Ocean Instrumentation, Electronics, and Energy

Ocean

Instrumentation,
Electronics,
and Energy

Ocean Electronics_FM.indd 1 12/09/17 10:37 AM

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Ocean
Instrumentation,
Electronics,
and Energy
S.R. Vijayalakshmi, PhD

S. Muruganand, PhD
Mercury Learning and Information

Dulles, Virginia
Boston, Massachusetts
New Delhi

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Original title and copyright : Ocean Electronics. Copyright ©2016 by
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S.R. Vijayalakshmi and S. Muruganand. Ocean Instrumentation, Electronics, and Energy.

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Contents
Preface.................................................................................... xv
Chapter 1 Remote Sensing in Oceanography....................... 1

1.1 Introduction to Remote Sensing...................................... 1
1.1.1 Satellite Images vs. Maps......................................... 2
1.1.2 Remote Sensing vs. GIS.......................................... 3
1.1.3 Remote Sensing vs. Aerial Photography/
Photogrammetry..................................................... 3
1.1.4 Remote Sensing vs. Sonar........................................ 4
1.1.5 Applications of Remote Sensing............................... 5
1.1.6 Applications of Remote Sensing in
Oceanography......................................................... 8
1.1.7 Oceanography......................................................... 14
1.2 Radar in Remote Sensing................................................ 15
1.2.1 Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR).............................. 16
1.2.2 NADIR Radar System............................................. 17
1.3 Radiometer in Remote Sensing........................................ 20
1.3.1 Microwave Radiometer........................................... 21
1.3.2 Infrared Radiometers.............................................. 22
1.3.3 Imaging Radiometer................................................ 23
1.4 Satellite in Remote Sensing............................................. 23
1.4.1 Microwave Measurement of Ocean Wind ................ 24
1.4.2 Wind and Wave Height Measurements..................... 28
1.5 Sonar in Remote Sensing................................................. 28
1.5.1 Mapping the Ocean Floor with Single Beam
Echo Sounding....................................................... 29
1.5.2 Multi-Beam Bathymetry.......................................... 30
1.5.3 Sound as Underwater Navigation............................. 30
1.5.4 Echo-Sounders....................................................... 31

vi • Ocean Instrumentation, Electronics, and Energy
1.6 Telemetry in Remote Sensing.......................................... 34

1.6.1 Applications of Telemetry........................................ 35
1.7 Laser and LIDAR in Remote Sensing.............................. 37
1.7.1 Data Collection in LIDAR....................................... 37
1.7.2 Discrete-Return LIDAR and Waveform
Recording Devices.................................................. 39
1.7.3 Applications of LIDAR Remote Sensing................... 42
1.8 Oceanographic and Atmospheric Remote
Sensing Research............................................................ 44
Exercises............................................................................... 45
Chapter 2 Sensors and Their Measurements for

Ocean Monitoring............................................... 49
2.1 Introduction to Sensors................................................... 49
2.1.1 History of Sensors................................................... 51
2.2 Scanner Sensor Systems.................................................. 53
2.2.1 Spatial Resolution, Pixel Size, and Scale................... 55
2.2.2 Spectral/Radiometric Resolution.............................. 57
2.2.3 Temporal Resolution............................................... 59
2.2.4 Sensor Design and Selection.................................... 60
2.3 Weather Satellites/Sensors............................................... 60
2.4 Synthetic Aperture Radar Sensors.................................... 62
2.5 Marine Observation Satellites (MOS) Sensors................... 62
2.6 Micro Sensors for Monitoring Ocean Acidification............ 65
2.7 Measurements of Ocean Monitoring Parameters.............. 66
2.7.1 Ocean Color........................................................... 67
2.7.2 Sediment Monitoring Methods................................ 76
2.7.3 Surface Currents..................................................... 80
2.7.4 Surface Wind and Waves......................................... 81
2.7.5 Wave Height and Wind Speed................................. 82
2.7.6 Sea Surface Temperature......................................... 83
2.7.7 Upwelling............................................................... 90
2.7.8 Sampling................................................................ 91
2.7.9 Wave Power............................................................ 91
2.7.10 Ocean Floor.......................................................... 91
2.8 Research on Ocean Phenomena....................................... 93
Exercises............................................................................... 93

Contents • vii
Chapter 3 Underwater Acoustics......................................... 97

3.1 Interaction of Sound with Seafloor................................... 97
3.1.1 Underwater Acoustics ............................................. 98
3.1.2 The Features of Sound Waves.................................. 99
3.2 Transmission of Data Underwater Using Sound................ 100
3.3 Measurement of the Upper Ocean................................... 103
3.3.1 Wave Height Measurement..................................... 104
3.3.2 Wave Velocities Measurement.................................. 104
3.3.3 Bubbles Study......................................................... 105
3.3.4 Measurement of Water Depth................................. 106
3.4 Locating Fish.................................................................. 106
3.4.1 Identifying Fish....................................................... 108
3.4.2 Communicating Underwater.................................... 110
3.5 Measurement of Ocean Temperature............................... 111
3.5.1 Acoustic Tomography.............................................. 111
3.5.2 Inverted Echo-Sounders.......................................... 112
3.5.3 Measuring Global Climate Change........................... 113
3.6 Measurement of Ocean Currents..................................... 116
3.6.1 Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler........................... 116
3.6.2 RAFOS Floats......................................................... 117
3.6.3 Reciprocal Transmission.......................................... 117
3.6.4 Measuring Waves in the Surf Zone........................... 118
3.6.5 Sound Use to Make Long-Term Measurements
of the Ocean........................................................... 119
3.7 Sound Use to Study the Earth’s History ........................... 120
Exercises............................................................................... 123
Chapter 4 Underwater Communication............................... 125

4.1 Underwater Wireless Communication.............................. 125
4.1.1 Environment/Propagation Medium ......................... 126
4.2 Fundamentals of Waves................................................... 126
4.2.1 Acoustic Waves and Physical Properties.................... 126
4.2.2 Acoustic Communication......................................... 127
4.2.3 Optical Waves......................................................... 128
4.2.4 Optical Communication........................................... 128
4.3 Underwater Acoustic Communication.............................. 130
4.3.1 Limitations of Underwater Acoustic
Communication....................................................... 130

viii • Ocean Instrumentation, Electronics, and Energy
4.4 Underwater Optical Communications.............................. 131

4.4.1 Using Laser as Optical Communication
Above Water and Underwater.................................. 132
4.5 Underwater Laser Sensor Architecture............................. 134
4.5.1 Protocol Stack for the Underwater
Laser Sensor Network............................................. 134
4.5.2 Wireless Laser Communication
System Description................................................. 136
4.6 Instrumentation System Devices ..................................... 138
4.6.1 MEMS Approach ................................................... 138
4.7 Underwater Mobile Communication................................ 139
4.7.1 Benefits of Smart Optical Systems for
Underwater Vehicles............................................... 139
4.7.2 Systems and Methods in Underwater
Optical Communication........................................... 141
4.8 Types of Modulation........................................................ 144
4.8.1 Frequency Shift Keying as Applied to UAC.............. 144
4.8.2 Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS).............. 145
4.8.3 Multicarrier Modulation.......................................... 146
4.8.4 Multi-Input Multi-Output Techniques..................... 147
4.9 Internet to Ships Using Oceanographic Tool (SeaNet)....... 148
4.9.1 Global Positioning System (GPS) in Ship.................. 149
4.9.2 Internet Access for Voyagers.................................... 151
4.9.3 Voice Communication on Ship ................................ 154
4.9.4 Submarine Communications Cable.......................... 155
4.9.5 Optical Submarine Cable Repeaters......................... 155
4.9.6 Antarctica............................................................... 156
4.9.7 Perfectly Secure Communication............................. 156
4.9.8 Environmental Impact............................................. 161
Exercises............................................................................... 161
Chapter 5 Oceanographic Wireless Sensor Networks........... 165

5.1 Introduction to Wireless Sensor Networks........................ 165
5.1.1 Terrestrial vs. Oceanographic WSNs......................... 166
5.2 Oceanographic WSNs..................................................... 167
5.2.1 Application Areas of Oceanographic WSN................ 169

Contents • ix
5.2.2 Common WSN Architecture.................................... 169

5.2.3 General Sensor Node.............................................. 170
5.2.4 Sensing Parameters and Sensors.............................. 172
5.2.5 Challenges in Oceanographic WSN.......................... 172
5.3 Wireless Communication Technologies............................ 174
5.3.1 Oceanographic Sensors Protection........................... 177
5.3.2 Advanced Buoy Design............................................ 177
5.3.3 Energy Harvesting System Design........................... 178
5.3.4 System Stability and Reliability................................ 179
5.4 Wireless Underwater Sensor Network.............................. 180
5.4.1 Underwater Sensing Applications............................. 181
5.5 Underwater Communications and
Networking Technology................................................... 184
5.5.1 Physical Layer......................................................... 184
5.5.2 Medium Access Control and Resource Sharing......... 186
5.5.3 Network Layer, Routing, and Transport.................... 189
5.5.4 Network Services.................................................... 189
5.5.5 Sensing and Application Techniques......................... 190
5.5.6 Hardware Platforms................................................ 191
5.5.7 Test Beds, Simulators, and Models........................... 191
5.6 Wireless Underwater Acoustic Sensor Network................ 192
5.6.1 Underwater Acoustic Sensor Network vs.
Terrestrial Network................................................. 194
5.6.2 Unique Characteristics of Underwater Acoustic
Sensor Network...................................................... 194
5.6.3 Underwater Acoustic Sensor Network
Architecture............................................................ 195
5.6.4 Two-Dimensional Underwater Sensor Network
Architecture............................................................ 195
5.6.5 Three-Dimensional Underwater Sensor
Network Architecture.............................................. 197
5.6.6 Sensor Networks Architecture with AUVs................. 198
5.7 Networking Challenges for Underwater Acoustic
Sensor Networks............................................................. 199
5.7.1 Research Challenges and Opportunities................... 201
Exercises............................................................................... 202

x • Ocean Instrumentation, Electronics, and Energy
Chapter 6 Image Processing for the Ocean.......................... 205

6.1 Analog and Digital Images............................................... 205
6.2 The Electromagnetic Spectrum....................................... 206
6.2.1 A Push Broom Scanner............................................ 207
6.3 Multi-layer Image........................................................... 208
6.3.1 Interaction Mechanisms.......................................... 209
6.4 Spectral Response Patterns.............................................. 209
6.5 Multi-spectral Image....................................................... 212
6.5.1 Multi-Spectral Remote Sensing................................ 212
6.5.2 Superspectral Image................................................ 213
6.6 Hyperspectral Image....................................................... 213
6.6.1 Hyperspectral Remote Sensing................................ 214
6.7 Sensor/Platform Systems................................................. 214
6.7.1 Aerial Photography.................................................. 215
6.7.2 Aerial Videography.................................................. 215
6.7.3 Satellite-Based Scanning Systems............................. 216
6.8 Spatial Resolution........................................................... 217
6.8.1 Spatial Resolution and Pixel Size.............................. 218
6.9 Radiometric Resolution................................................... 220
6.9.1 Data Volume........................................................... 220
6.10 Infrared Remote Sensing................................................. 223
6.10.1 Black Body Radiation............................................ 224
6.11 Microwave Remote Sensing............................................. 225
6.11.1 Interaction between Microwaves and
Earth’s Surface...................................................... 227
6.12 Digital Image Processing................................................. 228
6.12.1 Image Preprocessing............................................. 228
6.12.2 Image Enhancement............................................. 230
6.12.3 Image Classification.............................................. 236
6.12.4 Image Transformation........................................... 241
6.13 Software for Ocean Color Data........................................ 243
Software for Ocean-color Algorithms................................ 246
Remote Sensing Software................................................ 246
Exercises............................................................................... 247
Chapter 7 Ocean Energy...................................................... 251

7.1 Ocean Energy as a Renewable Source of Energy.............. 251
7.2 Wave Energy.................................................................. 254
7.2.1 Ocean Wave Energy Technologies............................ 257

Contents • xi
7.3 Tidal Power.................................................................... 260

7.3.1 Tidal Barrage Operation.......................................... 260
7.4 Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC).................... 261
7.5 Ocean Turbine Operation ............................................... 261
7.6 Ocean Current Energy.................................................... 263
7.7 Offshore Wind Energy.................................................... 264
7.7.1 Offshore Wind Energy Technology........................... 264
7.7.2 Semi-Submersible Offshore Wind Turbine............... 267
7.7.3 Offshore Floating Structures for Mounting
Wind Turbines........................................................ 267
7.7.4 Transmitting Power Ashore through Subsea
Cables.................................................................... 270
7.8 Offshore Solar Energy..................................................... 270
7.8.1 Solar Energy Technologies....................................... 271
7.8.2 Challenges in Ocean Power Technologies................. 274
Exercises............................................................................... 274
Chapter 8 Marine Electronics.............................................. 277

8.1 The Role of Electronics in the Marine Generator Set........ 277
8.1.1 Engine Governor.................................................... 280
8.1.2 Timing Considerations............................................. 281
8.1.3 Fuel Injection......................................................... 283
8.2 Marine Instruments........................................................ 286
8.2.1 Wireless Control Stations......................................... 289
8.2.2 Salt Assault............................................................. 290
8.2.3 Producing Nautical Charts....................................... 291
8.3 Marine Navigation Equipment......................................... 292
8.3.1 GPS-Based Instrument Recovery Stray Line Buoys.... 292
8.3.2 Weather Monitoring Systems................................... 295
8.3.3 Routing and Reporting............................................ 295
8.4 Integrated Sailboat Instruments....................................... 296
8.5 Autopilot System............................................................. 297
8.6 Satellite Phones and Their Use on Ship............................ 299
8.7 Firefighting Equipment................................................... 302
8.8 Shipboard Level Sensors................................................. 302
8.8.1 Pressure-Based Level Measurement........................ 304
8.8.2 Bubbler Gauge........................................................ 304
8.8.3 Ultrasonic/Microwave Level Sensor......................... 305
8.8.4 Capacitive Level Sensor........................................... 306

xii • Ocean Instrumentation, Electronics, and Energy
8.9 Ship’s Bridge................................................................... 306

8.9.1 Controlling Ship’s Speed and Direction
from Bridge............................................................ 307
8.10 Tracking Ships Using AIS................................................ 308
8.10.1 AIS Operation....................................................... 309
8.10.2 Information Transfer............................................. 310
8.11 Electrical Propulsion System........................................... 310
8.11.1 Boil-Off for Propulsion.......................................... 311
8.11.2 TFDE Propulsion Layout...................................... 311
8.12 Gas Detection Meters for Ships....................................... 315
8.12.1 Combustible Gas Indicators or Explosimeters......... 315
8.12.2 Tankscope or Noncombustible Gas Indicator.......... 316
8.12.3 Multi-Gas Analyzers.............................................. 316
Exercises............................................................................... 317
Chapter 9 Oceanographic Instruments................................ 321

9.1 Instruments and Their Measured Parameters................... 321
9.1.1 Depth..................................................................... 322
9.1.2 Temperature........................................................... 322
9.1.3 Salinity................................................................... 324
9.1.4 Oxygen, Phosphate, Silicate, Nitrate, pH.................. 324
9.1.5 Water Clarity.......................................................... 325
9.1.6 Sound..................................................................... 325
9.1.7 Currents................................................................. 327
9.1.8 Waves and Tides...................................................... 330
9.1.9 Seabed Sampling..................................................... 330
9.1.10 Bioluminescence................................................... 331
9.2 Oceanographic Instrumentation....................................... 332
9.2.1 Research Vessels..................................................... 333
9.2.2 Moorings................................................................ 333
9.2.3 Moored Profiler...................................................... 335
9.2.4 Satellites................................................................. 337
9.2.5 Submersibles.......................................................... 337
9.2.6 Towed Vehicles....................................................... 338
9.2.7 Floats and Drifters.................................................. 339
9.3 Measurements of Hydrographic Properties....................... 342
9.3.1 Reversing Thermometers......................................... 342
9.3.2 CTDs..................................................................... 344

Contents • xiii
9.3.3 Multiple Water Sample Devices............................... 344

9.3.4 Thermosalinographs................................................ 345
9.3.5 Remote Sensors...................................................... 345
9.4 Measurements of Dynamic Properties.............................. 346
9.4.1 Current Meters....................................................... 346
9.4.2 Wave Measurements............................................... 351
9.4.3 Tide Gauges............................................................ 351
9.4.4 Remote Sensors...................................................... 353
9.4.5 Shear Probes........................................................... 353
9.4.6 Ferry Box............................................................... 354
9.4.7 Glider..................................................................... 355
9.5 Radar Doppler Current Profiler (RDCP)......................... 355
9.5.1 X Band Radar.......................................................... 356
9.5.2 HF Radar............................................................... 356
9.6 Satellite Remote Sensing................................................. 357
9.7 Underwater Nodes.......................................................... 357
9.8 Zooplankton Recorder..................................................... 358
9.8.1 Nucleic Acid Biosensor............................................ 359
9.8.2 Sensors for pH and Alkalinity................................... 359
9.9 Air Sea Interaction Meteorology (ASIMET)..................... 360
9.10 BIOMAPER................................................................... 362
9.11 Gravity Corer.................................................................. 365
9.11.1 Hydraulically Damped Gravity Corer..................... 366
9.12 Marine Magnetometer.................................................... 367
9.13 Ocean-Bottom Seismometer............................................ 369
9.14 Submersible Incubation Device....................................... 371
9.15 Deep Ocean Tsunami Detection Buoy............................. 373
9.16 Oceanographc Instruments.............................................. 374
Exercises............................................................................... 376
Chapter 10 Ocean Optics and Ocean Facts......................... 379

10.1 Introduction to Optical Properties of the Ocean................ 379
10.1.1 Optical Constituents of Seawater............................ 380
10.1.2 Inherent Optical Properties (IOP) Variability.......... 385
10.2 Retrieval of Oceanic Constituents from
Ocean Color Measurements............................................ 390
10.2.1 Retrieval of Oceanic Constituents from
Ocean Color at TOA.............................................. 392
10.2.2 The Atmospheric Correction Problem.................... 392

xiv • Ocean Instrumentation, Electronics, and Energy
10.3 Ocean Optics Dip Probe Spectrometers........................... 394

10.3.1 Spectrometers....................................................... 396
10.3.2 Ocean Optics Visible Spectrophotometer................ 398
10.4 Interesting Facts about the Ocean ................................... 399
Exercises............................................................................... 413
Appendix I Indian Satellites for Ocean Monitoring............... 415
Appendix II U.S. OCEAN MONITORING............................ 443
Appendix III Using Satellites for Forecasting (U.S.).............. 445
Appendix IV Exploring The Ocean Basins With

Satellite Altimeter Data................................. 449
Appendix V Acronyms......................................................... 457
Index....................................................................................... 459

Preface
Ocean covers an area of about 140 million square miles or 362 million sq
km. An estimated 50–80 % of all life on earth is found under the ocean
surface and the oceans contain 99 % of the living space on the planet. Less
than 10 % of that space has been explored by humans. The dark, cold
environment called the deep sea constitutes 85 % of of the ocean’s area
and 90 % of its volume. The average depth of the ocean is 3,795 m. The
average height of the land is 840 m. The oceans cover 71 % (and rising)
of the Earth’s surface and contain 97 % of the Earth water. Less than
1 % is fresh water, and 2–3 % is contained in glaciers and ice caps (and is
decreasing). Oceans are the site of 90 % of all volcanic activity. Our oceans
teem with life ranging from the blue whale, the biggest animal on Earth,
to tiny microbes. But nobody knows exactly how many different species
live in this environment. There is no data for around 20 % of the ocean’s
volume. It’s a location whose details everyone is very much interested to
know.
This book covers many topics encountered in the design and application
of electronic instruments related to the ocean, both basic ideas and
advanced technologies. It also covers requirements of ocean research.
Chapter 1 discusses oceanographic remote sensing, including
applications, radar, radiometry, satellites, sonar, telemetry, laser and LIDAR,
and research ideas. It also discusses the difference between satellite images

xvi • Ocean Instrumentation, Electronics, and Energy
and maps, remote sensing and GIS, remote sensing and aerial photography,
remote sensing and sonar. It also describes oceanography, synthetic
aperture radar, NADIR radar, microwave radiometry, infrared radiometers,
imaging radiometer, microwave measurement of ocean wind, wind and
wave height measurements, mapping the ocean floor with single beam echo
sounding, multi-beam bathymetry, sound as underwater navigation, echo-
sounders, applications of telemetry, data collection in LIDAR, discrete-
return LIDAR, waveform recording devices, and applications of LIDAR
remote sensing.
Chapter 2 discusses sensors for ocean monitoring and their measuring
parameters. Sometimes satellites are called sensors, as well as the sensors
they carry. It discusses the sensors, scanners, weather sensing, SAR sensors,
marine observation sensors (MOS), ocean color monitoring sensor (OCM)
and micro-sensors for ocean acidification monitoring. It also discusses
the measurement of ocean parameters, such as ocean color, sediment
monitoring, surface currents, surface wind, wave height, wind speed, sea
surface temperature, upwelling, sampling, wave energy, and ocean floor.
It also describes spatial resolution, pixel size, scale, spectral/radiometric
resolution, temporal resolution, sensor design, sensor selection, and
research on ocean phenomena.
Chapter 3 discusses underwater acoustics, including the interaction
of sound with the seafloor, sound wave features, transmission of data
underwater, wave height, wave velocities, bubbles study, water depth, sea
temperature, global climate change, ocean current measurement using
sound, fish finding, study of Earth history, and surf zone measurement
using sound. It describes locating and identifying fish, methods of
underwater communication, measurement of ocean temperature using
acoustic tomography, inverted echo-sounders, acoustic doppler current
profilers, RAFOS floats, and reciprocal transmission.
Chapter 4 discusses underwater wireless communication, including
acoustic waves and acoustic communication, optical waves and optical
communication, underwater acoustic communication, underwater optical
communications, underwater mobile communication, types of modulation,
Internet, and GPS. It describes the underwater communication
environment and propagation mediums, limitations of underwater
acoustic communication, using laser as optical communication above water
and underwater, protocol stack for the underwater laser sensor network,
wireless laser communication system description, instrumentation
system devices, the MEMS approach, benefits of smart optical systems

