Proceedings of an International Symposium jointly organized by the 'Societe Francaise pour L'Energie Nucleaire' SFEN and 'L'Institut National des Techs. de la Mer' INTECHMER - CNAM at Cherbourg, France, 1-5 June 1987.

Satellite remote sensing, in particular by radar altimetry, is a crucial technique for observations of the ocean surface and of many aspects of land surfaces, and of paramount importance for climate and environmental studies. This book provides a state-of-the-art overview of the satellite altimetry techniques and related missions, and reviews the most-up-to date applications to ocean dynamics and sea level. It also discusses related space-based observations of the ocean surface and of the marine geoid, as well as applications of satellite altimetry to the cryosphere and land surface waters; operational oceanography and its applications to navigation, fishing and defense.

The book represents all the knowledge we currently have on ocean circulation. It presents an up-to-date summary of the state of the science relating to the role of the oceans in the physical climate system. The book is structured to guide the reader through the wide range of world ocean circulation experiment (WOCE) science in a consistent way. Cross-references between contributors have been added, and the book has a comprehensive index and unified reference list. The book is simple to read, at the undergraduate level. It was written by the best scientists in the world who have collaborated to carry out years of experiments to better understand ocean circulation. - Presents in situ and remote observations with worldwide coverage - Provides theoretical understanding of processes within the ocean and at its boundaries to other Earth System components - Allows for simulating ocean and climate processes in the past, present and future using a hierarchy of physical-biogeochemical models

The past decade has seen tremendous progress in the application of ocean remote sensing to the study of the global ocean circulation. This chapter provides a summary of the resultant advances in our understanding of the key processes of the ocean that affect climate variability. Many of the advances result from the combined usage of remote sensing from multiple types of measurement and in situ observations. Remotely sensed ocean variables include sea surface height, wind, temperature, salinity and color, as well as the variable mass of the ocean and ice from spaceborne measurement of the earth’s gravity field. These observations have often been analyzed with various in situ observations, including moored buoys, hydrographic profiles, surface drifters, and Argo floats. The general circulation of the ocean as manifested by the ocean surface dynamic topography from satellite altimetry, and the geoid from satellite gravity measurements, can now be determined at scales approaching 100km. The information from surface drifters and Argo floats has added more details through the upper ocean depths. The large-scale changes of the ocean on decadal scales reveal complex geographic patterns in relation to the changes in the atmospheric forcing. The causes for the slow rise of the global mean sea level are diagnosed in terms of the steric and mass change of the ocean. The bottom pressure inferred from ocean mass change measured from space provides direct observation of the barotropic variability of the ocean. The detailed information of ocean surface wind measured from scatterometry and temperature from infrared and microwave radiometry reveals a positive correlation between the two, leading to new understanding of air–sea interactions at scales below 1000km. Data combined from multiple satellite altimeters through optimally designed processing have revolutionized the study of the global ocean mesoscale processes, revealing new information on the spectral transfer of energy and on global eddy propagation characteristics, which vary in relation to the mean circulation, bottom topography, and the nonlinearity of eddy dynamics. The gridded fields of remote sensing data have made satellite observations routinely accessible to general users for scientific and operational applications. The outlook for future development in ocean remote sensing is also discussed.

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To all those sailors / Who dreamed before us / Of another way to sail the oceans. The dedication of this Volume is meant to recall, and honour, the bold pioneers of ocean exploration, ancient as well as modern. As a marine scientist, dealing with the oceans through the complex tools, ?lters and mechanisms of contemporary research, I have always wondered what it was like, in centuries past, to look at that vast ho- zon with the naked eye, not knowing what was ahead, and yet to sail on. I have tried to imagine what ancient sailors felt, when “the unknown swirls around and engulfs the mind”, as a forgotten author simply described the brave, perhaps reckless, act of facing such a hostile, menacing and yet fascinating adventure. Innovation has always been the key element, I think, for their success: another way, a better way, a more effective, safer and worthier way was the proper answer to the challenge. The map of our world has been changed time and again, from the geographical as well as the social, economic and scienti?c points of view, by the new discoveries of those sailors. One of the positive qualities of human beings is without doubt the inborn desire to expand their horizons, to see what lies beyond, to learn and understand.