Oceanography The Official Magazine of
The Oceanography Society
Volume 23 Issue 04

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Volume 23, No. 4
Pages 144 - 161

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Ocean Measurements from Space in 2025

By Anthony Freeman , Victor Zlotnicki , Tim Liu , Benjamin Holt, Ron Kwok , Simon Yueh , Jorge Vazquez , David Siegel , and Gary Lagerloef  
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Article Abstract

Seasat, launched by the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 1977, was the first dedicated ocean-viewing satellite. Since then, in addition to NASA, the space agencies of Europe, France, Canada, Germany, India, Japan, and China have all launched ocean-viewing sensors or dedicated ocean-viewing satellites. Properties currently measured from space are sea surface temperature; topography (height); salinity; significant wave height and wave spectra; surface wind speed and vectors; ocean color; continental and sea ice extent, flow, deformation, thickness; ocean mass; and to a lesser extent, surface currents. By 2025, one additional measurement may become available—total surface currents—but the largest foreseen improvements are increased spatial and temporal resolution and increased accuracy for all the currently measured properties.

Citation

Freeman, A., V. Zlotnicki, T. Liu, B. Holt, R. Kwok, S. Yueh, J. Vazquez, D. Siegel, and G. Lagerloef. 2010. Ocean measurements from space in 2025. Oceanography 23(4):144–161, https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2010.12.

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