Preface • xvii
for underwater vehicles, systems and methods in underwater optical

communication, frequency shift keying as applied to UAC, direct sequence
spread spectrum (DSSS), multi-carrier modulation, multi-input multi-
output techniques, Internet to ships using oceanographic tool (SeaNet),
Internet access for voyagers, voice communication on ship, submarine
communications cable, optical submarine cable repeaters, Antarctica,
perfectly secure communication and environmental impact.
Chapter 5 discusses the wireless sensor network, oceanographic WSN,
WSN architecture, WSN network topologies, WSN applications, and
underwater network technology. It also discusses the wireless underwater
acoustic sensor network, 2-dimensional underwater sensor network
architecture, 3-dimensional underwater sensor network architecture,
and sensor network architecture with AUV. It describes the difference
between terrestrial WSNs and oceanographic WSNs, application areas of
oceanographic WSN, general sensor node, sensing parameters of different
sensors, challenges in oceanographic WSN, wireless communication
technologies, oceanographic sensors protection, advanced buoy design,
energy harvesting system design, system stability, reliability, wireless
underwater sensor network, underwater sensing applications, underwater
communication, physical layer, medium access control, resource sharing,
the network layer, routing, transport, network services, sensing and
application techniques, hardware platforms, test beds, simulators,
models, the difference between underwater acoustic sensor networks
and terrestrial networks, unique characteristics of underwater acoustic
sensor networks, underwater acoustic sensor network architecture,
network challenges for underwater acoustic sensor networks, and research
challenges and opportunities in underwater WSN.
Chapter 6 deals with analog and digital images, EM spectrum, multi-
layer images, spectral response patterns, multi-spectral images, multi-
spectral remote sensing, superspectral images, hyperspectral images,
hyperspectral remote sensing, sensor/platform systems, spatial resolution,
pixel size, radiometric resolution, data volume, infrared remote sensing,
black body radiation, microwave remote sensing, digital image processing
and software for ocean color and algorithms. It describes image processing
for the ocean, push broom scanning, interaction mechanisms, aerial
photography, aerial videography, satellite-based scanning systems,
interaction between microwaves and the Earth’s surface, image
preprocessing, image enhancement, image classification, and image
transformation.

xviii • Ocean Instrumentation, Electronics, and Energy
Chapter 7 discusses ocean energy as a renewable source of energy,

wave energy, wave energy technologies, tidal power, ocean thermal energy
conversion, ocean current energy, offshore wind energy, offshore wind
energy technology, offshore solar energy, offshore solar energy technology
and concentrating solar power technology. It also describes the operation
of tidal barrages, ocean turbines, semi-submersible offshore wind turbines,
offshore floating structures for mounting wind turbines, transmitting power
ashore through subsea cables, and challenges in ocean power technologies.
Chapter 8 discusses the role of electronics in marine generator sets,
marine instruments, wireless control stations, navigation equipment,
autopilot systems, satellite phones, fire-fighting equipment, bubbler
gauges, navigation instruments, AIS operation, electrical propulsion, and
gas indicators. It also describes marine electronics, engine governors,
timing considerations, fuel injection, marine instruments, salt assault,
producing nautical charts, GPS-based instrument recovery, stray line buoys,
weather monitoring systems, routing and reporting, integrated sail boat
instruments, ship board level sensors, pressure-based level measurement,
ultra sonic/microwave level sensors, capacitive level sensors, ship’s bridge,
controlling ship’s speed and direction from the bridge, tracking ships
using AIS, information transfer, boil-off for propulsion, TFDE propulsion
layout, gas detection meters for ships, noncombustible gas indicators, and
multi-gas analyzers.
Chapter 9 deals with instruments and their measured parameters,
oceanographic instrumentation, Argo robots, measurements of hydrographic
properties, measurement of dynamic properties, BIOMAPER, and many
more instruments. It also discusses how to measure depth, temperature,
salinity, oxygen, phosphate, silicate, nitrate, pH, water clarity, sound, current,
waves and tides, seabed sampling, and bioluminescence. It describes research
vessels, moorings, moored profilers, satellites, submersibles, towed vehicles,
floats, and drifters, as well as reversing thermometers, CTDs, multiple water
sample devices, thermosalinographs, remote sensors, current meters, wave
measurements, tide gauges, shear probes, ferry box, glider, radar doppler
current profiler (RDCP), X band radar, HF radar, satellite remote sensing,
underwater nodes, zooplankton recorder, nucleic acid biosensor, sensors
for pH and alkalinity, Air Sea Interaction METeorology (ASIMET), gravity
corers, hydraulically damped gravity corers, marine magnetometers, ocean
bottom seismometers, submersible incubation devices, deep ocean tsunami
detection buoys, and oceanographic instruments.

Preface • xix
Chapter 10 deals with the optical constituents of seawater, retrieval of

oceanic constituents from ocean color measurements at sea level, ocean
optics dip probe spectrometers, and interesting facts about ocean. It
describes ocean optics, optical properties of the ocean, Inherent Optical
Properties (IOP) variability, retrieval of oceanic constituents from ocean
color measurements taken at top of atmosphere, the atmospheric correction
problem, spectrometers, and ocean optics visible spectrophotometers.
The appendices present in-depth data about Indian satellites for ocean
monitoring and acronyms used in the ocean electronics field. Almost
every chapter can be read independently from the others ; hence a flexible
presentation of subjects can be realized. The consequence of this approach
is that some of the details are repeated in different contexts, but this can
only improve understanding. Furthermore, every chapter provides three
levels of exercises for testing reader comprehension.
The authors would be glad to receive any suggestions for improving
this textbook. Anyone requiring further information should contact the
authors [email : [email protected]]. The web links lead to relevant
websites ; appropriate material may be found in the web databases. S. R.
Vijayalakshmi thanks the University Grants Commission, Government of
India for the financial support in doing my postdoctoral research project
work.
S. R. Vijayalakshmi
S. Muruganand

CHAPTER
1
REMOTE SENSING IN
OCEANOGRAPHY
T
his chapter discusses remote sensing in oceanography; applications
of remote sensing; radar, radiometry, satellites, sonar, telemetry, la-
ser, and LIDAR in remote sensing; and research ideas in remote
sensing.
1.1 INTRODUCTION TO REMOTE SENSING

The measurement of information about properties of an object by a
recording device that is not in physical contact with the object under study
(utilized at a distance, as from an aircraft, spacecraft, or ship) and the dis-
play of information important to the environment, such as measurements
of force fields, electromagnetic radiation, or acoustic energy, is known as
remote sensing. The technique employs such devices as cameras, lasers,
and radio frequency receivers, radar systems, sonar, seismographs, gravim-
eters, magnetometers, and scintillation counters. As humans, we are inti-
mately familiar with remote sensing in that we depend on visual perception
to provide us with information about our surroundings. As sensors, how-
ever, our eyes are greatly limited by
1. Sensitivity to only the visible range of electromagnetic energy;

2. Viewing perspectives dictated by the location of our bodies; and
3. The inability to form a lasting record of what we view.
Ocean Electronics_Chapter_1.indd 1 12/09/17 10:40 AM

2 • Ocean Instrumentation, Electronics, and Energy
Because of these limitations, humans have continuously sought to develop

the technological means to increase our ability to see and record the physical
properties of our environment. Beginning with the early use of aerial photog-
raphy, remote sensing has been recognized as a valuable tool for viewing, ana-
lyzing, characterizing, and making decisions about our environment. In the
past few decades, remote sensing technology has advanced on three fronts:
1. From predominantly military use to a variety of environmental analysis

applications that relate to land, ocean, and atmosphere issues;
2. From (analog) photographic systems to sensors that convert energy
from many parts of the electromagnetic spectrum to electronic signals;
and
3. From aircraft to satellite platforms.
Today, we define satellite remote sensing as the use of satellite-borne

sensors to observe, measure, and record the electromagnetic radiation
reflected or emitted by the Earth and its environment for analysis and
extraction of information. What follows are the main points of similarity
and difference between the field of remote sensing (analysis and images)
and fields/products such as maps, satellite images, GIS, and sonar.
1.1.1 Satellite Images vs. Maps

A map is “a conventionalized image representing selected features or
characteristics of geographical reality, designed for use when spatial rela-
tionships are of primary importance.” A map shows us the world as we know
it, and what we know is a very complex subject that comprises:
■■ The limits of matter, technology, and our measurement tools
■■ What we believe exists
■■ What we think to be important
■■ What we want and aspire to
Thus, a map is subjective, reflecting human decisions about what to put

on it and how to represent these things. A remote sensing image, in con-
trast, is an objective recording of the electromagnetism reaching the sensor.
Another important difference is that a map is a projection of the Earth on
paper, without any relief displacement, while in a remote sensing image
shows both relief displacement and geometrical distortion.

Remote Sensing in Oceanography • 3
1.1.2 Remote Sensing vs. GIS

GIS (Geographic Information System) is a kind of software that enables:
■■ Collecting spatial data from different sources (remote sensing being one
of them)
■■ Relating spatial and tabular data
■■ Performing tabular and spatial analysis
■■ Symbolizing and designing the layout of a map
GIS software can handle both vector and raster data (although some
handle only one of them). Remote sensing data belongs to the raster type
and usually requires special data manipulation procedures that regular GIS
does not offer. However, after a remote sensing analysis has been done, its
results are usually combined with GIS or put into a database of an area for
further analysis (overlaying with other layers, etc.). In recent years, more
and more vector capabilities are being added to remote sensing software,
and some remote sensing functions are inserted into GIS modules.
1.1.3 Remote Sensing vs. Aerial Photography/Photogrammetry

Both remote sensing and aerial photography or photogrammetry gather
data about the upper surface of the Earth by measuring electromagnetic radi-
ation from airborne systems. The following major differences can be given:
Aerial photos are taken by an analog instrument; film from a (photo-
grammetric) camera is then scanned to be transformed to digital media.
Remote sensing data is usually gathered by a digital Charge Coupled
Device (CCD) camera. The advantage of film is its high resolution (granu-
larity), while the advantage of CCD is that we measure quantitatively the
radiation reaching the sensor (radiance values, instead of a gray-value scale
bar). Thus, remote sensing data can be integrated into physical equations
of, for example, energy balance.
■■ An aerial photograph is a central projection, with the whole picture
taken at one instance. A remote sensing image is created line after line;
therefore, the geometrical correction is much more complex, with each
line (or even pixel) needing to be treated as a central projection.
■■ Aerial photos usually gather data only in the visible spectrum (although
there are also special films sensitive to near infrared radiation), while

remote sensing sensors can be designed to measure radiation all along

the electromagnetic spectrum.
■■ Aerial photos are usually taken from planes, while remote sensing im-
ages may also be taken from satellites.
■■ Both systems are affected by atmospheric disturbances, aerial photos
mainly by haze (that is, the scattering of light—the process which makes
the sky blue), remote sensing images also by processes of absorption.
■■ Atmospheric corrections to aerial photos can be made while taking the
picture (using a filter), or in post-processing, as done in remote sensing.
Thermal remote sensing sensors can also operate at night and radar data
is almost weather independent.
■■ Photogrammetry is mainly dedicated to the accurate creation of a 3D
model, in order to plot with high accuracy the locations and boundaries of
objects and to create a digital elevation model by applying sophisticated
geometric corrections. Remote sensing is mainly dedicated to the analysis
of the incoming electromagnetic spectrum, using atmospheric correc-
tions, sophisticated statistical methods for classification of the pixels to dif-
ferent categories, and analyzing the data according to the known physical
processes that affect light as it moves in space and interacts with objects.
■■ Remote sensing images are very useful for tracking phenomena on
regional, continental, and even global scales, using the fact that satellites
cover wide areas and take images all the time (whether fixed above a
certain point or revisiting the same place every 15 days, for example).
■■ Remote sensing images have been available since the early 1970s. Aerial
photos provide a longer time span for detecting landscape change (for
example, with many aerial photos taken during World War I).
■■ Remote sensing images are more difficult to process and require trained
personnel, while aerial photographs can be interpreted more easily.
1.1.4 Remote Sensing vs. Sonar

Sonar can also be considered a kind of remote sensing—that is, studying
the surfaces of the sea (bathymetry and sea bed features) from a distance.
Sonar is an active type of remote sensing (like radar; it is not dependent on
an external source of waves, measuring the time between the transmission
and reception of waves produced by our instruments and their intensity),
but using sound waves rather than electromagnetic radiation. Both systems

transmit waves through an interfering medium (water, air) that adds noise
to the data we are looking for, and therefore corrections must be applied
to the raw data collected. In remote sensing, however, radar is almost
independent of weather, and atmospheric disturbances affect mainly pas-
sive remote sensing. To make these necessary corrections, both systems
depend on calibration from field data (be it salinity, temperature and pres-
sure measured by the ship while surveying, or measurements of the atmos-
pheric profile parameters by a meteorological radiosonde, for example).
Sonar is mainly used to produce the bathymetry of the sea, while remote
sensing techniques focus more on identification of a material’s properties
than its height. Echo-sounders (single- or multi-beam) can be compared
to airborne laser scanning—both create point (vector) data containing X,
Y, and Z that needs to be further post-processed in order to remove noise
(spikes). An added complexity when dealing with bathymetry (as opposed
to topography) is the need for tide corrections. Side scan sonar can be com-
pared to side looking aperture radar, both creating images (raster) analyzing
the surface. Another major difference is that in remote sensing the results
of the analysis can be compared easily to the field (aerial photos, maps, field
measurements), while in sonar the bottom of the sea is hidden from us, and
we depend totally on the data gathered.
1.1.5 Applications of Remote Sensing

Each sensor is designed with a specific purpose. With optical sensors,
the design focuses on the spectral bands to be collected. With radar imag-
ing, the incidence angle and microwave band used plays an important role
in defining which applications the sensor is best suited for. Each application
itself has specific demands for spectral resolution, spatial resolution, and
temporal resolution. There can be many applications for remote sensing, in
different fields, as described below.
Agriculture: Satellite and airborne images are used as mapping tools to

classify crops, examine their health and viability, and monitor farming prac-
tices. Agricultural applications of remote sensing include crop type clas-
sification, crop condition assessment, crop yield estimation, mapping of
soil characteristics, mapping of soil management practices, and compliance
monitoring (farming practices).
Forestry: Forests play an important role in balancing the Earth’s CO2 supply
and exchange, acting as a key link between the atmosphere, geosphere, and
hydrosphere. Forestry applications of remote sensing include forest cover

updating, depletion monitoring, measuring biophysical properties of forest

stands, collecting harvest information, updating of inventory information for
timber supply, broad forest type, vegetation density, biomass measurements,
and monitoring the quantity, health, and diversity of the Earth’s forests.
Geology: Geology involves the study of landforms, structures, and subsur-

face to understand physical processes creating and modifying the Earth’s
crust. Geological applications of remote sensing include surficial deposit/
bedrock mapping, lithological mapping, structural mapping, sand and grav-
el (aggregate) exploration/exploitation, mineral exploration, hydrocarbon
exploration, environmental geology, geobotany, baseline infrastructure,
sedimentation mapping and monitoring, event mapping and monitoring,
geohazard mapping, and planetary mapping.
Hydrology: Hydrology is the study of water on the Earth’s surface, whether

flowing above ground, frozen in ice or snow, or retained by soil. Hydrologi-
cal applications include wetlands mapping and monitoring, soil moisture
estimation, snow pack monitoring/delineation of extent, measuring snow
thickness, determining snow-water equivalent, river and lake ice monitor-
ing, flood mapping and monitoring, glacier dynamics monitoring (surges,
ablation), river/delta change detection, drainage basin mapping, and water-
shed modeling, irrigation canal leakage detection, and irrigation scheduling.
Sea ice: Ice covers a substantial part of the Earth’s surface and is a major
factor in the commercial shipping and fishing industries, Coast Guard and
construction operations, and global climate change studies. Sea ice informa-
tion and applications include ice concentration, ice type/age/motion, iceberg
detection and tracking, surface topography, tactical identification of leads,
navigation, safe shipping routes/rescue, ice condition (state of decay), histor-
ical ice and iceberg conditions and dynamics for planning purposes, wildlife
habitat, pollution monitoring and meteorological/global change research.
Land cover and land use: Land cover refers to the surface cover on the
ground, while land use refers to the purpose the land serves. Land use applica-
tions of remote sensing include natural resource management, wildlife habitat
protection, baseline mapping for GIS input, urban expansion/encroachment,
routing and logistics planning for seismic/exploration/resource extraction ac-
tivities, damage delineation (tornadoes, flooding, volcanic, seismic, fire), legal
boundaries for tax and property evaluation and target detection—identification
of landing strips, roads, clearings, bridges, land/water interface.

Mapping: Mapping constitutes an integral component of the process of

managing land resources, and mapped information is the common product
of analysis of remotely sensed data. Mapping applications of remote sensing
include the following:
■■ Planimetry: Land surveying techniques accompanied by GPS can be
used to meet high accuracy requirements, but limitations include cost
effectiveness and difficulties in attempting to map large or remote
areas. Remote sensing provides a means of identifying and presenting
planimetric data in convenient media and an efficient manner. Imagery
is available in varying scales to meet the requirements of different us-
ers. Defense applications typify the scope of planimetry applications:
extracting transportation route information, building and facilities loca-
tions, urban infrastructure, and general land cover.
■■ Digital Elevation Models (DEMs): Generating DEMs from remotely
sensed data can be cost-effective and efficient. A variety of sensors
and methodologies to generate such models are available and proven
for mapping applications. Two primary methods of generating eleva-
tion data are stereogrammetry techniques using air photos (photo-
grammetry), VIR imagery, or radar data (radargrammetry), and radar
interferometry.
■■ Baseline thematic mapping/topographic mapping: As a base map,
imagery provides ancillary information to the extracted planimetric or
thematic detail. Sensitivity to surface expression makes radar a useful
tool for creating base maps and providing reconnaissance abilities for
hydrocarbon and mineralogical companies involved in exploration. This
is particularly true in remote northern regions, where vegetation cover
does not mask the micro topography and, generally, information may
be sparse. Multi-spectral imagery is excellent for providing ancillary
land cover information, such as forest cover. Supplementing the optical
data with the topographic relief and textural nuance inherent in radar
imagery can create an extremely useful image composite product for
interpretation.
Oceans and coastal monitoring: The oceans not only provide valuable
food and biophysical resources, they also serve as transportation routes, are
crucially important in weather system formation and CO2 storage, and are
an important link in the Earth’s hydrological balance. Coastlines are envi-
ronmentally sensitive interfaces between the ocean and land and respond

to changes brought about by economic development and changing land-use

patterns. Often coastlines are also biologically diverse intertidal zones and
can also be highly urbanized. Ocean applications of remote sensing include
ocean pattern identification, currents, regional circulation patterns, shears,
frontal zones, internal waves, gravity waves, eddies, upwelling zones, shal-
low water bathymetry, storm forecasting, wind and wave retrieval, fish stock
and marine mammal assessment, water temperature monitoring, water
quality, ocean productivity, phytoplankton concentration and drift, aqua-
culture inventory and monitoring, oil spills, mapping and predicting oil spill
extent and drift, strategic support for oil spill emergency response deci-
sions, identification of natural oil seepage areas for exploration, shipping,
navigation routing, traffic density studies, operational fisheries surveillance,
near-shore bathymetry mapping, intertidal zones, tidal and storm effects,
delineation of the land/water interface, mapping shoreline features/beach
dynamics, coastal vegetation mapping, and human activity/impact.
1.1.6 Applications of Remote Sensing in Oceanography

Remote sensing is the science of obtaining information about objects
or areas from a distance, typically from aircraft or satellites. Remote sen-
sors collect data by detecting the energy that is reflected from the Earth.
These sensors can be on satellites or mounted on aircraft. Remote sensors
can be either passive or active. Passive sensors respond to external stimuli.
They record radiation that is reflected from the Earth’s surface, usually
from the sun. Because of this, passive sensors can only be used to collect
data during daylight hours. In contrast, active sensors use internal stimuli
to collect data about the Earth. For example, a laser-beam remote sens-
ing system projects a laser onto the surface of the Earth and measures the
time that it takes for the laser to reflect back to its sensor. Remote sensing
has a wide range of applications in many different fields of ocean.
Coastal applications:
1. To monitor shoreline changes: Remote sensing satellites images have been
used effectively for coastal shore line change nitoring along the coast.
Figure 1.1 shows the coastal shore line of Tamil Nadu state in India.
2. To track sediment transport: Particle tracking, or in the geological sci-
ences sediment tracing or sediment tracking, offers a unique methodol-
ogy for tracking the movement through space and time of environmental
particulates. Utilizing this methodology, information can be garnered
into source-sink relationships, the nature and location of the transport
pathway(s), and the rate of transport.

FIGURE 1.1 Tamil Nadu state coastal shore line.
3. To map coastal features: Geologic land features could be retrieved as

seen in Figure 1.2, showing the physiographic map of India.
Coastal features can be also retrieved. For instance, in an area where

the land meets the sea, its features vary depending on climate, wind, sea,
and the type of rocks of which it is composed.
Common coastal features are natural arches, caves, stacks, sand islands,
rocky islets, tombolos, spits, skerries, headlands, cliffs, dunes, river estuar-
ies, lagoons, and beaches, as shown in Figure 1.3. A natural arch is the arch
hollowed out of a headland by the sea. A cave is the natural underground
cavity that results from the slow dissolution and erosion of rock by water. A
stack is the needle-shaped column resulting from the collapse of an arch.
A sand island is the exposed summit of a sand deposit formed near or occa-
sionally far from a shoreline. A rocky islet is a small island made of rock.

