Earth Observations from Space: The First 50 Years of Scientific Achievements

TABLE 9.1 Past and Present Satellite Sensors with Ocean Color Capability

Sensor	Satellite	Country	Dates	Spatial Resolution (m)	No. of Bands	Comments
CZCS	Nimbus-7	United States	November 1978-July 1986	825	5	Proof-of-concept
MOS	IRS P3	Germany-India	March 1996-March 2004	523	13	Requires ground station
OCTS	ADEOS-1	Japan	August 1996-June 1997	700	8	+ Four thermal IR bands for SST
SeaWiFS	SeaStar	United States	August 1997-present	1,100	8	Commercial data, free to researchers
OCI	ROcSAT-1	Taiwan	December 1998-July 2004	800	6	Latitude coverage 35° N-35° S
OCM	OceanSat-1 (IRS P4)	India	May 1999-present	360	8	+ Scanning microwave-SST
MODIS	Terra Aqua	United States	December 1999-May 2002	1,000	9	+ 27 other bands for land, atmosphere, SST
MERIS	Envisat	EU	March 2002-present	250 LAC 1,000 GAC	15	LAC data require ground station
NOTE: Nations such as Japan, Taiwan, and India have invested in ocean color as a valuable source of information for their fishing fleets (Laurs et al. 1984, Butler et al. 1988). This has also met with some success in the United States where it has been argued that the satellite information makes fishing more efficient, thus saving fuel and other limiting resources. CZCS = Coastal Zone Color Scanner; GAC = Global Area Coverage; LAC = Local Area Coverage; MERIS = Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer; MODIS = Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer; MOS = Maritime Observation Satellite; OCI = Ocean Color Imager; OCTS = Ocean Color and Temperature Sensor; SeaWiFS = Sea-Viewing Wide Field-of-View Sensor; IRS = Indian Remote Sensing Satellite; ADEOS = Advanced Earth Observing Satellite; SST = Sea Surface Temperature.

FIGURE 9.3 Global annual NPP (in grams of carbon per square meter per year) for the biosphere, calculated from the integrated CASA-VGPM (Vertically Generalized Production Model) model. Input data for ocean color from CZCS sensor are averages from 1978 to 1983. The land vegetation index from the AVHRR sensors is the average from 1982 to 1990. SOURCE: Field et al. (1998). Reprinted with permission from AAAS, copyright 1998.

Table of Contents

Front Matter R1-R12

Summary 1-7

1 Introduction 8-9

2 Earth Observations from Space: The Early History 10-17

3 Weather 18-25

4 Earth's Radiation Budget and the Role of Clouds and Aerosols in the Climate System 26-36

5 Atmospheric Composition: Ozone Depletion and Global Pollution 37-49

6 Hydrology 50-57

7 Cryosphere 58-63

8 Ocean Dynamics 64-72

9 Ecosystems and the Carbon Cycle 73-83

10 Land-Use and Land-Cover Change 84-91

11 Solid Earth 92-97

12 Conclusions 98-106

References 107-118

Appendixes 119-120

Appendix A: Examples of Scientific Accomplishments and Relevant Satellite Missions 121-122

Appendix B: Acronyms 123-125

Appendix C: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members and Staff 126-130