A multispectral optical sensor collects data at select wavebands or channels. An example is the Sea-viewing Wide-Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) ocean color satellite, which measures eight wavebands between 402 and 885 nm (20-40 nm bandwidth with peaks centered around 412, 443, 490, 510, 555, 670, 765, and 865 nm). Optical oceanographers have been using multispectral sensors since the 1980s with great success.

Chang, G., K. Mahoney, A. Briggs-Whitmire, D.D.R. Kohler, C.D. Mobley, M. Lewis, M.A. Moline, E. Boss, M. Kim, W. Philpot, and T.D. Dickey. 2004. The new age of hyperspectral oceanography. Oceanography 17(2):16–23, https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2004.43.

This is an open access article made available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution, and reproduction in any medium or format as long as users cite the materials appropriately, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate the changes that were made to the original content. Images, animations, videos, or other third-party material used in articles are included in the Creative Commons license unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If the material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission directly from the license holder to reproduce the material.