FIGURE 1.2 Physiographic map of India.
FIGURE 1.3 Coastal features.

A tombolo is the ridge of sand joining an island to the shoreline. A spit is

the elongated ridge of sand or pebbles extending into the water. A skerry
is a rock tip just above the surface of the water. A headland is the tapering
strip of land jutting into the sea. A cliff is a steep rock face shaped by the
sea. A dune is an accumulation of sand shaped by the wind. A river estuary
is the mouth of a river that is influenced by the tides; it forms an indenta-
tion in the coastline that varies in width and depth. A lagoon is a shallow
expanse of seawater separated from the sea by a ridge of sand or a barrier
island. A beach is the accumulation of sand or pebbles along the coast.
4. Data can be used for coastal mapping and erosion prevention.
Ocean applications:
1. To monitor ocean circulation and current systems: An ocean current can

be defined as a horizontal movement of seawater at the ocean’s surface.
Ocean currents are driven by the circulation of wind above surface
waters. Frictional stress at the interface between the ocean and the wind
causes the water to move in the direction of the wind.
Figure 1.4 describes the flow pattern of the major subsurface ocean
currents. Near-surface warm currents are drawn in red. Blue depicts the
deep, cold currents. Note how this system is continuously moving water
from the surface to deep within the ocean and back to the top of the ocean.
FIGURE 1.4 Ocean current flow pattern.

2. To measure ocean temperature: Temperature and density share an

inverse relationship. As temperature increases, the space between water
molecules increases—also known as density, which therefore decreases.
If the temperature of water decreases, its density increases, but only to
a point. At a temperature of 4°C, pure water reaches its maximum or
peak density; cooled further, it expands and becomes less dense than
the surrounding water, which is why when water freezes at 0°C it floats.
Salinity and density share a positive relationship. As density increases,
the amount of salts in the water (salinity) increases. Various events can
contribute to change in the density of seawater. Salinity can decrease
from the melting of polar ice or increase from the freezing of polar ice.
Evaporation increases salinity and density while the addition of freshwa-
ter decreases salinity and density. Sea surface temperature (SST) is the
water temperature close to the ocean’s surface. The exact meaning of
surface varies according to the measurement method used, but it is be-
tween 1 millimeter (0.04 in) and 20 meters (70 ft) below the sea surface.
Figure 1.5 is the ocean weather picture for different places.
Sea surface temperature

Valid for Mar-17-2015 16.00GMT
30 N
20 N
10 N
0N
10 S
20 S
30 S
30 E 40 E 50 E 60 E 70 E 80 E 90 E 100 E 110 E
Sea Surface Temperature(C)
0 2 4 6 8 1012 14 16 18 20 22 24 2628 32 34
FIGURE 1.5 Ocean weather picture.

3. To measure wave heights:

Wave length
As shown in Figure 1.6, Calm
wave height is defined as the sea
height of the wave from the Wave
height
wave top (wave crest) to the
bottom of the wave (wave
FIGURE 1.6 Wave height measurement.
trough). The wave length is
defined as the horizontal distance between two successive crests or troughs.
During storms, wave heights increase while the wave lengths decrease.
Wave heights during storms may exceed 10 meters (33 ft). These waves
are extremely dangerous on the water. Wave length during storms tends to
decrease; some may be as small as 15 meters (50 ft). Figure 1.7 shows wave
height with wave direction.
Significant Wave Height and Wave Direction

Valid for Mar-15-2015 06.00 GMT
30 N
20 N
10 N
0N
10 S
20 S
30 S
30 E 40 E 50 E 60 E 70 E 80 E 90 E 100 E 110 E
Significant Wave Height (Meters)
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
FIGURE 1.7 Wave height and wave direction.
4. To track sea ice: Arctic sea ice keeps the polar regions cool and helps
moderate global climate. Sea ice has a bright surface; 80% of the sun-
light that strikes it is reflected back into space. As sea ice melts in the
summer, it exposes the dark ocean surface. Figure 1.8 shows the sea ice.

FIGURE 1.8 Sea ice.
5. Data can be used to better understand the oceans and how to best man-
age ocean resources.
Hazard assessment:
1. To track hurricanes, Earthquakes, erosion, and flooding

2. To assess the impact of a natural disaster and created preparedness
strategies to be used before and after a hazardous event.
Natural resource management:
1. To monitor land use, map wetlands, and chart wildlife habitats.

2. To minimize the damage that urban growth has on the environment
and help decide how to best protect natural resources.
1.1.7 Oceanography
Geological oceanography is the study of the Earth beneath the oceans.
A geological oceanographer studies the topography, structure, and geologi-
cal processes of the ocean floor to discover how the Earth and oceans were
formed and how ongoing processes may change them in the future. Geo-
logical oceanography is one of the broadest fields in the Earth Sciences
and contains many subdisciplines, including geophysics and plate tecton-
ics, petrology and sedimentation processes, and micropaleontology and
stratigraphy. Geological oceanographers study many ocean features, such
as rises and ridges, trenches, seamounts, abyssal hills, the oceanic crust,

sedimentation (chemical and biological), erosional processes, volcanism,

and seismicity.
Many different tools are used by geological oceanographers. For exam-
ple, the structure and topography of the ocean floor are studied through
the use of satellite mapping, which measures the level of the ocean sur-
face to estimate the shape of the ocean floor. Underwater mountains and
valleys cause subtle variations in Earth’s gravitational field. The stronger
gravity near high massive formations attracts more water molecules, raising
the level of the ocean slightly. Similarly, valleys on the ocean floor produce
weaker areas of gravity, so the level of the ocean will be lower. Using micro-
wave radiation techniques, a complete survey of the ocean floor has been
accomplished.
Seismic techniques are used to measure the subsurface structure. This
type of study is carried out by teams of two ships: one fires an explosive
in the water and the other uses sensitive instruments to record the sound
waves as they reach the second ship. Some waves travel directly to the sec-
ond ship; others travel to the ocean floor, are refracted (bent) within the lay-
ers of sediment, and then travel to the second ship. By measuring the time it
takes for the energy to arrive and the distance between the boats, the thick-
ness of sediments and other features can be determined. Structures may
also be analyzed by studying natural Earthquake waves that travel through
deeper oceanic rocks and may be recorded at stations around the world.
Geological oceanographers study the rocks and structure of the ocean floor,
the ocean floor sediment that covers them, and the processes that formed
them. Coastal geologists focus on these structures and processes in a coastal
environment.
1.2 RADAR IN REMOTE SENSING

Radar stands for “RAdio Detection And Ranging.” By sending out
pulses of microwave electromagnetic radiation this type of instrument can
be classified as an active sensor—it measures the time between pulses and
their reflected components to determine distance. Different pulse inter-
vals, different wavelengths, different geometry, and polarizations can be
combined to roughness characteristics of the Earth’s surface. Radar wave-
lengths range between less than 1mm to 1 meter. Radar uses relative long
wavelengths, which allow these systems to “see” through clouds, smoke,
and some vegetation. Also, being an active system, it can be operated day

or night. Cameras capture reflected visible wavelengths. Radar captures

emitted microwave wavelengths that are bounced back to the antenna.
Figure 1.9 shows the difference between camera and radar antennas.
Radar
Camera antenna
Nadir
Nadir
Image Image
FIGURE 1.9 The difference between camera and radar antennas.
There are two types of radars.
1. SLAR (side-looking airborne radar) is airborne, with fixed antenna

width, and sends one pulse at a time and measures what gets scattered
back. Its resolution is determined by wavelength and antenna size (nar-
row antenna width = higher resolution).
2. SAR (synthetic aperture radar) was developed by those responsible for
SLAR, but this configuration is not dependent on physical antenna size,
although to achieve higher resolution the receiving antenna components
and transmitter components need to be separated. It “synthesizes” a
very broad antenna by sending multiple pulses.
1.2.1 Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR)
Synthetic aperture radar is an instrument for producing microwave
images of the Earth from space with a resolution comparable to optical sys-
tems. The frequency of the return signal from each scatterer is modulated
linearly and, if the target is stationary, the modulation constant is a func-
tion of known parameters, namely the radar wavelength, the velocity of the
platform, and its height. Broad-beam antennas give better resolution than
narrow beam, since resolution is inversely proportional to the total time

the target remains in the field of view. To reduce speckle, processors will
add multi-look independent images of a target. Speckle—a type of random
noise—is thereby reduced, but at the expense of resolution. Compared to
land surfaces, the ocean is relatively homogeneous, with a low scattering
cross section and low contrast. Images collected by SeaSat radar from the
space shuttle have provided a wealth of information on surface features
such as slicks, ships, currents, eddies, waves, and perhaps more surprisingly,
on coastal bathymetry. Thus statistics on global wave climate are being built
up. Figure 1.10 illustrates some of the common terms used to describe the
geometry of a radar image. Most important are the look angle, the angle
at which the radar pulse hits the surface, and the interval between pulses.
Using different combinations of wavelength and incidence angle, the
characteristics of the recorded backscatter can be compared and inter-
preted. Acquiring a detailed dataset with the necessary calibration fieldwork
and measurements is an ordeal to plan and execute, but with a good dataset,
radar imagery can reveal characteristics of the landslide that is visible.
The assumption is that different vegetation types (e.g., desert, grasslands,
forests, or frozen tundra) will all have different backscatter signatures. In addi-
tion, the basic reflectivity of the soil, called the dielectric constant, will change
depending on the amount of water and organic matter that the soil con-
tains. Dry soil has a low dielectric constant, so that little radar energy will be
reflected. Saturated soil will have a high dielectric and will be a strong reflec-
tor. Moist and partially frozen soils will have intermediate values, as shown
in Figure 1.11. High-resolution maps of topography and topographic change
generated from SAR interferometry are also extremely valuable for studies of
ice sheets and glaciers. Over 75% of the world’s fresh water is presently locked
up in ice and snow. While the general retreat of mountain glaciers globally is
believed responsible for approximately one quarter to one half of the current
2 mm-per-year increase in sea level, the other sources are unknown. Radar
provides a means of regionally monitoring the health of the ice sheets, which
can be used to assess the threat of sea level rise, as in Figure 1.12.
1.2.2 NADIR Radar System

The NADIR radar system is an outdoor, ground based transportable
system targeted to the dynamic measurements of full-scale ships in an in-
shore environment. NADIR radar is a flexible radar system for use in an
inshore environment which is designed to perform dynamic measurements
of full-scale ships, for radar cross section (RCS), high resolution range pro-
files (HRRP), hourglass plots, and inverse synthetic aperture radar (ISAR)

Radar
Look
angel
Radar wave
Azimuth Incidence
raft angle angle
p a cec rack
S ndt
u
gro
Radar
swath
Incidence Surface normal

angle
Vertical
Radar Local
wave slope
Local
incidence angle
Scattering
surface
FIGURE 1.10 Radar look angle.

Radar incidence
angle
20° Rougher
Rougher Smoother surface
radar backscatter
30°
40°
Increasing
Co-registered Smoother
radar images 50° surface
60°
20° 40° 60°
Incidence angle
FIGURE 1.11 Radar image analysis.
FIGURE 1.12 San Francisco sea level rise, map of radar image.
images. The system is customizable and expandable and only requires a

short time to perform an accurate and comprehensive analysis, the acqui-
sition time being limited only by the movement capability and speed of
the ship itself. The radar, tracking equipment, and the cabin for its opera-
tors and control and monitoring equipment is all designed for outdoor use,
is self-powered, and is fully transportable. The ship is tracked by NADIR
radar from a range of 3 to 10 NM using its automatic target tracking capa-
bility. It allows very fast operation (5 KHz for 1 meter range resolution) and
provides highly accurate data. It is fast to set up and easy to operate due
to being designed specifically to measure ships at sea. It includes powerful

post processing capabilities integrated in a unique software tool and data-

base capability.
NADIR radar consists of three modules which are transportable by a
single truck and trailer:
1. The antenna subsystem is mounted on an equipment trailer and in-

cludes an RX/TX radar antenna assembly and an elevation over azimuth
positioner.
2. The operating shelter houses the positioning, processing, and control
equipment, including the tracking equipment and post-processing com-
puters.
3. The onboard subsystem which is carried on the target ship provides
GPS and motion data and a radio data link.
Benefits:
1. Short time-to-measure
2. Accurate range profiling and imaging
3. Extremely fast waveform generation
4. Transportability and operative readiness
1.3 RADIOMETER IN REMOTE SENSING

The spectro-radiometer is used to analyze all the details and frequen-
cies of an electromagnetic spectrum. Usually a radiometer is further identi-
fied by the portion of the spectrum it covers; for example, visible, infrared, or
microwave. These instruments nor-
mally work by means of a sensitive
Visible Near Thermic element or detector that modulates
IR IR the current passing through it in line
Water with the electromagnetic energy
vegetation that it receives. Different types of
soil
detector are used for the different
wavelengths. Each machine is usu-
ally equipped with a single detec-
0.3 µm 1 µm 3 µm 10 µm
tor and thus takes readings on a
certain wavelength interval, as in
FIGURE 1.13 Radiometer to analyze EM spectrum. Figure 1.13.

1.3.1 Microwave Radiometer

Brightness temperature (TB) is the fundamental parameter measured
by passive microwave radiometers. Brightness temperatures, measured at
different microwave frequencies, are used at remote sensing systems to
derive wind, vapor, cloud, rain, and sea surface temperature (SST) products.
Brightness temperature is a measurement of the radiance of the microwave
radiation traveling upward from the top of the Earth’s atmosphere to the
satellite, expressed in units of the temperature of an equivalent black body.
Satellite passive microwave radiometers measure raw antenna counts
from which we determine the antenna temperature and then calculate the
brightness temperature of the Earth. Large antennas are used for the vari-
ous channels of the radiometer, and during operation each antenna feed
horn passes a hot and cold target in order to provide consistently calibrated
raw counts. The conversion from radiometer counts to top-of-the-atmos-
phere TB is called the calibration process. Several calibration processing
steps are required to derive the TB values. Microwave radiometer TB are
considered a fundamental climate data record and are the values from
which we derive ocean measurements of wind speed, water vapor, cloud
liquid water, rain rate, and sea surface temperature. Calculating TB from
raw radiometer counts is a complex, multi-step process in which many
effects must be accurately characterized and adjustments made to account
for them. These effects include radiometer nonlinearity, imperfections in
the calibration targets, emission from the primary antenna, and antenna
pattern adjustments. A rain-free ocean is used as the absolute calibration
reference and the state-of-the-art radiative transfer model (RTM) of the
ocean and intervening atmosphere in the absence of rain can predict the
top-of-the-atmosphere TB to a high degree of accuracy.
Space-borne passive microwave sensors observe radiation emitted from
the Earth in the range 1–300 GHz but most ocean-related parameters are
retrieved from observations below 40 GHZ. After a series of experiments at
different microwave frequencies involving different polarizations and inci-
dence angles, at different surface temperatures and wind speeds, a quasi-
empirical set of relations was established.
Sea surface temperature is observed at low frequencies generally in the
range of 5–10 GHZ. The great advantage of microwave sensors for measur-
ing SST over the more commonly used infrared instruments is their ability
to operate through cloud, but this must be offset against their resolution
of around 150 km, which is too coarse to study mesoscale eddies. Higher

resolution would require a much larger antenna than has been flown up to
now. Another constraint is contamination by land masses, and in general
reliable measurements must be made in the open ocean more than 600 km
from a coast. Thus, again, interesting ocean features such as boundary cur-
rents and their associated eddy may not be capable of being studied with
the microwave radiometer. Ocean surface emissivity is affected by surface
winds through the generation of waves and foam. Measurements of ocean
parameters by microwave radiometers are affected by atmospheric water
vapor, clouds, and rainfall, and most sensors are therefore backed up by
frequencies sensitive to water in the atmosphere.
1.3.2 Infrared Radiometers

The earliest repetitive set of sea surface observations taken from a satel-
lite was of its temperature. The sensors have 3.7 and 11µm infrared chan-
nels. The total radiance at the sensor is the sum of the radiance from the
ocean surface, from the atmosphere, and from reflected solar radiation.
The along-track scanning radiometer (ATSR) flying employs a near-infrared
channel (3.7 µm) and two infrared (10.8 and 12 µm) but seeks an increase
in accuracy by viewing the surface at two angles—at nadir and at 47˚—
thus producing two independent measurements with different atmospheric
path lengths. The ATSR aims at
measuring sea surface tempera-
ture with an absolute accuracy
of better than 0.5˚ K with a spa-
tial resolution of 50 km in condi-
tions up to 80% cloud cover, and
a relative accuracy of 0.1˚ K with
a 1 km resolution over a 500
MWS
(23.8 GHz)
km swath. The geometry of the
55° MWS ATSR view of the sea surface is
(36.5 GHz) illustrated in Figure 1.14.
Sub-satelite
track It should be noted that
Forward swath nadir swath what the radiometer measures
(371 along track (555 nadir pixels is the skin temperature at the
pixels 1.5 × 2 km 1 km resloution) sea surface and this is not nec-
resolution) essarily the same as the bulk or
FIGURE 1.14 Viewing geometry of the along-track scan- mixed layer temperature meas-
ning radiometer. ured from ships and buoys.

Differences of a few degrees have been recorded in areas of flat calm and
high solar radiation, so extreme care must be taken in calibrating the sen-
sor against in situ observations. It is usually the bulk temperature which is
required for oceanographic studies. Under most conditions the skin tem-
perature is a good indicator of bulk temperature.
1.3.3 Imaging Radiometer

A radiometer that includes a scanning capability to provide a two-
dimensional array of pixels from which an image may be produced is called
an imaging radiometer. Scanning can be performed mechanically or elec-
tronically by using an array of detectors.
1.4 SATELLITE IN REMOTE SENSING

Space sensors monitor the surface of all oceans equally several times a
day, 365 days a year. If there are many ocean phenomena within the vol-
ume of the sea which remain unobserved from an orbiting satellite, the
continuous monitoring of its surface accumulates vital information on the
processes which in the shorter term most affect human habitations. Satel-
lite sensors have been developed to operate either in the optical/infrared
part of the electromagnetic spectrum (λ = 0.4–12µm) or in the microwave
part (λ = 0.3–30 cm). With these sensors, either from an aircraft or satellite,
color, temperature, slope/height, and roughness properties of the ocean can
be measured to useful accuracies. With the use of sensors all ocean fea-
tures, such as physical, chemical, biological, or geological, can be monitored
from space. Only ocean color cannot be detected by microwave sensors.
The ocean color is monitored at five discrete wavebands in the visible, from
blue to near infrared.
The first satellite is launched with the radar altimeter, microwave
scatterometer, and scanning microwave multi-channel radiometer. The
principle of extracting useful information on the state of the sea surface
by analyzing the nature of the backscattered radiation is illustrated below.
Scattering of electromagnetic waves from the sea surface depends on:
1. Surface roughness caused by winds, waves, currents and slicks

2. Radar parameters such as power, angle of incidence, frequency, polari-
zation, and viewing angle

Scatterorneter: The scatterometer is a radar designed to measure wind

speed and direction at the sea surface. It transmits a fan beam of short
pulses and measures the echo power backscattered from the surface at a
variety of incidence angles. These wind observations have a wide variety
of applications, including weather forecasting, marine safety, commercial
fishing, and long-term climate studies. Wind is the movement of air and
is caused by the difference in atmospheric pressure between high and low
pressure systems. Over land, anemometers measure the surface wind speed
and wind direction. These anemometers exist in high density for many ar-
eas and lower density in less populated regions. But over the oceans, meas-
urement of surface wind characteristics is far more limited and is primarily
obtained from anemometers located at small island weather stations, on
ships, and on buoys floating in the ocean. Since the ocean regions are so
large, especially the Pacific Ocean, knowledge of the wind characteristics
over this vast space is important to weather forecasting, ocean navigation,
and climate study. One of the first approaches was to use visible images to
study cloud motion and indirectly determine wind speed and direction.
1.4.1 Microwave Measurement of Ocean Wind

Two types of microwave instruments measure ocean surface winds:
the passive microwave radiometer and the active microwave scatterom-
eter. The radiometer measures ocean surface roughness, which we corre-
late to wind speeds at 10 meters above the water’s surface. WindSat is the
first satellite microwave polarimetric radiometer, launched in 2003. The
scatterometer is an active instrument and sends a signal to the Earth’s sur-
face, which reflects off the ocean Bragg waves (these are wind generated
surface ripples—capillary waves) on the surface of the larger-scale ocean
waves. The reflected energy measured by the scatterometer is translated
using a geophysical model function into a 10 meter neutral wind speed and
direction. Scatterometers typically operate at either C-band (~5GHz fre-
quency) or Ku-band (~14 GHz frequency). With special processing tech-
niques, one can obtain wind speeds and directions every 12 km over the
oceans. Scatterometers can also be used to measure sea ice and land ice
characteristics.
Scatterometer operation to measure wind speed and direction: A scat-

terometer is a microwave radar sensor used to measure the reflection or
scattering effect produced while scanning the surface of the Earth from
an aircraft or a satellite. The seawinds scatterometer is a microwave radar

designed specifically to measure ocean near-surface wind speed and direc-

tion. The seawinds scatterometer consists of three major subsystems seen
in Figure 1.15: the electronics subsystem (SES), the antenna subsystem
(SAS), and the command and data subsystem (CDS).
The electronic subsystem is the heart of the scatterometer and contains
a transmitter, receiver, and digital signal processor. It generates and sends
high radio frequency (RF) waves to the antenna. The antenna transmits the
signal to the Earth’s surface as energy pulses. When the pulses hit the surface
of the ocean, it causes a scattering effect referred to as backscatter. A rough
ocean surface returns a stronger signal because the waves reflect more of
the radar energy back toward the scatterometer antenna. A smooth ocean
surface returns a weaker signal because less energy is reflected. The echo or
backscatter is routed by the antenna to the SES through waveguides (rec-
tangular metal pipes that guide RF energy waves from one point to another).
The SES then converts the signals into digital form for data processing.
The CDS is essentially a computer housing the software that allows
the instrument to operate. It provides the link between the command
center on the ground, the spacecraft, and the scatterometer. It controls
the overall operation of the instrument, including the timing of each
transmitted pulse, and collects all the information necessary to transform
the received echoes into wind measurements at a specific location on
Earth. To locate the precise position on Earth at which the echo was
taken, the CDS collects (for each pulse) the antenna rotational position,
spacecraft time, and an estimate of the spacecraft position. The CDS also
Antenna
Subsystem (SAS)
Command and
Data Subsystem (CDS)
Waveguides Electronics
Subsystem(SES)
FIGURE 1.15 Schematic view of the SeaWinds scatterometer elements.

