Application of Airborne Infrared Remote Sensing to the Study of Ocean Submesoscale Eddies

This paper explores the use of infrared remote sensing methods to examine submesoscale eddies that recur downstream of a deep-water island (Santa Catalina, CA). Data were collected using a mid-wave infrared camera deployed on an aircraft flown at an altitude of 3.7 km, and research boats made nearly simultaneous measurements of temperature and current profiles. Structure within the thermal field is generally adequate as a tracer of surface fluid motions, though the imagery needs to be processed in a novel way to preserve the smallest-scale tracer patterns. In the case we focus on, the eddy is found to have a thermal signature of about 1 km in diameter and a cyclonic swirling flow. Vorticity is concentrated over a smaller area of about 0.5 km in diameter. The Rossby number is 27, indicating the importance of the centrifugal force in the dynamical balance of the eddy. By approximating the eddy as a Rankine vortex, an estimate of upward doming of the thermocline (about 14 m at the center) is obtained that agrees qualitatively with the in-water measurements. Analysis also shows an outward radial flow that creates areas of convergence (sinking flow) along the perimeter of the eddy. The imagery also reveals areas of localized vertical mixing within the eddy thermal perimeter, and an area of external azimuthal banding that likely arises from flow instability

Surface Ocean Dispersion Observations From the Ship-Tethered Aerostat Remote Sensing System

Oil slicks and sheens reside at the air-sea interface, a region of the ocean that is notoriously difficult to measure. Little is known about the velocity field at the sea surface in general, making predictions of oil dispersal difficult. The Ship-Tethered Aerostat Remote Sensing System (STARSS) was developed to measure Lagrangian velocities at the air-sea interface by tracking the transport and dispersion of bamboo dinner plates in the field of view of a high-resolution aerial imaging system. The camera had a field of view of approximately 300 × 200 m and images were obtained every 15 s over periods of up to 3 h. A series of experiments were conducted in the northern Gulf of Mexico in January-February 2016. STARSS was equipped with a GPS and inertial navigation system (INS) that was used to directly georectify the aerial images. A relative rectification technique was developed that translates and rotates the plates to minimize their total movement from one frame to the next. Rectified plate positions were used to quantify scale-dependent dispersion by computing relative dispersion, relative diffusivity, and velocity structure functions. STARSS was part of a nested observational framework, which included deployments of large numbers of GPS-tracked surface drifters from two ships, in situ ocean measurements, X-band radar observations of surface currents, and synoptic maps of sea surface temperature from a manned aircraft. Here we describe the STARSS system and image analysis techniques, and present results from an experiment that was conducted on a density front that was approximately 130 km offshore. These observations are the first of their kind and the methodology presented here can be adopted into existing and planned oceanographic campaigns to improve our understanding of small-scale and high-frequency variability at the air-sea interface and to provide much-needed benchmarks for numerical simulations

Very High Resolution (VHR) Satellite Imagery: Processing and Applications

Recently, growing interest in the use of remote sensing imagery has appeared to provide synoptic maps of water quality parameters in coastal and inner water ecosystems;, monitoring of complex land ecosystems for biodiversity conservation; precision agriculture for the management of soils, crops, and pests; urban planning; disaster monitoring, etc. However, for these maps to achieve their full potential, it is important to engage in periodic monitoring and analysis of multi-temporal changes. In this context, very high resolution (VHR) satellite-based optical, infrared, and radar imaging instruments provide reliable information to implement spatially-based conservation actions. Moreover, they enable observations of parameters of our environment at greater broader spatial and finer temporal scales than those allowed through field observation alone. In this sense, recent very high resolution satellite technologies and image processing algorithms present the opportunity to develop quantitative techniques that have the potential to improve upon traditional techniques in terms of cost, mapping fidelity, and objectivity. Typical applications include multi-temporal classification, recognition and tracking of specific patterns, multisensor data fusion, analysis of land/marine ecosystem processes and environment monitoring, etc. This book aims to collect new developments, methodologies, and applications of very high resolution satellite data for remote sensing. The works selected provide to the research community the most recent advances on all aspects of VHR satellite remote sensing

Book of short Abstracts of the 11th International Symposium on Digital Earth

The Booklet is a collection of accepted short abstracts of the ISDE11 Symposium