Centre for Remote Imaging, Sensing and Prcessing (CRISP)

CRISP's Research

Contact: crisp@nus.edu.sg Copyright © CRISP, 2001

Ocean Colour Remote Sensing Satellite Sensors

Nimbus7 - CZCS

The experimental Coastal Zone Colour Scanner (CZCS) instrument onboard the NASA's Nimbus-7 satellite provided the first observations of ocean colour from space from 1978 to 1986.

ADEOS - OCTS

In August 1996, Japan launched the Japanese sensor OCTS and the French sensor POLDER on the ADEOS mission. OCTS ceased operation in June 1997 when the ADEOS satellite stops its operation. It was the first second generation ocean colour sensor after the 10 years gap since NASA's CZCS.

Seastar - SeaWiFS

The SeaWiFS sensor on board the SeaStar satellite (launched August 1997) provides ocean colour data. It has six bands in the visible region and two in the near-infrared region. Each band has 20 nm bandwidth. This instrument is now providing complete global coverage of the oceans every two days.

Terra - MODIS

The NASA's MODIS on board the Terra satellite (launched Dec 1999) has 36 bands spanning the vissible, near infrared and thermal infrared spectral regions.


Future Ocean Color Satellite sensors

Future satellite sensors for observation of ocean colour include NASDA's ADEOS2-GLI and ESA's ENVISAT-MERIS. Satellites with truly hyperspectral sensors are forthcoming in the near future.



A list of Historical, Current And Future Satellite Ocean Colour Sensors

Sensor

Satellite

Operating Dates

Swath (km)

Resolution (m)

Number of Bands

Spectral Coverage (nm)

CZCS

Nimbus-7

24 Oct 78 – 22 Jun 86

1556

825

6

433-12500

OCTS

ADEOS

17 Aug 96 – 1 Jul 97

1400

700

12

402-12500

MOS

IRS P3

21 Mar 96 -

200

500

18

408-1600

SeaWiFS

Orbview-2

1 Aug 97-

2806

1100

8

402-885

OCI

ROCSAT-1

(Launched Jan 99)

690

825

6

433-12500

OCM

IRS-P4

(Launched May 99)

1420

350

8

402-885

MODIS

Terra

(Launched 18 Dec 99)

2330

1000

36

405-14385

MISR

Terra

(Launched 18 Dec 99)

360

250

4

446-867

OSMI

KOMPSAT

(Launched 20 Dec 99)

800

850

6

400-900

MODIS

Aqua

(Scheduled Dec 2000)

2330

1000

36

405-14385

MERIS

ENVISAT-1

(Scheduled Jun 2001)

1150

300, 1200

15

412-1050

GLI

ADEOS-2

(Scheduled Nov 2001)

1600

250, 1000

36

375-12500


Source: International Ocean Colour Coordinating Group (IOCCG) Website
( http://www.ioccg.org/sensors/500m.html)
(i) Red Tides Monitoring;     (ii) What are Red Tides;    
 
Copyright © CRISP, 2001