collects instrument temperature, operating voltages, and currents, so that

the overall health of the instrument can be monitored. It is through the
CDS that the other two subsystems receive the commands that control
all their functions.
The SAS consists of a 1 meter parabolic reflector antenna mounted to a
spin activator assembly, which causes the reflector to rotate at 18 rpms (rev-
olutions per minute). The activator assembly provides very accurate spin
control and precise position or pointing information to the CDS. Optical
encodes, glass disks with small patterns printed on the surface, tell the CDS
exactly where the antenna is pointing to about 10/1000 of a degree. The
antenna spins at a very precise rate, and emits two beams about 6 degrees
apart, each consisting of a continuous stream of pulses. The two beams are
necessary to achieve accurate wind direction measurements. The pointing
of these beams is precisely calibrated before launch so that the echoes may
be accurately located on the ground from space.
Uses of scatterometry:
1. Data are vital in the study of air-sea interaction and ocean circulation,
and their effects on weather patterns and global climate.
2. Data are useful in the study of unusual weather phenomena, the long-
term effects of deforestation on our rain forests, and changes in the
sea-ice masses around the polar regions. These all play a central role in
regulating global climate.
3. Weather forecasting is important tool to meteorologists. Scatterometer
data, with wide swath coverage, have been shown to significantly im-
prove the forecast accuracy.
4. By combining scatterometer data of ocean-surface wind speed and
direction with measurements from other scientific instruments, scien-
tists can gather information to help us better understand the mecha-
nisms of global climate change and weather patterns.
Altimeter: The altimeter is a nadir-looking radar that measures the precise
altitude of the satellite above the sea surface by measuring the time interval
between the transmission and reception of a stream of very short pulses.
The technique (illustrated in Figure 1.16) is basically simple. The orbit
height—which is the radial height of the satellite above the geocenter—is
measured and calculated through satellite tracking—usually a combination

of lasers, transponders, GPS, Satellite orbit

and onboard electronic systems.
The height of the sea surface can
then be determined by subtract- h = Satellite height
ing the altimetric measurement above sea
from the orbit height. Variations α = Slope, pro-
of this surface are measured η = Sea elevation portional
with respect to a reference el- above geoid to surface
current
lipsoid which approximates the α
Earth’s surface and is defined by η Sea
Marine surface
an internationally agreed formu- geoid
la. A precise knowledge of orbit
and marine geoid are required. Reference ellipsoid
Changes in sea level are mostly Bottom
determined by the Earth’s grav-
ity field. If the ocean were at H = geoid elevation
rest, sea level would be a surface above center of
mass
of constant gravity potential, re-
ferred to as the geoid. Across the
surface of the globe the geoid FIGURE 1.16 Measurement of sea surface elevation
varies by about 100 meters. By and sea surface slope from satellite altimeters.
contrast, the largest departures in sea level from the geoid brought about
by tides, geostrophic currents, and other dynamic processes (referred to as
ocean topography) are of the order of l meter. The difficulty is that only in a
few parts of the world’s oceans is the geoid known to accuracy sufficient to
identify dynamic ocean changes. The altimeter has no way of differentiating
gravity-induced from ocean-induced variability.
There are three main sources of error: instrument, orbit, and environ-
ment (at the sea surface and within the atmosphere through which the
altimeter transmits its pulses). The latter source of error can and must be
minimized by measuring the constituents of the atmosphere—its water
vapor and liquid water content as well as variations in the electron density
within the ionosphere—while at the sea surface the effects of waves (wave
troughs tend to reflect more energy back than wave crests, causing a bias),
tides (not always accurately known in the deep ocean), and atmospheric
surface pressure (10 mbar is equivalent to 10 cm in sea level) must all be
taken into account if the 5 cm precision of the instrument is to be fully
exploited.

1.4.2 Wind and Wave Height Measurements

In addition to sea level measurements. the altimeter’s return signals
can be used to measure surface wind speed and wave height. The meas-
urement of wind speed is based
on radar backscatter cross section
at nadir. As the wind increases, so
the incident radiation is reflected
away from a rougher sea surface,
causing the backscatter cross sec-
echo tion to decrease. The wave height
power measurement is based instead on
the slope of the leading edge of
Time the return pulse—the higher the
waves, the wider the return pulse
FIGURE 1.17 Intersections of an altimeter pulse with
the sea surface. (Figure 1.17).
1.5 SONAR IN REMOTE SENSING

The oceans have always played a big role in wars. Ships transported
armies and supplies, blockaded harbors, besieged cities, and attacked
enemy ships doing the same things. But the Civil War helped launch a
stealthy new seagoing weapon that became common in 20th century war-
fare: submarines. To combat this new threat, naval leaders soon realized
that they could detect submarines using sound transmitted through water.
Huge efforts began to develop sonar, a word that is a combination of abbre-
viations for “sound,” “navigation,” and “ranging.” (Interestingly, sonar was
first developed to help avoid icebergs after the Titanic sank.) Data physics
specializes in the design and manufacturing of low frequency acoustic pro-
jectors, and their associated electronic and handling systems, to simulate
the acoustic signatures of ships, submarines, and underwater weapons.
For oceanographers, sonar provided a much easier way to measure the
ocean depths accurately. The systems are even now used to aid in mine
sweeping. Sonar allows scientists to use sound waves to measure the distance
from the ocean surface to the seafloor. Ships’ hulls are equipped with devices
called transducers that transmit and receive sound waves. Echo-sounders
were first used in oceanographic studies during the epic Germen expedi-
tion exploring the South Atlantic in the mid-1920s aboard the Meteor. Today
echo-sounding remains the key method scientists use to make bathymetric
maps of the seafloor. In recent years, marine scientists have used multi-beam

sonar, which can automatically make very detailed contour maps of large
area of seafloor as a research ship travels fast (about 12 knots) over the ocean
surface. Today, there are many different types of sophisticated sonars. They
can tell us not only about seafloor depths, but also about the structure of
the ocean floor and even about currents and life in the ocean. The military
also developed tools that proved useful to oceanographers, such as the mag-
netometer, which measures magnetic fields. The Navy uses it to detect the
large metal hulls of submarines. Oceanographers use it to learn about mag-
netic properties of seafloor rocks. As it turned out, these properties provided
key clues that completely changed our thinking about how our planet works.
1.5.1 Mapping the Ocean Floor with Single Beam Echo Sounding
Echo-sounding is the key method used to map the seafloor today. The
technique, first used by German scientists in the early 20th century, uses
sound waves bounced off the ocean bottom. Echo-sounders aboard ships have
components called transducers that both transmit and receive sound waves.
Transducers send a cone of sound down to the seafloor, which reflects back to
the ship. Just like a flashlight beam, the cone of sound will focus on a relatively
small area in places where the ocean is shallow, or spread out over the size of
a football field when water depths reach 3,000 meters. The returned echo is
received by the transducer, amplified electronically, and recorded on graphic
recorders. The time taken for the sound to travel through the ocean and back
is then used to calculate water depths. The faster the sound waves return, the
smaller the water depths and the higher the elevation of the seafloor.
Echo sounders repeatedly ping the seafloor as a ship moves along the
surface, producing a continuous line showing ocean depths directly beneath
the ship. From the early days of ocean exploration until as recently as 20
years ago, marine geologists wrote down individual readings from record-
ers, plotted them on navigation charts showing their ship’s position, and
then drew contour lines joining points of equal depth. In this way, they pro-
duced bathymetry maps that displayed the ocean’s changing water depths
(and hence changes in seafloor elevation). These charts were accurate only
within about 20–50 meters, but that was good enough for scientists to dis-
cover the mid-ocean ridge system in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Echo-
sounders use different frequencies of sound to find out different things
about the seafloor. Scientists typically use echo-sounders that transmit
sound at 12 kHz to determine how far down the seafloor lies. However,
they use a lower frequency (3.5 kHz) sound, which penetrates the seafloor,
if they want to “see” accumulated layers of sediments below it.

1.5.2 Multi-Beam Bathymetry

Multi-beam bathymetry is the successor to the single-beam echo-sound-
ing. Multi-beam bathymetry is based on the fact that more beams are better
than one. Instead of just one transducer pointing down, multi-beam bathym-
etry systems have arrays of 12 kHz transducers, sometimes up to 120 of
them, arranged in a precise geometric pattern on ships’ hulls. The swath of
sound they send out covers a distance on either side of the ship that is equal
to about two times the water depth. The sound bounces off the seafloor at
different angles and is received by the ship at slightly different times. All the
signals are then processed by computers on board the ship, converted into
water depths, and automatically plotted as a bathymetric map with an accu-
racy of about 10 meters. In this way, ships traveling at speeds over 10 knots
can produce a swath, rather than a line, of water-depth information. Multi-
beam bathymetry systems are now routinely used during research cruises to
map areas of seafloor as large as thousands of square kilometers.
1.5.3 Sound as Underwater Navigation

This technique is quite similar to satellite navigation. Instead of orbiting
satellites transmitting radio signals, sound-transmitting transponders are sent
overboard and anchored to the seafloor. The positions of the transponders
are determined by the GPS system on board the ship ranging to them acous-
tically while the ship circles where the transponders were dropped. The posi-
tions of the transponders on the seafloor are known with an accuracy of about
10 meters. Transponders have accurate clocks to measure time very precisely.
Each transponder is set to listen for sound signals transmitted either from
the deep submergence vehicle or the ship at a specific frequency; in our case
the frequency is 9 kHz. The clocks on the vehicle and ship are synchronized.
When each transponder hears 9 kHz sound signals, it is programmed to
“talk” or transmit a sound back to the vehicle and the ship. Each transponder
“talks” at a different frequency (between 8 kHz and 15 kHz) so when we
receive the signals at the vehicle or the ship, we can tell which transponder
sent it. To calculate the vehicle’s position, we use simple geometry and basic
math. We know the speed of sound in water (about 1,500 meters per second)
and the time it takes for signals from the transponders to reach the vehicle or
the ship. Multiplying the travel times by the speed of sound in water gives us
the distances between each transponder and the ship or sub. Using distance
measurements from the ships and the transponders (triangulation again),
computers can calculate the unique point in 3-dimensional space where all
distances measured from all the transponders and the ship intersect. That is

where the vehicle is. All of this happens very quickly because of computers
and software so that we can constantly keep track of the deep submergence
vehicle’s position within about 5–10 meters during a dive.
1.5.4 Echo-Sounders
The term echo-sounder describes a way of using sound to measure dis-
tances underwater. Echo-sounders are a type of sonar (SOund Navigation
And Ranging) device that can be used on ships or as part of an instrument
placed underwater. Echo-sounders, or sonars, on research ships have two
main uses:
■■ Looking for objects such as fish or bubbles from deep sea vents in the
water column
■■ Locating the sea bed
Knowing the water depth is important for several reasons. Most impor-
tant is to prevent the ship running aground. There are accurate charts for
all the world’s major ports, but our research ships sometimes visit poorly
charted regions such as Antarctica and need to be able to measure how deep
the water is so that they don’t hit the sea bed. In the middle of the oceans
where our ships often work the depths on the chart are very infrequent and
so we use echo-sounders to measure exactly how deep the sea is. We often
deploy remotely operated vehicles and sensors in the water and so we need
to know how deep the water under the ship is. We also need to know the
depth so that we can characterize the area of ocean that we are working in
or so that we can hunt for features such as hydrothermal vents or wrecks.
Echo-sounder operation:
Pulse
Reflection
FIGURE 1.18 Echo-sounder operation and single-beam echo-sounder image.

An echo-sounder transmits a pulse of sound directly downwards from

the bottom of the ship. The pulse of sound travels down through the water,
bounces off the sea bed, and then travels upwards until the reflection is
heard by the echo-sounder. The echo-sounder times how long the pulse of
sound takes to travel to the sea bed and back up to the ship. The depth of
the water can be calculated using the formula:
Distance = time/2 × speed of sound in water
The speed of sound in water is sometimes assumed to be 1,500 ms−1, or

it can be measured using a sound velocity probe. Multi-beam echo-sound-
ers allow us to map large areas of the sea bed from the ship. Multi-beam
systems use an array of echo-sounder transducers and signal processing
electronics to steer the echo-sounder beam across the sea bed, covering
a large area of sea bed in each sweep. A single beam echo-sounder can be
used for bathmetry, measuring the depth to the ocean floor directly under-
neath the ship. As the vessel travels forward, it builds up a profile of the
sea bed it travels over. While this gives scientists the depth of an area, it is
a narrow view, and it does not provide details about how ocean floor meas-
urements relate to each other [Figure 1.18].
The multi-beam echo-sounder is used to build up an image of a large
area of the sea bed. Here different colors represent different depths
[Figure 1.19]. Blue is deep water and red is shallower water. The exact
depth of each point is known and so a very accurate chart can be built from
this data. As well as looking at the sea bed, sonar’s sound pulses will reflect
off items in the water column. Fishermen use this to look for fish and navies
use it to look for submarines. Our research ships are fitted with fish-finding
sonars so that we can find fish shoals
GPS antenna and estimate the number of fish in
them. They can also be used to detect
bubbles coming out of the ground,
Transducer
which indicates there may be hydro-
Swath Single beams thermal vents in the area.
Side scan sonar is very sensitive
and can measure features on the
Survey ocean bottom smaller than 1 cm (less
ed sea
bed
than .5 in). Typical uses of side scan
FIGURE 1.19 Multi-beam bathymetry. sonar include: looking for objects on

the seafloor (sunken ships, Scattered Simply

Backscatter
pipelines, drowned aircraft, reflected
lost cargo), detailed mapping Absorption
of the seafloor, investigation of

seafloor properties (grain size, FIGURE 1.20 Sound properties.
etc.) and looking at special fea-
tures on the seafloor like underwater volcanos. When the sound sent by
sonar reaches the seafloor, several things can happen to that sound. Some
of the sound may be absorbed by the seafloor. Some of the sound is almost
always reflected. There are several different ways the sound can reflect.
The sound can be directly back or it can be scattered in many different
directions [Figure 1.20]. Sound that is scattered back toward the tow vehi-
cle is called backscatter.
The amount of scattering, backscattering, and absorption depends on
the properties of the seafloor. Hard materials, like rocks, will scatter more
sound, while soft materials, like mud, will absorb more sound. Different
amounts of scattering produce different amounts of sound returning to the
tow vehicle and a different image of the seafloor is obtained. Figure 1.21
shows some examples of how one property of the sea floor (grain size)
affects the side scan sonar image.
Figure 1.21 shows a side scan sonar image on the left. On the right are
two samples taken from areas in the side scan sonar image. The fine sand
is darker in the image because more energy is reflected from the uniform
grain size. The gravel is lighter in the image because the gravel scatters
more of the sound and less
reflects back to the side scan
instrument. Side scan sonar is
often used to find objects like
shipwrecks on the seafloor.
Echolocation using technol-

ogy: Whales, dolphins, and
bats have long possessed the
ability to use sound to detect
and map objects. Today, sonar
is used to produce high-res-
olution maps of the seafloor.
These maps show the location FIGURE 1.21 Sea floor in a side scan sonar image.

of landscape features such as cliffs, ridges, and cracks in the seafloor. Sound
travels through water at about 4,800 ft (1,400 m) per second, more than
four times the speed through air. The exact speed through water depends
on temperature: the warmer the water, the faster sound travels. Sonar maps
can be used to track volcanic activity over time: lava flows and other traces
of recent volcanic activity can be identified by comparing maps produced
now with maps produced some time ago. The use of sonar to map the sea-
floor landscape is a means of bathymetry (from the Greek for “measuring
depth”).
Side scan sonar: Side scan sonar gives us information about the nature
of the seafloor as well as its depth. An instrument towed behind the ship
measures the intensity of reflected sound as well as the time taken for the
sound to travel out and back. A strong signal means the seafloor is relatively
hard (e.g., rock, hardened lava, or gravel). A weak signal indicates a soft
or finer surface, such as silt or sand. Side scan surveys typically cover the
seafloor in overlapping swaths or blocks 100–500 meters wide. At the end
of a survey, the swaths are pieced together to form a comprehensive map
of the seafloor.
Multi-beam sonar: Rather than sending out single pings like side scan
sonar, multi-beam sonar equipment emits an array of sound in a fanlike
pattern. The reflected sound waves can be used to determine information
about sediment type as well as seafloor depth. Multi-beam sonar equip-
ment is usually attached to the ship’s hull rather than towed behind it.
1.6 TELEMETRY IN REMOTE SENSING

Telemetry is the highly automated communications process by which
measurements are made and other data collected at remote or inaccessible
points and transmitted to receiving equipment for monitoring. Remote
sensing refers to the use of aerial sensor technologies to detect and classify
objects on Earth (both on the surface and in the atmosphere and oceans)
by means of propagated signals. This technology enables scientists to
remotely monitor an aspect of the environment, like chlorophyll to meas-
ure water quality, or to monitor migration paths of sea turtles using satel-
lite telemetry [Figure 1.22]. There are many other marine variables that
can be remotely monitored, like sea surface temperature, wave height, and
ocean currents.

Telemetry consists of sensors

for pressure, temperature, and
humidity and a wireless transmit-
ter to return the captured data to
an aircraft.
1.6.1 Applications of Telemetry

Oil and gas industry: Telemetry
is used to transmit drilling me-
chanics and formation evaluation FIGURE 1.22 A salt water crocodile with a GPS-
information uphole, in real time, based satellite transmitter attached to its head for
as a well is drilled. These services tracking.
are known as measurement and logging while drilling. The pressure wave is
translated into useful information after DSP and noise filters. This informa-
tion is used for formation evaluation, drilling optimization, and geosteering.
Water management: Telemetry is important in water management, includ-

ing water quality and stream gauging functions. Major applications include
AMR (automatic meter reading), groundwater monitoring, leak detection
in distribution pipelines, and equipment surveillance. Having data available
in almost real time allows quick reactions to events in the field. Telemetry
control allows intervening with assets such as pumps and allows to remotely
switching pumps on or off depending on the circumstances.
Marine animal tracking: Animals under study can be outfitted with instru-
mentation tags, which include sensors that measure temperature, diving
depth and duration (for marine animals), speed and location (using GPS).
Telemetry tags can give researchers information about animal behavior,
functions, and their environment. This information is then either stored
(with archival tags) or the tags can send (or transmit) their information to a
satellite or handheld receiving device.
Satellite telemetry: Satellite Telemetry is a form of radio communication

with satellites used to track objects globally. The technology is primarily
used by biologists, environmental and other scientists to track the migratory
patterns of animals for study. GPS and location tracking are a form of satel-
lite telemetry especially useful for tracking animals, such as birds and fish.
Because satellites have global coverage, they allow us to track animals that
have been planted with transmitters to areas where radio transmitters or
wired communication would not be feasible. Data acquired using location

tracking satellite telemetry helps scientists follow mating and feeding pat-
terns critical to species survival.
Data systems and telemetry: Ocean climate station (OCS) moorings are
equipped with three different data collection systems, which send their data
back to Seattle via satellite communications. These specialized computers
talk to the various sensors, collect and average the raw measurements, and
package it for transmission. Data is sent back in real-time, so scientists can
study the observations on the same day it was taken thousands of miles away.
Mooring information: An OCS mooring

is a surface float, loaded with scientific
instruments—above, inside, and below—
GPS- anchored in open ocean water depths of
dropwindsonde as much as 19,000 feet (5,700 m).
Surface float (buoy): The surface float

has a tower, on which we mount sensors
GPS to measure the weather, and a frame just
antenna
below the buoy, called a bridle, that holds
instruments to measure water properties
Microprocessor
near the ocean surface [Figure 1.23]. In-
side the buoy is a compartment that con-
GPS tains batteries and most of the data collec-
16 receiver
tion systems—specialized computers to
ches
Battery
collect data from the sensors and transmit
pack the data back to our laboratory via satel-
lite. The surface float used for OCS moor-
ings is a 2.62 meter (8.5’ ft) diameter fiber-
Transmitter glass-over-foam discus buoy, with a central
instrument well. It has an aluminum tow-
er and a stainless steel bridle. Fully as-
sembled, the system has an air weight of
approximately 1,800 kg, a net buoyancy of
Temperature nearly 2300 kg, and an overall extent (from
sensors the bridle bottom to the tallest instrument)
of 6.37 meters (20.9 ft). OCS buoys are
equipped with a radar reflector and can be
seen on radar at 4–8 miles, depending on
FIGURE 1.23 A dropsonde used to capture
sea conditions. A flashing yellow light also
weather data. helps alert ships to its location at night.

