiometer (China)
VIIRS Visible/Infrared Imager/Radiometer Suite (NPP instrument)
VIR Visible/Infrared
VNIR Visible/Near-Infrared
V-pol Vertically polarized
VV Antenna that transmits and receives with a V-polarization

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Abbreviations and acronyms xxvii

WindSat Polarimetric radiometer for vector wind measurements (not an

abbreviation)
WVSST Water Vapor Sea Surface Temperature (algorithm)
X-band Frequencies of about 10 GHz

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