Mooring line: Sensors are mounted on the mooring line that connects the
buoy to the anchor. The line varies in length depending on the location,
but we can use as much as 26,000 ft of line. The tower provides a mounting
location for all the meteorological sensors, with the wind sensors above the
other sensors. The white buoy well extends into the hull of the buoy.
1.7 LASER AND LIDAR IN REMOTE SENSING

LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) is a remote sensing method
used to examine the surface of the Earth. LIDAR data supports activities
such as inundation and storm surge modeling, hydrodynamic modeling,
shoreline mapping, emergency response, hydrographic surveying, and
coastal vulnerability analysis. LIDAR is a remote sensing method that uses
light in the form of a pulsed laser to measure ranges (variable distances)
to the Earth. These light pulses are combined with other data recorded by
the airborne system to generate precise, 3-dimensional information about
the shape of the Earth and its surface characteristics. A LIDAR instrument
principally consists of a laser, a scanner, and a specialized GPS receiver. Air-
planes and helicopters are the most commonly used platforms for acquir-
ing LIDAR data over broad areas. Two types of LIDAR are topographic
LIDAR, which typically uses a near-infrared laser to map the land, and
bathymetric LIDAR, which uses water-penetrating green light to measure
seafloor and riverbed elevations. LIDAR systems allow scientists and map-
ping professionals to examine both natural and manmade environments
with accuracy, precision, and flexibility. LIDAR are used to produce more
accurate shoreline maps, make digital elevation models for use in geo-
graphic information systems, to assist in emergency response operations,
and in many other applications.
1.7.1 Data Collection in LIDAR

When an airborne laser is pointed at a targeted area on the ground, the
beam of light is reflected by the surface it encounters. A sensor records this
reflected light to measure a range. When laser ranges are combined with
position and orientation data generated from integrated GPS and Inertial
Measurement Unit systems, scan angles, and calibration data, the result is
a dense, detail-rich group of elevation points, called a point cloud. Each
point in the point cloud has 3-dimensional spatial coordinates (latitude,
longitude, and height) that correspond to a particular point on the Earth’s
surface from which a laser pulse was reflected. The point clouds are used to

generate other geospatial products, such as digital elevation models, canopy

models, building models, and contours.
Laser altimetry, or LIDAR, promises to both increase the accuracy
of biophysical measurements and extend spatial analysis into the third (z)
dimension. LIDAR sensors directly measure the 3-dimensional distribu-
tion of plant canopies as well as subcanopy topography, thus providing high-
resolution topographic maps and highly accurate estimates of vegetation
height, cover, and canopy structure. In addition, LIDAR has been shown to
accurately estimate aboveground biomass even in those high-biomass eco-
systems where passive optical and active radar sensors typically fail to do so.
The basic measurement made by a LIDAR device is the distance between
the sensor and a target surface, obtained by determining the elapsed time
between the emission of a short-duration laser pulse and the arrival of the
reflection of that pulse (the return signal) at the sensor’s receiver. Multi-
plying this time interval by the speed of light results in a measurement of
the round-trip distance travelled. Dividing the results by two is equal to
the distance between the sensor and the target. When the vertical distance
between a sensor contained in a level-flying aircraft and the Earth’s surface
is repeatedly measured along transect, the result is an outline of both the
ground surface and any vegetation obscuring it. Even in areas with high
vegetation cover, where most measurements will be returned from plant
canopies, some measurements will be returned from the underlying ground
surface, resulting in a highly accurate map of canopy height.
LIDAR sensors are related to the laser’s wavelength, power, pulse dura-
tion, and repetition rate, beam size and divergence angle, the specifics of
the scanning mechanism (if any), and the information recorded for each
reflected pulse. Lasers for terrestrial applications generally have wave-
lengths in the range of 900–1064 nm, where vegetation reflectance is high.
In the visible wavelengths, vegetation absorbance is high and only a small
amount of energy would be returned to the sensor. One drawback of work-
ing in this range of wavelengths is absorption by clouds, which impedes
the use of these devices during overcast conditions. Bathymetric LIDAR
systems (used to measure elevations under shallow water bodies) make use
of wavelengths near 532 nm for better penetration of water. Early LIDAR
sensors were profiling systems, recording observations along a single nar-
row transect. Later systems operate in a scanning mode, in which the ori-
entation of the laser illumination and receiver field of view is directed from
side to side by a rotating mirror, or mirrors, so that as the plane (or other

platform) moves forward, the sampled points fall across a wide band or
swath, which can be gridded into an image. The power of the laser and size
of the receiver aperture determine the maximum flying height, which limits
the width of the swath that can be collected in one pass. The intensity or
power of the return signal depends on several factors: the total power of
the transmitted pulse, the fraction of the laser pulse that is intercepted by a
surface, the reflectance of the intercepted surface at the laser’s wavelength,
and the fraction of reflected illumination that travels in the direction of the
sensor. The laser pulse returned after intercepting a morphologically com-
plex surface, such as a vegetation canopy, will be a complex combination of
energy returned from surfaces at numerous distances, the distant surfaces
represented later in the reflected signal. The type of information collected
from this return signal distinguishes two broad categories of sensors such as
discrete LIDAR and waveform recording device.
1.7.2 Discrete-Return LIDAR and Waveform Recording Devices

Discrete-return LIDAR devices measure either one (single-return sys-
tems) or a small number (multiple-return systems) of heights by identi-
fying, in the return signal, major peaks that represent discrete objects in
the path of the laser illumination. The distance corresponding to the time
elapsed before the leading edge of the peak(s), and sometimes the power
of each peak, are typical values recorded by this type of system. Waveform-
recording devices record the time-varying intensity of the returned energy
from each laser pulse, providing a record of the height distribution of the
surfaces illuminated by the laser pulse. By analogy to chromotography,
the discrete-return systems identify, while receiving the return signal, the
retention times and heights of major peaks; the waveform-recording sys-
tems capture the entire signal trace for later processing. Conceptual differ-
ences between the two major categories of LIDAR sensors are illustrated
in Figure 1.24.
Both discrete-return and waveform sampling sensors are typically used
in combination with instruments for locating the source of the return sig-
nal in three dimensions. These include global positioning system (GPS)
receivers to obtain the position of the platform, inertial navigation systems
(INS) to measure the attitude (roll, pitch, and yaw) of the LIDAR sensor,
and angle encoders for the orientation of the scanning mirror(s). Combin-
ing this information with accurate time referencing of each source of data
yields the absolute position of the reflecting surface, or surfaces, for each

Laser
Illumination
Return signal
waveform
0 0
First return Multiple return
Leading edge distance distance 1
of peak
6 20 Peak
Delay (nanoseconds)
Multiple return
12 40 distance 2
Distance (m)
18 60
Multiple return
distance 3
24 80
Multiple return
30 100 distance 4
36 120 Last return Multiple return

distance distance 5
42 140
FIGURE 1.24 LIDAR on remote sensing.
laser pulse. There are advantages to both discrete-return and waveform-

recording LIDAR sensors. For example, discrete-return systems feature
high spatial resolution, made possible by the small diameter of their foot-
print and the high repetition rates of these systems (as high as 33,000 points
per second), which together can yield dense distributions of sampled points.
Thus, discrete-return systems are preferred for detailed mapping of ground
and canopy surface topography, as in Figure 1.25.
An additional advantage made possible by this high spatial resolution
is the ability to aggregate the data over areas and scales specified during
data analysis, so that specific locations on the ground, such as a particu-
lar forest inventory plot or even a single tree crown, can be characterized.
Finally, discrete-return systems are readily and widely available, with ongo-
ing and rapid development, especially for surveying and photogrammetric

Canopy height (m)

60
50
60
50
Local Elevation (m)
40
40
30
30
20 20
10
10
50
50 0
40
40
30 )
Lo
30 ng (m
ca
lE
sti
le
20 Ea
va
20 cal
tio
n
Lo
(m
10
)
10
FIGURE 1.25 LIDAR topography.
applications. The primary users of these systems are surveyors serving pub-
lic and private clients and natural resource managers seeking a cheaper
source of high-resolution topographic maps and digital terrain models
(DTMs). A potential drawback is that proprietary data-processing algo-
rithms and established sensor configurations designed for commercial use
may not coincide with scientific objectives. The advantages of waveform-
recording LIDAR include an enhanced ability to characterize canopy struc-
ture, the ability to concisely describe canopy information over increasingly
large areas, and the availability of global data sets (the extent of their cover-
age varies, however). One advantage of these waveform-recording LIDAR
systems is that they record the entire time-varying power of the return sig-
nal from all illuminated surfaces and are therefore capable of collecting

more information on canopy structure than all but the most spatially dense
collections of small-footprint LIDAR. In addition, waveform-recording
LIDAR integrates canopy structure information over a relatively large
footprint and can store that information efficiently, from the perspective
of both data storage and data analysis. Finally, only waveform-recording
LIDAR will soon be collected globally from space.
1.7.3 Applications of LIDAR Remote Sensing

Applications of LIDAR remote sensing in ecology fall into three gen-
eral categories: remote sensing of ground topography, measurement of the
3-dimensional structure and function of vegetation canopies, and predic-
tion of forest stand structure attributes (such as aboveground biomass).
Topographic applications: Mapping of topographic features is the largest

and fastest growing area of application for LIDAR remote sensing, because
of its use in commercial land. Ecologists are also interested in topography
(and bathymetry), which often has a strong influence on the structure, com-
position, and function of ecological systems. Traditional survey and photo-
grammetric techniques for determining ground elevations are limited in
several ways. The primary disadvantages of traditional surveying are its sub-
stantial time and labor requirements and associated costs. Photogrammet-
ric methods for determining elevations from aerial photographs or images
collected by other sensors are an established alternative to field surveys.
However, they are inaccurate in forested areas, where the ground is not vis-
ible, and in areas of low relief and texture, such as wetland areas and coastal
dune systems. In these cases, airborne laser altimetry can be an accurate
and cost-effective alternative.
Topographic applications most often use discrete-return data. When
ranging information from the LIDAR is combined with position and point-
ing information, the result is a series of xyz data points, or triplets, describing
the location of the observed surfaces in three-dimensional space. With ade-
quate quality control, the accuracy of these points can achieve 50-cm root
mean square error (RMSE) in the horizontal planes and 20-cm RMSE in
the vertical. However, the elevations recorded in these triplets will be asso-
ciated with myriad features, including the ground, human-made objects,
clouds, vegetation, or anything else in the path of the laser pulse. To extract
a topographic surface from these points, a series of filters must be applied
to eliminate points not on the ground surface. Numerous methods exist for
this process, but generally they combine highly automated processes with

some manual correction. Examples of topographic applications of LIDAR

include mapping of polar ice sheets for mass balance investigations, map-
ping of wetlands and shallow water, and high-resolution mapping of topog-
raphy under forest for geomorphic investigations and hydrologic modeling.
The mapping of dynamic features such as beaches and dunes is one applica-
tion for which LIDAR is proving to be particularly well suited. The result-
ing data products are designed for accurate and cost-effective mapping of
coastal erosion and could easily be applied to gain further understanding of
the links between, for instance, geomorphologic and vegetation dynamics
in coastal dune ecosystems.
Measuring vegetation canopy structure and function: In general, the sin-

gle most important step in LIDAR mapping of topography involves the
deletion of data points returned from vegetation and, in urban areas, build-
ings. However, for most ecological applications, it is the returns from the
vegetation canopy that will be of primary interest. Canopy structure—“the
organization in space and time, including the position, extent, quantity, type,
and connectivity, of the aboveground components of vegetation”—contains
a substantial amount of information about the state of development of plant
communities and therefore about canopy function and vegetation-related
habitat conditions for wildlife.
Prediction of forest stand structure: LIDAR data also have been used
to predict biophysical characteristics of plant communities, most notably
forests. Waveform-recording LIDAR use a set of indices describing the ver-
tical distribution of the raw waveforms and the fraction of total power as-
sociated with the ground returns to predict field-measured quadratic mean
stem diameter, basal area, and aboveground biomass, explaining up to 93%,
72%, and 93% of variance, respectively. LIDAR remote sensing is an ex-
tremely accurate tool for measuring topography, vegetation height, and
cover, as well as more complex attributes of canopy structure and function.
Another application of LIDAR data is the identification of forest areas with
accumulations of fuels that make them particularly susceptible to large, es-
pecially damaging fires.
Laser altimeter: A laser altimeter uses a LIDAR to measure the height of

the instrument platform above the surface. By independently knowing the
height of the platform with respect to the mean Earth’s surface, the topog-
raphy of the underlying surface can be determined.

1.8 OCEANOGRAPHIC AND ATMOSPHERIC REMOTE

SENSING RESEARCH
Oceanographic and atmospheric remote sensing is at a stage of rapid
evolution, building upon vastly improved observing tools, increased comput-
ing power, and new analytical understanding. Major cooperative research
efforts are dramatically changing our understanding of the dynamics of the
ocean and atmosphere-ocean coupling. The results of these studies will
contribute to solving a yet broader range of oceanic, geological, chemical,
biological, engineering, and societal problems. The scope of our interests is
global. The forefront of investigation areas are:
■■ The physics of rotating and stratified flow
■■ The dynamics of strong current systems (western boundary currents,
meandering jets and fronts, equatorial current systems)
■■ Oceanic eddy phenomena
■■ Development and application of new tools for oceanic research
■■ Circulation and dynamics on the continental shelf
■■ Wind-driven and buoyancy-driven large-scale circulation
■■ Oceanic heat transport and storage, and effects upon global climate
■■ Physics at the air-sea interface
■■ Stirring and mixing processes in the coastal ocean
■■ Tropical cyclones
■■ Studying and predicting the behavior of the Loop Current and its eddies
in the selective area
■■ Tracking and predicting the paths of hurricanes (real time data for
emergency response planning
■■ Tracking oil spills
■■ Mapping sediment plume responses to various natural forcing events
■■ Studying circulation and biological impacts of river discharges along the
selected path
■■ Mapping onshore flooded areas

EXERCISES: PART A (ANSWER IN A WORD OR A SENTENCE)
1. What is remote sensing?

2. What are the limitations of the eye as a sensor?
3. Define “map.”
4. What are sonar, GIS, and LIDAR acronyms for?
5. Define “oceanography.”
6. What are the two types of radars?
7. Define “GIS.”
8. What is the definition of “sonar”?
9. is the study of water on the Earth’s surface.
10. What are radar and DEM acronyms for?
11. is the science of obtaining information about objects
from distance from satellites.
12. Define “ocean current.”
13. is the accumulation of sand or pebbles along the coast.
14. Define “wave height.”
15. What is the wave length?
16. What is one difference between camera and radar antenna?
17. Define the look angle of the radar.
18. is used to analyze all the details of an electromagnetic
spectrum.
19. is the fundamental parameter measured by passive
microwave radiometers.
20. What are the products derived from the brightness temperature?
21. What is the imaging radiometer?
22. is the radar designed to measure wind speed and
direction at the sea surface.

23. Anemometers are used to measure and .

24. List the uses of scatterometry.
25. Define the altimeter.
26. Define telemetry.
27. What is the use of LIDAR?
28. What is a laser altimeter?
EXERCISES: PART B (ANSWER IN A PAGE)
1. What are the similarities and difference between the field of remote
sensing and satellite images, GIS, maps, and sonar?
2. List the applications of remote sensing.
3. List the applications of remote sensing in oceanography.
4. List the difference between the remote sensing vs. photogrammetry.
5. Describe one difference between sonar and remote sensing.
6. List the coastal applications of remote sensing in oceanography.
7. List the ocean applications in remote sensing.
8. Write a short note on synthetic aperture radar (SAR).
9. Write a note on NADIR radar system.
10. Write about the microwave radiometer.
11. Write a note on infrared radiometers.
12. Explain about the microwave measurement of ocean wind.
13. Discuss the working of scatterometer to measure wind speed and
direction.
14. Write about the sea surface elevation and slope measurement using
satellite altimeters.
15. Write the role altimeters in wind and wave height measurements.
16. Write about the echo sounders in mapping ocean floor.

17. Write in detail about echo-sounders and their operation.

18. How will you find the object on bottom of ocean using sonar?
19. Write the working difference between the side scan sonar and
multi-beam sonar.
20. What are the applications of telemetry in oceanography?
21. Write about two different sensors of LIDAR devices.
EXERCISES: PART C (ANSWER WITHIN 2 OR 3 PAGES)
1. Write about radar in remote sensing.

2. What is role of radiometer in remote sensing?
3. Write about the importance of satellite work in remote sensing as
applied to the ocean.
4. Discuss the use of sonar in ocean remote sensing.
5. Explain the use of telemetry in remote sensing.
6. Write a detailed study of laser and LIDAR in remote sensing.
WEB LINKS
http://www.oceanweather.com/
http://www.remss.com/missions/windsat
http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/lidar.html

CHAPTER
2
SENSORS AND THEIR
MEASUREMENTS FOR
OCEAN MONITORING
T
his chapter discusses sensors for ocean monitoring and their mea-
suring parameters. Sometimes satellites are called sensors, as well
as the sensors they carry. It discusses the sensors, scanners, weath-
er sensing, SAR sensors, marine observation sensors (MOS), ocean color
monitoring sensor (OCM) and micro-sensors for ocean acidification mon-
itoring. It also discusses the measurement of ocean parameters, such as
ocean color, sediment monitoring, surface currents, surface wind, wave
height, wind speed, sea surface temperature, upwelling, sampling, wave
energy, and ocean floor. It also describes spatial resolution, pixel size, scale,
spectral/radiometric resolution, temporal resolution, sensor design, sensor
selection, and research on ocean phenomena.
2.1 INTRODUCTION TO SENSORS

A passive remote sensing system records the energy naturally radiated or
reflected from an object. An active remote sensing system supplies its own
source of energy, which is directed at the object to measure the returned
energy [Figure 2.1]. Flash photography is active remote sensing, in contrast
to available light photography, which is passive. Another common form of
active remote sensing is radar, which provides its own source of electro-
magnetic energy in the microwave region. Airborne laser scanning is a rela-
tively new form of active remote sensing, operating in the visible and near
infrared wavelength bands.
Ocean Electronics_Chapter-2.indd 49 11/09/17 3:47 PM

FIGURE 2.1 Active and passive remote sensing.
For a sensor to collect and record energy reflected or emitted from a

target or surface, it must reside on a stable platform removed from the tar-
get or surface being observed. Platforms for remote sensors may be situated
on the ground, on an aircraft or balloon (or some other platform within the
Earth’s atmosphere), or on a spacecraft or satellite outside of the Earth’s
atmosphere. Ground-based sensors are often used to record detailed infor-
mation about the surface which is compared with information collected
from aircraft or satellite sensors. In some cases, this can be used to better
characterize the target that is being imaged by these other sensors, making
it possible to better understand the information in the imagery. Sensors
may be placed on a ladder, scaffolding, tall building, cherry-picker, crane,
etc. Aerial platforms are primarily stable wing aircraft, although helicopters
are occasionally used. Aircraft are often used to collect very detailed images
and facilitate the collection of data over virtually any portion of the Earth’s
surface at any time. In space, remote sensing is sometimes conducted from
the space shuttle or, more commonly, from satellites. Satellites are objects
which revolve around another object—in this case, the Earth. For example,
the moon is a natural satellite, whereas manmade satellites include those
platforms launched for remote sensing, communication, and telemetry
(location and navigation) purposes. Because of their orbits, satellites per-
mit repetitive coverage of the Earth’s surface on a continuing basis. Cost is
often a significant factor in choosing among the various platform options.

Sensors and Their Measurements for Ocean Monitoring • 51
2.1.1 History of Sensors

Since the early 1960s, numerous satellite sensors have been launched
into orbit to observe and monitor the Earth and its environment. Most early
satellite sensors acquired data for meteorological purposes. The advent of
earth resources satellite sensors (those with a primary objective of mapping
and monitoring land cover) occurred when the first LANDSAT satellite was
launched in July 1972. Currently, more than a dozen orbiting satellites of
various types provide data crucial to improving our knowledge of the Earth’s
atmosphere, oceans, ice and snow, and land. The path followed by a satellite
is referred to as its orbit. Satellite orbits are matched to the capability and
objective of the sensor(s) they carry. Orbit selection can vary in terms of alti-
tude (their height above the Earth’s surface) and their orientation and rota-
tion relative to the Earth. Satellites at very high altitudes, which view the
same portion of the Earth’s surface at all times, have geostationary orbits
[Figure 2.2]. These geostationary satellites, at altitudes of approximately
36,000 km, revolve at speeds which match the rotation of the Earth, so they
seem stationary relative to the Earth’s surface. This allows the satellites to
observe and collect information continuously over specific areas. Weather
and communications satellites commonly have these types of orbits. Due
to their high altitude, some geostationary weather satellites can monitor
weather and cloud patterns covering an entire hemisphere of the Earth.
Many remote sensing platforms are designed to follow an orbit (basi-
cally north-south) which, in conjunction with the Earth’s rotation (west-
east), allows them to cover most of the Earth’s surface over a certain period.
Geostationary orbit Near-polar orbit

FIGURE 2.2 Satellite orbits.

These are near-polar orbits, so named for the inclination of the orbit rela-
tive to a line running between the North and South Poles. Many of these
satellite orbits are also sun-synchronous such that they cover each area of
the world at a constant local time of day called local sun time. At any given
latitude, the position of the sun in the sky as the satellite passes overhead
will be the same within the same season. This ensures consistent illumina-
tion conditions when acquiring images in a specific season over successive
years, or over a particular area over a series of days. This is an important
factor for monitoring changes between images as they do not have to be
corrected for different illumination conditions.
Most of the remote sensing satellite platforms today are in near-polar
orbits, which means that the satellite travels northwards on one side of the
Earth and then toward the southern pole on the second half of its orbit.
These are called ascending and descending passes, respectively. If the orbit
is also sun-synchronous, the ascending pass is most likely on the shadowed
side of the Earth while the descending pass is on the sunlit side. Sensors
recording reflected solar energy only image the surface on a descending
pass, when solar illumination is available.
Active sensors which provide their own illumination or passive sensors
that record emitted (e.g., thermal) radiation can also image the surface on
ascending passes. As a satellite revolves around the Earth, the sensor “sees”
a certain portion of the Earth’s surface. The area imaged on the surface is
referred to as the swath [Figure 2.3]. Imaging swaths for space-borne sen-
sors generally vary between tens and hundreds of kilometers wide. As the
satellite orbits the Earth from pole to pole, its east-west position wouldn’t
FIGURE 2.3 Ascending and descending pass and swath.

change if the Earth didn’t rotate. However, as seen from the Earth, it seems
that the satellite is shifting westward because the Earth is rotating (from
west to east) beneath it. This apparent movement allows the satellite swath
to cover a new area with each consecutive pass. The satellite’s orbit and
the rotation of the Earth work together to allow complete coverage of the
Earth’s surface, after it has completed one complete cycle of orbits.
If we start with any randomly selected pass in a satellite’s orbit, an orbit
cycle will be completed when the satellite retraces its path, passing over
the same point on the Earth’s surface directly below the satellite (called the
nadir point) for a second time. The exact length of time of the orbital cycle
will vary with each satellite. The interval of time required for the satellite to
complete its orbit cycle is not the same as the revisit period. Using steerable
sensors, a satellite-borne instrument can view an area (off-nadir) before
and after the orbit passes over a target, thus making the “revisit” time less
than the orbit cycle time. The revisit period is an important consideration
for many monitoring applications, especially when frequent imaging is
required (for example, to monitor the spread of an oil spill, or the extent of
flooding). In near-polar orbits, areas at high latitudes will be imaged more
frequently than the equatorial zone due to the increasing overlap in adja-
cent swaths as the orbit paths come closer together near the poles.
2.2 SCANNER SENSOR SYSTEMS

Electro-optical and spectral imaging scanners produce digital images
with the use of detectors that measure the brightness of reflected elec-
tromagnetic energy. Scanners consist of one or more sensor detectors
depending on type of sensor system used. One type of scanner is called
a whiskbroom scanner, also referred to as across-track scanners (e.g., on a
LANDSAT satellite). It uses rotating mirrors to scan the landscape below
from side to side perpendicular to the direction of the sensor platform, like
a whiskbroom. The width of the sweep is referred to as the sensor swath.
The rotating mirrors redirect the reflected light to a point where a single
or just a few sensor detectors are grouped together. Whiskbroom scanners
with their moving mirrors tend to be large and complex to build. The mov-
ing mirrors create spatial distortions that must be corrected with preproc-
essing by the data provider before image data is delivered to the user. An
advantage of whiskbroom scanners is that they have fewer sensor detectors
to keep calibrated as compared to other types of sensors.

Another type of scanner, which does not use rotating mirrors, is the
pushbroom scanner, also referred to as an along-track scanner (e.g., on
SPOT). The sensor detectors in a pushbroom scanner are lined up in a row
called a linear array. Instead of sweeping from side to side as the sensor
system moves forward, the 1-dimensional sensor array captures the entire
scan line at once, like a pushbroom would. Step stare scanners contain
2-dimensional arrays in rows and columns for each band. Pushbroom scan-
ners are lighter, smaller, and less complex because of fewer moving parts
than whiskbroom scanners, and they have better radiometric and spatial
resolution. A major disadvantage of pushbroom scanners is the calibration
required for the large number of detectors that make up the sensor system
[Figure 2.4].
Cetectors/Filter
A′, λ1
Cross-track Arrays/Filters
Dichroic beam B′, λ2
scanner
splitter
B Push broom
Whisk broom scanner
A scanner
ck
ra
ck
gt
ra
gt
on
Swath A is first imaged N band

on
Al
Multi-spectrak
Al
A′. and later as the platform

scanner (e.g.atlas) moves forward N band B′. No
λ1
scanning required (e.g. spot)
Linear arry λ Diffraction
2 grating Diffraction
λ1
grating
Cross-track λ2
Entrance slit
scanner
Matrix array Entrance slit
Single pixel is
dispersed, scanning Eachcross-track
ck
is required (e.g.
ck
pixel is dispersed,
ra
ra
aviris)
t
gt
no scanning
ng
on
required(e.g. HSD)
Al
Al
Whisk broom scanner

Push broom scanner
FIGURE 2.4 Scanners.

2.2.1 Spatial Resolution, Pixel Size, and Scale

For some remote sensing instruments, the distance between the target
being imaged and the platform plays a large role in determining the detail
of information obtained and the total area imaged by the sensor. Sensors on
platforms far away from their targets typically view a larger area but cannot
provide great detail. Compare what an astronaut onboard the Space Shuttle
sees of the Earth to what you can see from an airplane. The astronaut might
see your whole province or country in one glance, but couldn’t distinguish
individual houses. Flying over a city or town, you would be able to see indi-
vidual buildings and cars, but you would be viewing a much smaller area
than the astronaut. There is a similar difference between satellite images
and air photos. The detail discernible in an image is dependent on the spa-
tial resolution of the sensor and refers to the size of the smallest possible
feature that can be detected.
Spatial resolution of passive sensors
depends primarily on their instantaneous field
of view (IFOV in Figure 2.5). The IFOV is the
angular cone of visibility of the sensor (A) and
determines the area on the Earth’s surface that C
is “seen” from a given altitude at one particular A
moment in time (B). The size of the area viewed
B
is determined by multiplying the IFOV by the
distance from the ground to the sensor (C).
This area on the ground is called the resolution FIGURE 2.5 Instantaneous
cell and determines a sensor’s maximum spatial field of view (IFOV).
resolution. For a homogeneous feature to be
detected, its size generally has to be equal to or larger than the resolution
cell. If the feature is smaller than this, it may not be detectable as the
average brightness of all features in that resolution cell will be recorded.
However, smaller features may sometimes be detectable if their reflec-
tance dominates within an articular resolution cell, allowing subpixel or
resolution cell detection.
Most remote sensing images are composed of a matrix of picture ele-
ments, or pixels, which are the smallest units of an image. Image pixels are
normally square and represent a certain area on an image. It is important
to distinguish between pixel size and spatial resolution—they are not inter-
changeable. If a sensor has a spatial resolution of 20 meters and an image
from that sensor is displayed at full resolution, each pixel represents an area

of 20 meters × 20 meters on the ground. In this case the pixel size and resolu-
tion are the same. However, it is possible to display an image with a pixel size
different than the resolution. Many posters of satellite images of the Earth
have their pixels averaged to represent larger areas, although the original
spatial resolution of the sensor that collected the imagery remains the same.
A photograph can be represented and displayed in a digital format
[ Figure 2.6] by subdividing the image into small, equal-sized and -shaped
areas, called picture elements or pixels, and representing the brightness of
each area with a numeric value or digital number.
170 230 85 255 221 0

68 136 17 170 119 68
221 0 238 136 0 255
119 255 85 170 136 238
238 17 221 68 119 255
85 170 119 221 17 136
FIGURE 2.6 Satellite images.
Images where only large features are visible are said to have coarse
or low resolution. In fine or high resolution images, small objects can
be detected. Military sensors for example, are designed to view as much
detail as possible, and therefore have very fine resolution. Commercial
satellites provide imagery with resolutions varying from a few meters
to several kilometers. Generally speaking, the finer the resolution, the
less total ground area can be seen. The ratio of distance on an image or
map, to actual ground distance is referred to as scale. If you had a map
with a scale of 1:100,000, an object of 1 cm length on the map would
actually be an object 100,000 cm (1 km) long on the ground. Maps or
images with small map-to-ground ratios are referred to as small scale
(e.g., 1:100,000), and those with larger ratios (e.g., 1:5,000) are called
large scale.

2.2.2 Spectral/Radiometric Resolution

Spectral characteristics: While the arrangement of pixels describes the
spatial structure of an image, the radiometric characteristics describe the
actual information content in an image. Every time an image is acquired on
film or by a sensor, its sensitivity to the magnitude of the electromagnetic
energy determines the radiometric resolution. The radiometric resolution
of an imaging system describes its ability to discriminate very slight differ-
ences in energy. The finer the radiometric resolution of a sensor, the more
sensitive it is to detecting small differences in reflected or emitted energy.
Digital resolution is the number of bits comprising each digital sample.
Imagery data are represented by positive digital numbers which vary from 0
to (one less than) a selected power of 2. This range corresponds to the num-
ber of bits used for coding numbers in binary format. Each bit records an
exponent of power 2 (e.g., 1 bit = 21 = 2). The maximum number of bright-
ness levels available depends on the number of bits used in representing
the energy recorded. Thus, if a sensor used 8 bits to record the data, there
would be 28 = 256 digital values available, ranging from 0 to 255—also called
the dynamic range of the system. However, if only 4 bits were used, then
only 24 = 16 values ranging from 0 to 15 would be available. Thus, the radio-
metric resolution would be much less. Image data are generally displayed
in a range of grey tones, with black representing a digital number of 0 and
white representing the maximum value (for example, 255 in 8-bit data). By
comparing a 2-bit image with an 8-bit image, we can see that there is a large
difference in the level of detail discernible depending on their radiometric
resolutions.
The range of energy values expected from a system must fit within the
range of values possible of the data format type, and yet the value must rep-
resent accurately the energy value of the signal relative to others. The cost
of more bits per data point is longer acquisition times, the need for larger
storage capacity, and longer processing time. Any signal outside the range is
clipped and thus unrecoverable. On the other hand, if the dynamic range of
the signal is widened too much to allow the recording of extremely high or
low energy values, the true variability within the signal will be lost.
Many remote sensing systems record energy over several separate
wavelength ranges at various spectral resolutions. These are referred to
as multi-spectral sensors. Advanced multi-spectral sensors, called hyper-
spectral sensors, detect hundreds of very narrow spectral bands throughout

the visible, near-infrared, and mid-infrared portions of the electromagnetic

spectrum. Their very high spectral resolution facilitates fine discrimination
between different targets based on their spectral response in each of the
narrow bands. There are four general parameters that describe the capabil-
ity of a spectrometer: 1) spectral range, 2) spectral bandwidth, 3) spectral
sampling, and 4) signal-to-noise ratio (S/N).
Spectral range: Spectral range is important to cover enough diagnostic
spectral absorption to solve a problem. There are general spectral ranges
that are in common use, each to first order controlled by detector technol-
ogy: a) ultraviolet (UV): 0.001 to 0.4 μm, b) visible: 0.4 to 0.7 μm, c) near-
infrared (NIR): 0.7 to 3.0 μm, d) the mid-infrared (MIR): 3.0 to 30 μm,
and d) the far infrared (FIR): 30 μm to 1 mm. The 0.4 to 1.0-μm wavelength
range is sometimes referred to in the remote sensing literature as the VNIR
(visible-near-infrared) and the 1.0 to 2.5-μm range is sometimes referred to
as the SWIR (short-wave infrared).
Spectral bandwidth: Spectral bandwidth is the width of an individual spec-
tral channel in the spectrometer. The narrower the spectral bandwidth, the
narrower the absorption feature the spectrometer will accurately meas-
ure, if enough adjacent spectral samples are obtained. All the spectra are
sampled at half Nyquist (critical sampling) except the near infrared map-
ping spectrometer (NIMS), which is at Nyquist sampling (named after
H. Nyquist, who in his work published in 1928 stated that there must be
at least two samplings per wavelength of the highest frequency in order
to appropriately sample the waveform). Note, however, that the fine de-
tails of the absorption features are lost at the ~25 nm bandpass of NIMS.
The visual and infrared mapping spectrometer (VIMS) and NIMS systems
measure out to 5 μm and thus can see absorption bands not obtainable by
the other systems.
Spectral sampling: Spectral sampling is the distance in wavelength be-
tween the spectral bandpass profiles for each channel in the spectrometer
as a function of wavelength. The Nyquist theorem states that the maximum
information is obtained by sampling at one-half the full width at half maxi-
mum (FWHM).
Signal-to-noise ratio: Finally, a spectrometer must measure the spec-
trum with enough precision to record details in the spectrum. The sig-
nal-to-noise ratio (S/N) required to solve a problem will depend on the

strength of the spectral features under study. The S/N is dependent on

the detector sensitivity, the spectral bandwidth, and intensity of the light
reflected or emitted from the surface being measured. A few spectral fea-
tures are quite strong and a S/N of only about 10 will be adequate to
identify them, while others are weak, and a S/N of several hundred (and
higher) are often needed.
2.2.3 Temporal Resolution

In addition to spatial, spectral, and radiometric resolution, the concept
of temporal resolution is also important to consider in a remote sensing
system. The revisit period of a satellite sensor is usually several days. There-
fore, the absolute temporal resolution of a remote sensing system to image
the exact same area at the same viewing angle a second time is equal to
this period. However, the actual temporal resolution of a sensor depends
on a variety of factors, including the satellite/sensor capabilities, the swath
overlap, and latitude.
The ability to collect imagery of the same area of the Earth’s surface at
different periods of time is one of the most important elements for applying
remote sensing data. Spectral characteristics of features may change over
time and these changes can be detected by collecting and comparing multi-
temporal imagery. For example, during the growing season, most species
of vegetation are in a continual state of change and our ability to monitor
those subtle changes using remote sensing is dependent on when and how
frequently we collect imagery. By imaging on a continuing basis at different
times we can monitor the changes that take place on the Earth’s surface,
whether they are naturally occurring (such as changes in natural vegetation
cover or flooding) or induced by humans.
The time factor in imaging is important when:
■■ Persistent clouds offer limited clear views of the Earth’s surface (often
in the tropics)
■■ Short-lived phenomena (floods, oil slicks, etc.) need to be imaged
■■ Multi-temporal comparisons are required
■■ The changing appearance of a feature over time can be used to distin-
guish it from near-similar features

2.2.4 Sensor Design and Selection

Each remote sensing mission has unique requirements for spatial,
spectral, radiometric, and temporal resolution. A number of practical con-
siderations also arise in the design process, including system development
and operational costs; the technical maturity of a particular design; and
power, weight, volume, and data rate requirements. Because it is extremely
expensive, or perhaps impossible, to gather data with all the characteristics
a user might want, the selection of sensors or satellite subsystems for a
mission involving several tasks generally involves compromises. Sensor per-
formance may be measured by spatial and spectral resolution, geographical
coverage, and repeat frequency. For example, sensors with very high spatial
resolution are typically limited in geographical coverage. A video camera is
one example of an instrument that employs an electro-optical sensor. The
sun’s angle with respect to the surface varies somewhat throughout the year,
depending on the sun’s apparent position with respect to the equator.
2.3 WEATHER SATELLITES/SENSORS

Weather monitoring and forecasting was one of the first civilian appli-
cations of satellite remote sensing. Today, several countries operate weather
or meteorological satellites to monitor weather conditions around the
globe. These satellites use sensors which have fairly coarse spatial resolu-
tion (when compared to systems for observing land) and provide large areal
coverage. Their temporal resolutions are generally quite high, providing
frequent observations of the Earth’s surface, atmospheric moisture, and
cloud cover, which allows for near-continuous monitoring of global weather
conditions, and hence forecasting. These weather satellites carry sensors
related to weather monitoring.
As India’s first domestic dedicated Earth resources satellite program,
the IRS series provides continuous coverage of the country. An indigenous
ground system network handles data reception, data processing, and data
dissemination. India’s National Natural Resources Management System
(NNRMS) uses IRS data to support a large number of applications projects.
India has orbited IRS satellites which carry two payloads employing
linear imaging selfscanning sensors (LISS). The IRS-series have a 22-day
repeat cycle. The LISS-I imaging sensor system consists of a camera oper-
ating in four spectral bands, compatible with the output from LANDSAT-
series Thematic Mapper and SPOT HRV instruments. The LISS-IIA and

B comprise two cameras operating in visible and near-infrared wavelengths

with a ground resolution of 36.5 meters and swath width of 74.25 km. As
part of the National Remote Sensing Agency’s international services, IRS
data are available to all countries within the coverage zone of the Indian
ground station located at Hyderabad. These countries can purchase the
raw/processed data directly from NRSA Data Centre. India is designing
sensors with resolutions of about 20 meters in multi-spectral bands and
better than 10 meters in the panchromatic band. System designers intend
to include a short-wave infrared band with spatial resolution of 70 meters.
The system will also include a wide field sensor (WiFS) with 180 meter spa-
tial resolution and larger swath of about 770 km for monitoring vegetation.
Operational uses of ocean satellites: The development and operation of

SeaSat demonstrated the utility of continuous ocean observations, not only
for scientific use, but also for those concerned with navigating the world’s
oceans and exploiting ocean resources. Its success convinced many that an
operational ocean remote sensing satellite would provide significant benefits.
The SAR, the scatterometer, and the altimeter all gathered data of consider-
able utility. Knowledge of currents, wind speeds, wave heights, and general
wave conditions at a variety of ocean locations is crucial for enhancing the
safety of ships at sea and for ocean platforms. Such data could also decrease
costs by allowing ship owners to predict the shortest, safest sea routes.
SeaSat carried five major instruments—an altimeter, a microwave radi-
ometer, a scatterometer, a visible and infrared radiometer, and synthetic
aperture radar (SAR). Scientists used data from these instruments to meas-
ure the amplitude and direction of surface winds, absolute and relative sur-
face temperature, the status of ocean features such as islands, shoals, and
currents, and the extent and structure of sea ice. Data from the SeaWifs
instrument aboard the privately developed SeaStar satellite will provide
ocean color information, which could have considerable operational use.
Observations of sea ice: Because sea ice covers about 13% of the world’s
oceans, it has a marked effect on weather and climate. Thus, measure-
ments of its thickness, extent, and composition help scientists understand
and predict changes in weather and climate. Until satellite measurements
were available, the difficulties of tracking these characteristics were a ma-
jor impediment to understanding the behavior of sea ice, especially its
seasonal and yearly variations. The AVHRR visible and infrared sensors
aboard have been used to follow the large-scale variations in the Arctic and

Antarctic ice packs. Because they can “see through” clouds, synthetic aper-
ture radar instruments are particularly useful in tracking the development
and movement of ice packs, which pose threats to shipping, and in finding
routes through the ice.
2.4 SYNTHETIC APERTURE RADAR SENSORS

Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) image data provide information differ-
ent from that of optical sensors operating in the visible and infrared regions
of the electromagnetic spectrum. SAR data consist of high-resolution
reflected returns of radar-frequency energy from terrain that has been illu-
minated by a directed beam of pulses generated by the sensor. The radar
returns from the terrain are mainly determined by the physical characteris-
tics of the surface features (such as surface roughness, geometric structure,
and orientation), the electrical characteristics (dielectric constant, moisture
content, and conductivity), and the radar frequency of the sensor. By sup-
plying its own source of illumination, the SAR sensor can acquire data day
or night without regard to cloud cover.
2.5 MARINE OBSERVATION SATELLITES (MOS) SENSORS

The Earth’s oceans cover more than two-thirds of the Earth’s surface
and play an important role in the global climate system. They also contain
an abundance of living organisms and natural resources which are suscep-
tible to pollution and other man-induced hazards. The Nimbus-7 satellite,
launched in 1978, carried the first sensor, the coastal zone color scanner
(CZCS), specifically intended for monitoring the Earth’s oceans and water
bodies. The primary objective of this sensor was to observe ocean color
and temperature, particularly in coastal zones, with sufficient spatial and
spectral resolution to detect pollutants in the upper levels of the ocean and
to determine the nature of materials suspended in the water column. The
Nimbus satellite was placed in a sun-synchronous, near-polar orbit at an alti-
tude of 955 km. Equator crossing times were local noon for ascending passes
and local midnight for descending passes. The repeat cycle of the satellite
allowed for global coverage every six days, or every 83 orbits. The CZCS
sensor consisted of six spectral bands in the visible, near-IR, and thermal
portions of the spectrum each collecting data at a spatial resolution of 825 m
at nadir over a 1566 km swath width. The accompanying table outlines the
spectral ranges of each band and the primary parameter measured by each.

Channel Wavelength Range (μm) Primary Measured Parameter

1 0.43–0.45 Chlorophyll absorption
2 0.51–0.53 Chlorophyll absorption
3 0.54–0.56 Gelbstoffe (yellow substance)
4 0.66–0.68 Chlorophyll concentration
5 0.70–0.80 Surface vegetation
6 10.5–12.50 Surface temperature
TABLE 2.1 CZCS Spectral Bands
As can be seen from the

Table 2.1, the first four bands of
the CZCS sensor are very narrow.
They were optimized to allow
detailed discrimination of differ-
ences in water reflectance due
to phytoplankton concentrations
[Figure 2.7] and other suspended
particulates in the water. In addi-
tion to detecting surface veg-
etation on the water, band 5 was
used to discriminate water from
land prior to processing the other
bands of information. The CZCS
FIGURE 2.7 CZCS sensor image.
sensor ceased operation in 1986.
Marine observation satellite (MOS): The first Marine Observation Sat-
ellite carries three different sensors: a four-channel multispectral elec-
tronic self-scanning radiometer (MESSR), a four-channel visible and
thermal infrared radiometer (VTIR), and a two-channel microwave scan-
ning radiometer (MSR), in the microwave portion of the spectrum. The
characteristics of the two sensors in the visible/infrared are described in
Table 2.2.
The MESSR bands are thus useful for land applications in addition to
observations of marine environments. The MOS systems orbit at altitudes
around 900 km and have revisit periods of 17 days.

Sensor Wavelength Ranges (μm) Spatial Resolution Swath Width

MESSR 0.51–0.59 50 m 100 km
0.61–0.69 50 m 100 km
0.72–0.80 50 m 100 km
0.80–1.10 50 m 100 km
VTIR 0.50–0.70 900 m 1500 km
6.0–7.0 2700 m 1500 km
10.5–11.5 2700 m 1500 km
11.5–12.5 2700 m 1500 km
TABLE 2.2 Characteristics of MESSR and VTIR Sensors
Sea-viewing wide-field-of view sensor (SeaWiFS): The SeaWiFS (sea-

viewing wide-field-of view sensor) on board the SeaStar spacecraft is an
advanced sensor designed for ocean monitoring. It consists of eight spec-
tral bands of very narrow wavelength tailored for very specific detection
and monitoring of various ocean phenomena including: ocean primary
production and phytoplankton processes, ocean influences on climate
processes (heat storage and aerosol formation), and monitoring of the
cycles of carbon, sulfur, and nitrogen. The orbit altitude is 705 km with
a local equatorial crossing time of 12 PM. Two combinations of spatial
resolution and swath width are available for each band: a higher resolu-
tion mode of 1.1 km (at nadir) over a swath of 2,800 km, and a lower
resolution mode of 4.5 km (at nadir) over a swath of 1,500 km. These
ocean-observing satellite systems are important for global and regional
scale monitoring of ocean pollution and health and assist scientists in un-
derstanding the influence and impact of the oceans on the global climate
system.
Oceansat: Oceansat-2 is an Indian satellite designed to provide the ocean

color monitor (OCM) instrument for users. It will also enhance the poten-
tial of applications in other areas. The main objectives of OceanSat are to
study surface winds and ocean surface strata, observation of chlorophyll
concentrations, monitoring of phytoplankton blooms, and study of atmos-
pheric aerosols and suspended sediments in the water. (This is explained in
detail in Appendix A: Indian Satellites for Ocean Monitoring.)

2.6 MICRO SENSORS FOR MONITORING OCEAN

ACIDIFICATION
New technology that will measure pH levels in seawater with a cost-
effective micro sensor for long-term monitoring of ocean acidification has
been developed. Ocean acidification is occurring due to rising levels of
atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2), which is absorbed by the oceans. When
it dissolves in seawater, CO2 forms a mild acid, which is decreasing ocean
pH globally and could impact marine ecosystems. As well as monitoring
global change, the sensors can be used to measure more localized human
impact. The micro sensors could be deployed to detect leakages from car-
bon capture and storage sites—whereby CO2 is artificially removed from
the atmosphere and stored in subsea reservoirs—by measuring any proxi-
mal fluctuations in pH. The oil industry is also interested in this technology
for monitoring seawater acidity around drilling sites.
The sensor works on the principles of litmus paper color changes
depending on the acidity of the solution. The microfluidic chip within the
sensor has great advantages because it is robust, small, reasonably cheap to
produce, and uses small amounts of reagents—which is really key for in situ
deployment where it may be collecting data out at sea for long periods of
time. The sensor uses a dye which changes color with pH. The dye is added
to the sample, then the color is measured using an LED light source and a
device called a “spectrometer.” The microfluidic element simply describes
the component needed to mix the seawater sample with the dye and the cell
to measure the color. The microfluidic chip used in the pH micro sensor
with dimensions: 13 × 8 cm is shown in Figure 2.8.
(A) (B)

FIGURE 2.8 (a) pH micro sensor and (b) VULCANO buoy with atmospheric and communication sensors.

The VULCANO buoy with atmospheric and communication sensors

is shown in Figure 2.8b. The increase in the production and emission of
anthropogenic CO2 and its absorption by the oceans leads to a reduction in
oceanic pH, a process referred to as ocean acidification, which affects many
other physicochemical processes. Atmospheric CO2 is expected to continue
its increase, and consequently the chemical changes will likely continue
well into the future, affecting the ocean biogeochemical cycling. To char-
acterize the ocean’s chemical and ecosystem-related changes, examination
of CO2 system parameters over a wide range of temporal and spatial scales
is necessary. Shipboard analyses in oceanic time series conducted during
irregular ocean expeditions, which lasted between a fortnight and a month,
have provided most of our understanding of recent trends in the oceanic
CO2 system. However, our ability to make frequent autonomous measure-
ments over a broad range of spatial scales would greatly augment the cur-
rent suite of open-ocean and coastal observations.
The carbon dioxide system in natural waters is defined by the measure-
ment of two or more carbonate parameters: pH, carbon dioxide fugacity
(fCO2), total alkalinity (TA), and total dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC). The
sensors for pH, pCO2, DIC, and TA of seawater have been developed based in
spectrophotometric techniques that in most cases require accurate dye addi-
tions and consideration of the effects of aging. A new family of rugged and
extremely stable spectrophotometric pH sensors for both lab-based research
and buoy monitoring, specifically designed for unattended operation indepen-
dently of dye and aging effects in surface waters, is also developed.
2.7 MEASUREMENTS OF OCEAN MONITORING

PARAMETERS
Satellite sensors have been developed to operate either in the opti-
cal infrared part of the electromagnetic spectrum (λ-0.4–12 µm) or in the
microwave part (λ-0.3–30 µm). These sensors, either from an aircraft or sat-
ellite, have measured the basic sea surface properties to useful accuracies.
These properties of sea are color, temperature, slope/height and roughness
etc. At present all ocean features—physical, chemical, biological, or geologi-
cal—must produce a surface signature in one of those parameters if they are
to be monitored from space; that is, for example, chlorophyll concentrations
must affect ocean color (and possibly temperature), bottom topography
must be reflected in sea surface shapes (and possibly roughness), surface
waves must modulate small-scale surface roughness patterns, and so on.

2.7.1 Ocean Color

Ocean color data is a vital resource for a wide variety of operational
forecasting and oceanographic research, earth sciences, and related appli-
cations. Some of them are
■■ Mapping of chlorophyll concentrations
■■ Measurement of inherent optical properties such as absorption and
backscatter
■■ Determination of phytoplankton physiology, phenology, and functional
groups
■■ Studies of ocean carbon fixation and cycling
■■ Monitoring of ecosystem changes resulting from climate change
■■ Fisheries management
■■ Mapping of coral reefs, sea grass beds, and kelp forests
■■ Mapping of shallow-water bathymetry and bottom type for military
operations
■■ Monitoring of water quality for recreation
Ocean color is the measurement of spectral distribution of radiance (or

reflectance) upwelling from the ocean in the visible regime. Measurements
of ocean color from space can provide quantitative maps of near-surface
phytoplankton pigment concentration as well as identifying pollutants
spilled into the sea by effluent discharges. The spectral composition of the
radiation above the sea (that is, its color) is determined by the composi-
tion of solar irradiance plus the optical properties of the water column—in
particular, the absorption, scattering, and to a lesser degree the fluores-
cence. The optical properties of the water column are, in turn, determined
by those of pure sea water plus the concentrations of suspended and dis-
solved materials within it particulate organic matter (phytoplankton and
its byproducts), inorganic suspended particles, and dissolved organic decay
products of mainly terrestrial origin (yellow substance).
However, in the shorter term, fisheries research can be assisted enor-
mously by a more precise knowledge of the elements in the food chain—larval
recruitment, zooplankton production, and the patchiness of plankton. In this
regard color (and temperature) information derived from orbiting satellites is

particularly useful in tropical and sub-

tropical regions. The requirement to
monitor the spread of pollutants may
be stronger in some areas than others.
In closed or semi-enclosed seas such
as the North Sea or Mediterranean,
the indiscriminate dumping of waste
products into the sea has become a
major source of concern and in many
respects the ocean color signal can be
detected and traced from satellites.
Color imagery has also been success-
fully exploited in dynamical studies of
the physics of shallow sea processes.
The “color” of the ocean is deter-
mined by the interactions of incident
light with substances or particles pre-
sent in the water. White light from
FIGURE 2.9 This MODIS image of blue water in the sun is made up of a combination
the Caribbean Sea looks blue because the sunlight is of colors, which are broken apart by
scattered by the water molecules. Near the Bahama
Islands, the lighter aqua colors are shallow water water droplets in a “rainbow” spec-
where the sunlight is reflecting off of the sand and trum. When light hits the water sur-
reefs near the surface.
face, the different colors are absorbed,
transmitted, scattered, or reflected in differing intensities by water molecules
and other optically active constituents in the upper layer of the ocean.
If there are any particles suspended in the water, they will increase the
scattering of light. For example, microscopic marine algae, called phyto-
plankton, have the capacity to absorb light in the blue and red region of
the spectrum owing to specific pigments like chlorophyll. Accordingly, as
the concentration of phytoplankton increases in the water, the color of the
water shifts toward the green part of the spectrum. Fine mineral particles
like sediment absorb light in the blue part of the spectrum, causing the
water to turn brownish in case of massive sediment load.
The basic principle behind the remote sensing of ocean color from
space is, the more phytoplankton in the water, the greener it is, and the
less phytoplankton, the bluer it is. There are other substances that may be
found dissolved in the water that can also absorb light. These substances are
referred as colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM).

Ocean color sensors: Active remote sensing is a signal of known charac-

teristics and sent from the sensor platform—an aircraft or satellite—to the
ocean, and the return signal is then detected after a time delay determined
by the distance from the platform to the ocean and by the speed of light.
One example of active remote sensing at visible wavelengths is the use of
laser-induced fluorescence to detect chlorophyll, yellow matter, or pollut-
ants. In laser fluorosensing, a pulse of UV light is sent to the ocean surface,
and the spectral character and strength of the induced fluorescence at UV
and visible wavelengths gives information about the location, type, and con-
centration of fluorescing substances in the water body. Another example
of active remote sensing is LIDAR bathymetry. This refers to the use of
pulsed lasers to send a beam of short duration, typically about a nanosec-
ond, toward the ocean. The laser light reflected from the sea surface and
then slightly later from the bottom is used to deduce the bottom depth.
The depth is simply 0.5(c/n) Δt, where c is the speed of light in vacuum,
n is the water index of refraction, Δt is the time between the arrival of the
surface-reflected light and the light reflected by the bottom, and the 0.5
accounts for the light traveling from the surface to the bottom and back to
the surface.
Passive remote sensing simply observes the light that is naturally emit-
ted or reflected by the water body. The nighttime detection of biolumi-
nescence from aircraft is an example of the use of emitted light at visible
wavelengths. The most common example of passive remote sensing is the
use of sunlight that has been backscattered within the water and returned
to the sensor. This light can be used to deduce the concentrations of chloro-
phyll, CDOM, or mineral particles within the near-surface water; the bot-
tom depth and type in shallow waters; and other ecosystem information
such as net primary production, phytoplankton functional groups, or phyto-
plankton physiological state.
Passive ocean color remote sensing from satellites began with the
coastal zone color scanner (CZCS), which was launched in 1978. CZCS
was a multi-spectral sensor, meaning that it had only a few wavelength
bands with bandwidths of 10 nm or more. After the phenomenal success
of that “proof of principle” sensor, numerous other multi-spectral sensors
have been developed and launched. Those later sensors generally had a few
more bands with narrower bandwidths. Thus, the sea-viewing wide field-
of-view sensor (SeaWiFS) added a band near 412 nm to improve the detec-
tion of CDOM. The near-IR bands are used for atmospheric correction.

There is today much interest in the use of hyperspectral sensors, which

typically have 100 or more bands with nominal bandwidths of 5 nm or less.
Figure 2.10 shows the wavelength bands for a few representative sensors.
The MODIS (MODerate resolution Imaging Spectro radiometer) sensor
has additional bands in the 400–900 nm range, which are used for detec-
tion of clouds, aerosols, and atmospheric water vapor. The bands shown are
the ones used for remote sensing of water bodies. The compact airborne
hyperspectral imager (CASI) is a commercially available hyperspectral sen-
sor that is widely used in airborne remote sensing of coastal waters. It has
228 slightly overlapping bands, each with a nominal 1.9 nm bandwidth and
covering the 400–1000 nm range. CASI users often select a subset of these
bands as needed for an application. LIDAR bathymetry systems typically
use either 488 nm in “blue” water or 532 nm in “green” water. Those wave-
lengths can be obtained from high-power lasers and give close to optimum
water penetration for the respective water types.
CZCS
1978
SeaWiFS
1997
MODIS
2002
CASI
Lidar
400 500 600 700 800 900

Wavelength λ (nm)
FIGURE 2.10 Wavelength bands used by various ocean color remote sensors.
Although remote sensing usually obtains information for one spa-

tial point at a time, most applications combine measurements from many
points to build up an image, i.e., a 2D spatial map of the ocean displaying
the desired information at a given time. Imagery acquired at different times
then gives temporal information. Satellite systems typically have spatial res-
olution (the size of one image pixel at the ocean surface) of 250 meters to
1 km. Those systems are useful for regional to global scale studies. Airborne

systems can have resolutions as small as 1 meter, as required for applica-

tions such as mapping coral reefs.
Passive ocean-color remote sensing is conceptually simple. Sunlight,
whose spectral properties are known, enters the water body. The spectral
character of the sunlight is then altered, depending on the absorption and
scattering properties of the water body, which of course depend on the
types and concentrations of the various constituents of the water body. Part
of the altered sunlight eventually makes its way back out of the water and
is detected by the sensor on board an aircraft or satellite. If we know how
different substances alter sunlight, for example by wavelength-depend-
ent absorption, scattering, or fluorescence, then we can deduce from the
altered sunlight what substances must have been present in the water and
in what concentrations. This process of working backwards from the sensor
to the ocean is an inverse problem that is fraught with difficulties. Never-
theless, these difficulties can be overcome, and ocean color remote sensing
has completely revolutionized our understanding of the oceans at local to
global spatial scales and daily to decadal temporal scales.
Ocean color radiometry: Ocean color radiometry is a technology, and a

discipline of research, concerning the study of the interaction between the
visible electromagnetic radiation coming from the sun and aquatic envi-
ronments. In general, the term is used in the context of remote-sensing
observations, often made from Earth-orbiting satellites. Using sensitive
radiometers, one can measure carefully the wide array of colors emerging
out of the ocean. These measurements can be used to infer important in-
formation such as phytoplankton biomass or concentrations of other living
and nonliving material [Figure 2.11] that modify the characteristics of the
incoming radiation.
Start time of the remote sensing of color: Remote sensing of ocean color
from space began in 1978 with the successful launch of NASA’s coast-
al zone color scanner (CZCS). Ten years passed before other sources of
ocean-color data became available with the launch of other sensors, and
in particular the sea-viewing wide field-of-view sensor (SeaWiFS) in 1997
on board the NASA SeaStar satellite. Subsequent sensors have included
NASA’s moderate-resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) on
board the Aqua and Tearra satellites and ESA’s medium resolution imag-
ing spectrometer (MERIS) on board its environmental satellite Envisat.
Several new ocean-color sensors have recently been launched, including

True Colour
62-N
60-N
58-N
Chlorophyll Concentration
62-N
60-N
58-N
174-E 176-E 178-E 180-E 178-W
Chlorophyll concentration (mg/m3)
−0.1 0.1 1.0 10 50

FIGURE 2.11 Phytoplankton bloom in the sea.
the Indian ocean color monitor (OCM-2) on board ISRO’s Oceansat-2

satellite, the Korean geostationary ocean color imager (GOCI), which is
the first ocean color sensor to be launched on a geostationary satellite, and
the visible infrared imager radiometer suite (VIIRS) aboard NASA’s Suomi
NPP. More ocean color sensors are planned over the next decade by various
space agencies. T able 2.4 gives information about the sensing of ocean color
sensors launched by various agencies and Table 2.5 gives information about
scheduled color sensors.

Ocean Electronics_Chapter-2.indd 73
Sensor/ Agency Satellite Launch date swath Spatial Band spectral Orbit
Data Link (km) resolution (m) coverage (nm)
COCTS CNSA HY-1B 11 April 2400 1100 10 402–12,500
Polar
CZI (China) (China) 2007 500 250 4 433–695
KARI/KIOST 26 June Geosta-
GOCI COMS 2500 500 8 400–865
(South Korea) 2010 tionary
CNSA FY-3A
MERSI 27 May 2008 2400 250/1000 20 402–2155 Polar
(China) (China)
CNSA FY-3B 5 November
MERSI 2400 250/1000 20 402–2155 Polar
(China) (China) 2010
CNSA FY-3C 23 Sept.
MERSI 2400 250/1000 20 402–2155 Polar
(China) (China) 2013
MODIS- NASA Aqua
4 May 2002 2330 250/500/1000 36 405–14,385 Polar
Aqua (USA) (EOS-PM1)
MODIS- NASA Terra 18 Dec.
2330 250/500/1000 36 405–14,385 Polar
Terra (USA) (EOS-AM1) 1999
ISRO Oceansat-2 23 Sept.
OCM-2 1420 360/4000 8 400–900 Polar
(India) (India) 2009
NOAA
VIIRS Suomi NPP 28 Oct. 2011 3000 375/750 22 402–11,800 Polar
(USA)
TABLE 2.4 Ocean Color Sensors Launched 1999–2013
11/09/17 3:47 PM
Sensor Agency Satellite Schedule swath Spatial bands spectral orbit
launch (km) resolution coverage
(m) (nm)
1270300/
OLCI ESA/EUMETSAT Sentinel 3A 2015 21 400–1020 Polar
1200
HY-1C/D 2900 1100 10 402–12500
COCTSCZI CNSA(China) 2015 Polar
(China) 1000 250 10 433–885
1150 -
SGLI JAXA(Japan) GCOM-C 2016 1400250/ 19 375–12500 Polar
1000
HY-1E/F 2900 1100 10 402–12500
COCTSCZI CNSA(China) 2017 Polar
(China) 1000 250 4 433–885
HSI DLR (Germany) EnMAP 2017 30 30 242 420–2450 Polar
OCM-3 ISRO(India) OCEANSAT-3 2018 1400 360 / 1 13 400–1010 Polar
OLCI ESA/EUMETSAT Sentinel-3B 2017 1265 260 21 390–1040 Polar
NOAA /
VIIRS JPSS-1 2017 3000 370 / 740 22 402–11800 Polar
NASA(USA)
Multi-spectral
INPE / CONAE SABIA-MAR 2019 200/2200 200/1100 16 380–11800 Polar
Optical Camera
KARI/KIOST Geo Kompsat
GOCI-II 2019 1200 × 1500 250/1000 13 412–1240 Geostationary
(South Korea) 2B
HYSI-VNIR ISRO (India) GISAT-1 *(planned) 250 320 60 400–870 Geostationary
OES NASA ACE >2020 TBD 1000 26 350–2135 Polar
Coastal Ocean
NASA GEO-CAPE >2022 TBD 250 – 375 155 TBD 340–2160 Geostationary
Color Imaging Spec
LEO, Sun
VSWIR instrument NASA HyspIRI >2022 145 60 10 nm 380–2500
Sync.
TABLE 2.5 Scheduled Ocean Color Sensors
11/09/17 3:47 PM
How satellites “see” ocean color: Satellite instruments or sensors “see”

variations in the color of the ocean by detecting different wavelengths or
bands of reflected light. The colors are recorded as numerical values that
can be downloaded and converted back into images. Scientists can then
compare the color in satellite images at specific times and locations to ac-
tual measurements of chlorophyll or other suspended matter in samples
of ocean water collected at the same time and location. The comparison,
called ground truthing, enables scientists to develop mathematical formulas
or algorithms for analyzing the same parameters in other satellite images.
This technique has enabled scientists to track the timing and spread of off-
shore phytoplankton blooms around the oceans, which has helped explain
the timing and success of year classes—fish in a stock that hatched in the
same year.
Satellite imagery and ground truthing: Collecting ground truth data is es-
sential to interpreting what satellite instruments “see” in the ocean. Ground
truthing involves comparing pixels on a satellite image with direct observa-
tions and measurements on the ground or, in this case, the ocean. This ena-
bles scientists to verify what they are seeing in the image and to convert the
colors to tangible quantities, such as biomass of plankton or sediment con-
centration. Satellite and ground truth data must be collected at the same
time and location.
It is easier to interpret offshore satellite images because the only thing
that changes the color of the ocean, other than the water itself, is the pres-
ence of phytoplankton. Interpreting near shore satellite imagery is more
complicated because in addition to phytoplankton, other suspended matter
including sediment and colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM) from
terrestrial matter such as decomposing leaves can change the ocean color
and we don’t necessarily know which factor has a more significant effect.
Since the main source of CDOM is from the land, concentrations vary with
river outflow and rainfall. This means that an algorithm for the near shore
that is valid for today may not be valid tomorrow and we will probably have
to develop separate ones for different seasons, conditions, and locations.
Coastal zone color scanner: The CZCS measured ocean color in four dis-
crete bands with a further low sensitivity band designed for coast and cloud
identification. A further band in the infrared operated intermittently. The
four color bands are shown in Table 2.6.

Band Wavelength Properties

(nm)
1 433–453 Blue radiance shows effect of chlorophyll absorption
Blue-green radiances are increased by particles in
2 510–530
water. Some chlorophyll absorption
3 540–560 Green radiances increased due to particles in the water
Red radiances due almost entirely to scattering in the
4 660–680
atmosphere for case 1 waters
TABLE 2.6 IR Band for Ocean Color Monitoring
To understand the link between the color of the sea and the concen-
tration of suspended matter within its surface layer, models of radiative
transfer were constructed from a study of the spectral characteristics of a
number of substances. Much of the approach was necessarily empirical.
The total radiance observed at the sensor can effectively be divided into
two components:
1. Water-leaving radiance, which is that part of the signal that has pene-
trated the sea surface and been reflected back, times the diffuse trans-
mission between the sea surface and the sensor, and
2. Radiance that has not penetrated the sea surface but has been reflected
or scattered from other sources into the sensor.
Whereas the effects of the ocean form part of the first, atmospheric
effects dominate the second and make up the unwanted noise. The basic
task of processing the CZCS record is to identify and remove this noise and
then, from the water leaving part of the signal, to make the best estimate of
phytoplankton pigment concentrations. Much effort has gone into the devel-
opment of the best processing algorithms. Although the CZCS included ref-
erence signals for calibration, it became apparent at a comparatively early
stage of the mission that the blue channel was losing sensitivity. The largest
effort has been directed to correcting for atmospheric effects which have two
main components: radiance resulting from molecular scattering (Raleigh),
and scattering due to aerosols (Mie scattering) [also see Figure 10.1].
2.7.2 Sediment Monitoring Methods

Sediment lies at the bottom of the ocean floor; it is made from many
items, including:

■■ Tiny particles of rock, sand, silt, and clay

■■ Marine snow (clumps of living and dead microscopic organisms, faecal
pellets, and dust)
■■ Materials vented out from the Earth’s surface
Over time the sediment forms layer upon layer building up a record
of the ocean floor at that moment. Scientists examine these layers to find
out about the past. For example, the size of particles shows how close to
the shore the ocean floor used to be, because large particles sink faster and
therefore nearer to land.
Rock samples are collected because they can tell about:
■■ What the rocks are made of
■■ How the rock was formed
■■ Mineralization—minerals can be an important resource
■■ The mantle—the layer underneath the Earth’s crust
■■ Earth’s evolution—how tectonic plates used to be arranged
■■ Future geohazards—earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis
The goal of sediment monitoring is to quantify changes in sedimenta-
tion and soil characteristics that relate the changes in elevation, vegetation,
and invertebrates. The rate of sediment accretion or erosion is a determin-
ing factor of tidal wetland sustainability with sea level rise and a primary
driver of habitat evolution over time. Accretion rates vary spatially due to
many factors including elevation, vegetation type and productivity, distance
to channels, wave climate, and salinity dynamics. Elevation of the mud
flat and the associated inundation frequency and duration are critical to
understanding the potential vegetation community that will colonize post-
restoration actions. In the context of climate change, long-term adaptability
and persistence of tidal marsh depends in part on sediment sources, quan-
tities, and distribution patterns. Basin scale restoration and enhancement
projects, including the blocking of large naturally eroding bluffs, are pro-
jected to significantly reduce historical sediment delivery rates. In contrast,
changes in the flow regime (e.g., dike removal) and in storm frequency
and intensity may increase sediment delivery. Multiple methods are used
to measure sedimentation in tidal marshes and should be chosen based on
restoration and monitoring objectives and site-specific considerations.

The following methods can be used for repeated measures of sedimen-

tation at localized spots over time.
1. Sediment pins
Description: Poles installed within a study site. Height of pole is meas-
ured through time to show sediment gain or loss.
Benefits: Inexpensive, easy to install and measure underwater or on land.
Limitations: Sedimentation rates limited to where pin is installed, cm
resolution.
2. Sediment plates
Description: In areas of soft sediment, a hard plate is placed below the
sediment surface. Measure the sediment accumulation on top of plate.
Benefits: Easy, inexpensive, possible to measure accumulation and ero-
sion, reduces error of rod penetrating into soft sediments, mm resolution,
can be used to calculate sediment volume.
Limitations: Plates can be undercut due to hydrologic scour.
3. Marker horizons
Description: A thick marker layer (usually white in color, i.e., feldspar
clay) placed on top sediment surface. Sediment cores are later taken to
measure sediment accumulation. It can be paired with surface elevation
tables (SET) to explain processes behind elevation increases or decreases
(i.e., sedimentation, shallow subsidence, etc.).
Benefits: Easy, inexpensive, mm resolution.
Limitations: Repeated measures can deplete marker horizon layer, can
be affected by invertebrate bioturbation, does not measure erosion, can
be eroded/washed away (typically in unvegetated areas, in this case, use of
plastic grid or sediment plate is recommended), can be difficult to measure
in areas of standing water (may need to freeze sediment core using liquid
nitrogen).
4. Surface elevation table (SET):

Description: Portable mechanical leveling device for measuring relative
sediment elevation changes. Is often paired with marker horizon to explain
processes behind elevation increases or decreases (i.e., sedimentation, shal-
low subsidence, etc.).

Benefits: Accurate and precise as measurements are always taken in the

exact location, mm resolution.
Limitations: Expensive to install, sedimentation rates limited to where
poles are installed, poles can sometimes cause erosion in unvegetated areas.
Mapping of sea floor: Geoscientists are interested in the terrain of an

area: Is it flat or rocky? Are there any canyons, mountains, or volcanoes?
To find out, scientists need to map the area. On dry land, satellites can be
used to measure vast areas, but in water, satellite signals (microwaves) can
be absorbed. The further a signal travels through water, the less likely it is
to bounce back, so another method is needed to map the ocean floor. Sound
waves use pressure to move through gases, liquids, and solids. In air, sound
moves at around 340 meters per second but in seawater it zooms along at
around 1,500 meters per second. Light cannot be used as it is absorbed by
water very quickly; usually lighting no further than 30 meters. So by using
sound, scientists can find out different properties about the sea floor, as
shown in Table 2.7.
Method used Property discovered How it’s done

Bathymetry—the measurement of Measured using the
Single-beam depth to the bottom. Can also be used time it takes for the
echo-sounder to gain information about the subsur- sound to be sent and
face, i.e., deep or shallow sediment. returned.
Swath bathymetry—by taking lots of Measured using the
Multi-beam depth measurements from a single time it takes for the
echo-sounder place the shape of the sea bed is sound to be sent and
revealed. returned.
Measures the reflectivity of the The change to the
Backscatter floor—this will show what the floor is strength of the re-
made of, e.g., rocks, sand, mud. turned sound wave.
Measures the speed sound moves
Measures the tem-
through the water, as it varies de-
perature, and some-
Sound Veloc- pending on the water properties at
times the salinity, of
ity Profilers different depths. Important to know
the water to deter-
otherwise depth calculations will be
mine the speed.
wrong.
TABLE 2.7 Properties of Sea Floor for Different Methods

2.7.3 Surface Currents

The ocean is maintained in a state of continual motion through a com-
bination of solar radiation and the earth’s rotation. Currents are produced
by the equilibrium established between a number of forces which include
gravity, pressure gradients within the volume of the sea, the Coriolis force
due to the Earth’s rotation, and frictional forces mostly due to wind. The
pressure gradients within the water column are produced by differences in
density at fixed depths brought about by different values of temperature
and salinity. Because the earth rotates from west to east, an observer in the
Northern Hemisphere would observe that a moving object was deflected
to the right (that is, in a clockwise direction). In the Southern Hemisphere
the deflection is to the left, while at the equator there is no deflection. The
strength of the horizontal component of the Coriolis force depends on the
latitude and on the speed of a moving object such as a water particle. If
there were no Coriolis force acting (that is, if the earth were not in rotation)
the pressure gradient would cause the water to move directly from high to
low pressure. On a rotating Earth, the Coriolis force deflects the motion;
the acceleration on the water will reduce to zero when the speed of the
current at given latitude is fast enough to produce a Coriolis force in exact
balance with the horizontal pressure gradient. In the absence of frictional
forces this balance is referred to as geostrophic flow. From the simple geo-
strophic relationship linking current speed and latitude to the Earth’s rate
of rotation and to the acceleration due to gravity, the surface slope is eas-
ily calculated. Surface slopes produced by currents are measured against a
reference equipotential mean sea level referred to as the geoid. Over the
surface of the Earth, variations in the gravity field cause the geoid itself to
undulate with respect to a reference ellipsoid by about 200 meters. (The
minimum is found in the Indian Ocean just south of Sri Lanka while the
maximum is relatively close in the Eastern Pacific off Borneo).
A method that has been used to compute patterns of sea level changes is
to calculate a mean geoid over a selected area from (say) a year’s altimeter’s
observations, subtract this out—making corrections to the calculated height
of the altimeter by minimizing the differences at track intersections—and
record the differences [Figure 2.12]. At middle and high latitudes, the
cross-track difference between the Geosat ground tracks was approximately
100 km, making the altimeter observations useful for mapping the tracks of
mesoscale eddies. In areas of extremely high sea level variability, the Geosat
observations were used to compute a frequency-wave number spectrum of

sea level variability which identified significant eddy energy at time scales
longer than 34 days and spatial scales longer than 200 km.
Jason-2 Sea Level Trends(period : Jul-2008 to jan-2015)

[cycles 1 to 240]
50
−50
 CNES,LEGOS,CLS
0 100 200 300
Trends (mm/year, I.B.: applied/wet trop.: RADIOMETER-derived. seasonal signal removed)
−30 −20 −10 0 10 20
FIGURE 2.12 Sea level.
2.7.4 Surface Wind and Waves

Ever since sailors first put to sea, efforts have been made to improve
the forecasts of the conditions they may find there. Sudden storms still take
their toll in terms of ships and men lost at sea. Each month sees two ships
disappear without trace off the face of the globe. There are strong argu-
ments therefore for improving the collection of reliable measurements of
wind and wave conditions over the oceans. One obviously successful area
of international cooperation is the meteorological global network in which
nations share their observations with each other. Routine measurements of
surface pressure, humidity, precipitation, wind velocity, temperature, and
other parameters form the basis of the weather charts issued up to four
times daily around the globe. Ships play their own part in reporting con-
ditions at sea. It remains true, however, that their observations are une-
venly distributed over large tracts of open ocean, especially in the Southern
Hemisphere where comparatively few are reported. It is clear that satel-
lites will play a primary role in helping to achieve its ultimate potential. In

general terms ocean waves are the result of winds blowing over the surface
for a certain time (duration) and over a certain area (fetch).
The primary elements of good forecasting are:
1. accurate wind estimates over the relevant duration and fetch

2. an understanding of how winds generate waves
3. an understanding of how waves are generated, propagated, transformed,
and dissipated along their route
FIGURE 2.13 Surface winds during Hurricane Ivan estimated from QuikScat scatterometer measurements.
2.7.5 Wave Height and Wind Speed

The largest forces on any offshore or coastal structure, from ships to
offshore rigs to coastal defenses, generally result from surface waves, which

can cause destruction and devastation, in association with forces from

winds, currents, and sea level surges. Ships—even 100,000-ton carriers—
routinely disappear in storms; offshore structures have been severely
damaged and millions of dollars of damage have been inflicted upon break-
waters in recent years. Knowledge of ocean waves is essential for any activ-
ity connected with the seas. Forecasts of wave conditions are required for
operational planning, both at specified locations and across oceans for ship
routing. Estimates of wave climate, such as monthly average wave height
or 50-year wave height, are needed for design purposes. Forecasts are pre-
pared using numerical wave models with forecast winds as input and using
the physics of wave growth, transmission, and decay developed in recent
years, but forecasts are considerably improved if the models are initiated
and updated with observations of wave height and period.
2.7.6 Sea Surface Temperature

The ocean-atmosphere system is a heat engine powered by solar radia-
tion. The average daily amount of incoming radiation decreases from the
equator to the poles. Low latitudes receive relatively large amounts of radi-
ation each year while winter darkness and the obliqueness of the sun’s rays
reduce the amount of radiation received at the higher latitudes. The Earth
also reemits radiation from the sun at slightly longer wavelengths, most
of which is absorbed by natural greenhouse gases in the atmosphere such
as carbon dioxide, water vapor, and cloud droplets. There is a net gain of
radiation energy at low latitudes and a net loss at higher latitudes. But since
there is no net gain of heat at low latitudes (or loss at higher latitudes) there
must be a net transfer of heat to maintain a balance. This is brought about
mainly through winds in the atmosphere and currents in the oceans. In
the tropics, it is the oceans which contribute more to the poleward trans-
fer of heat while the atmosphere contributes more at the higher latitudes.
Across the equator, the oceans provide the mechanism for a southward
net transport from the Northern to the Southern Hemisphere. The two
principal components of the ocean contribution are wind-driven surface
currents and density-driven (thermohaline) deep circulation. Of the total
amount of energy received from the sun by the oceans, about 41% is lost
to the atmosphere as long-wave radiation and about 54% as latent heat by
evaporation from the sea surface. Temperature is a measure of the thermal
energy possessed by the oceans and if the average temperature is to remain
constant then the gains and losses must even out—that is, the heat budget
must balance.

Sea surface temperature (SST) is observed at low frequencies gener-

ally in the range of 5–10 GHz. The great advantage of microwave sensors
for measuring SST over the more commonly used infrared instruments is
their ability to operate through cloud but this must be offset against their
resolution of around 150 km, which is too coarse to study mesoscale eddies.
Higher resolution would require a much larger antenna than has been
flown up to now. Another constraint is contamination by land masses, and
in general reliable measurements must be made in the open ocean more
than 600 km from a coast. Thus, again, interesting ocean features such as
boundary current and their associated eddy may not be capable of being
studied with the microwave radiometer.
Measurements of ocean parameters by microwave radiometers are
affected by atmospheric water vapor, clouds, and rainfall and most sensors
are therefore backed up by frequencies sensitive to water in the atmos-
phere. This information is also of considerable importance where precise
altimetry is required to measure very small changes in ocean topography. It
is the role of the ocean in redistributing heat by currents and mixing which
ultimately will be one of the key factors in determining whether or not
there will be a net warming over the globe due to a manmade increase in
greenhouse gases. Attempts to measure the oceanic heat transport directly
by traditional observations have been less than successful in providing cred-
ible estimates.
This is particularly true in the Southern Hemisphere, where observa-
tions are so sparse that neither the magnitude nor even the direction of
heat transport estimated directly agree with those inferred from the appar-
ent global radiation budget. Patterns of surface temperature revealed by
satellite have been used to study the flow of currents by following certain
distinguishable features, shown in Figure 2.14.
In a similar way, sea surface temperature has been used to infer other
variables in the upper ocean. Upwelling around the coasts of many tropi-
cal and subtropical countries carries a strong temperature signal which can
be identified and studied from space-borne infrared devices. By their very
nature many such areas also exhibit a strong increase in phytoplankton, as
revealed in the record of the coastal zone color scanner. Thus, in some
areas sea surface temperature may be used as a useful tracer of nutrient
concentrations. Sea surface temperature (SST) is an important geophysical
parameter, providing the boundary condition used in the estimation of heat

FIGURE 2.14 Sea surface temperature.
flux at the air-sea interface. On the global scale this is important for climate
modeling, study of the earth’s heat balance, and insight into atmospheric
and oceanic circulation patterns. On a more local scale, SST can be used
operationally to assess eddies, fronts, and upwellings for marine navigation
and to track biological productivity. Satellite technology has improved upon
our ability to measure SST by allowing frequent and global coverage. In the
past, SST could only be measured by ships and buoys, whose ranges were
limited. Figure 2.15 shows two maps illustrating this point.
Methods for determining SST from satellite remote sensing include
thermal infrared and passive microwave radiometry. Interest in using satel-
lites to measure ocean phenomena began in the 1960s. In 1978, the polar-
orbiting TIROS satellites began to gather data on sea surface temperatures
using the AVHRR and microwave sensors. The maps of sea surface tem-
peratures produced from these data demonstrate complex surface temper-
ature patterns that have led to considerable speculation about the physical

Buoy SST Observations

Ship SST Observations Drifter: − Moored: ο Ice:
+
31 Aug 97 to 6 Sep 97 31 Aug 97 to 6 Sep 97
90N 90N
60N 60N
30N 30N
EQ EQ
30S 30S
60S 60S
90S 90S
60E 120E 180E 120W 60W 0 60E 120E 180E 120W 60W 0
FIGURE 2.15 SST measurement by ship and buoy.
processes that might cause such patterns. However, it was not until NASA
launched Nimbus 7 and SeaSat in 1978 that scientists were able to gather
comprehensive measurements of the oceans. Nimbus-7 carried a scan-
ning multichannel microwave radiometer (SMMR) that provided accurate
measurements of sea surface temperatures. By measuring the color of the
ocean surface, its coastal zone color scanner (CZCS) provided estimates of
ocean biological productivity.
Thermal infrared SST measurements: Thermal infrared SST measure-

ments have a long heritage (~20 years). They are derived from radiometric
observations at wavelengths of ~3.7 µm and/or near 10 µm. Though the
3.7 µm channel is more sensitive to SST, it is primarily used only for night-
time measurements because of relatively strong reflection of solar irradia-
tion in this wavelength region, which contaminates the retrieved radiation.
Both bands are sensitive to the presence of clouds and scattering by aero-
sols and atmospheric water vapor. For this reason, thermal infrared meas-
urements of SST first require atmospheric correction of the retrieved signal
and can only be made for cloud-free pixels. Thus, maps of SST compiled
from thermal infrared measurements are often weekly or monthly com-
posites which allow enough time to capture cloud-free pixels over a region.
Thermal infrared instruments that have been used for deriving SST in-
clude advanced very high resolution radiometer (AVHRR) on NOAA polar-
orbiting operational environmental satellites (POES), along-track scanning
radiometer (ATSR) aboard the European remote sensing satellite (ERS-2),
the geostationary operational environmental satellite (GOES) imager, and
moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA
earth observing system (EOS) Terra and Aqua satellites.

Strengths: Good resolution and accuracy and long heritage

(~ 20 years)
Weaknesses: Obscured by clouds and atmospheric corrections
required
Passive microwave SST measurements: Due to lower signal strength of

the Earth’s Planck radiation curve in the microwave region, accuracy and
resolution is poorer for SST derived from passive microwave measurements
compared to SST derived from thermal infrared measurements. However,
the advantage gained with passive microwave is that radiation at these long-
er wavelengths is largely unaffected by clouds and generally easier to cor-
rect for atmospheric effects. This is well illustrated in the two SST images
in Figure 2.16. Though the two images cover the same period, the thermal
infrared composite (AVHRR) has lots of white patches where cloud-free
pixels could not be obtained over such a short period of time.
40 AVHRR SST February 1-5, 2000

20
0
40
−20
−40
0 60 120 180 –120 –60 0
0 12 16 20 24 28 32
˚C
TM SST February 1-5, 2000
40
20
0
−20
−40
0 60 120 180 –120 –60 0
0 12 16 20 24 28 32
˚C
FIGURE 2.16 Comparison between thermal infrared and passive microwave.
Phenomena which do effect passive microwave signal return, however,

are wind-generated roughness at the ocean’s surface and precipitation.
These can usually be corrected for, however, using multiple frequencies.
SST measurements are primarily made at a channel near 7 GHz with a
water vapor correction enabled by observation at 21 GHz. Other frequen-
cies used for correction of surface roughness (including foam), precipitation,

and what little effect clouds do have on microwave radiation are 11, 18, and
37 GHz. Passive microwave instruments that have been used for deriving
SST include the scanning multichannel microwave radiometer (SMMR)
carried on Nimbus-7 and SeaSat satellites, the tropical rainfall measur-
ing mission (TRMM) microwave imager (TMI), and upcoming data from
the advanced microwave scanning radiometer (AMSR) instrument on the
NASA EOS Aqua satellite and on the Japanese advanced earth observing
satellite (ADEOS II).
Strengths: Clouds are mostly transparent and relatively insensitive

to atmospheric effects
Weaknesses: Poorer accuracy and resolution; sensitive to surface
roughness and precipitation
Derivation of SST: Radiation emitted by a surface is the Planck emission

times the surface emissivity. Since the Planck function is dependent on tem-
perature and is well known, sea surface temperature can be estimated if the
surface emissivity can be sufficiently estimated using models or regression
techniques that employ independent in situ measurements. After atmos-
pheric corrections, then, coefficients are applied to the retrieved brightness
temperature signals in the derivation of SST which factor in estimations
of the surface emissivity. Simple linear algorithms provide reasonably ac-
curate SST calculations under favorable atmospheric and surface condi-
tions, but more sophisticated higher-order computations may be required
otherwise. Because of temperature gradients below the ocean’s surface, the
depth at which measurements are made will significantly impact the SST.
Measurements made at only a depth of one or two molecules below the
ocean’s surface are considered the interface SST and cannot be realistically
measured. Just below this, however, at a depth of roughly 10 µm is what is
known as the skin SST. The attenuation length of thermal infrared radia-
tion corresponds to this depth. The subskin SST is at a depth of ~1 mm and
corresponds to the attenuation length of microwave radiation. Beyond this
depth is what is commonly referred to as the bulk SST, near-surface SST,
or SSTdepth. Figure 2.17 is an illustration of these different depths of SST,
showing two different temperature gradients:
As can be discerned from Figure 2.17, the bulk SST (or SSTdepth) may
vary greatly from the skin and subskin SSTs depending on the temperature
gradient. The skin temperature may also vary from the subskin tempera-
ture for the same reason. Diurnal heating will cause these differences to
be greatest during the afternoon and least right before dawn. Since SST

Temperature Temperature
0 SSTint SSTint
10 µm SSTskin SSTskin
SSTsub-skin SSTsub-skin
∼1 µm
∼1 cm
SSTdepth SSTdepth
∼1 m
SSTdepth SSTdepth
∼10 m
Depth
FIGURE 2.17 Different depth SST with different temperature gradients.
measurements made from buoys and ships are usually bulk temperature
measurements, temperature gradients must be taken into consideration
when comparing them to SST measurements made by either thermal infra-
red or passive microwave remote sensing observations.
Since thermal infrared instruments measure the skin temperature and
passive microwave instruments measure the subskin temperature, one must
also consider differences due to evaporative cooling at the sea surface when
comparing measurements derived from these methods. The difference can
be as great as 1 Kelvin in combination with diurnal heating effects, and so
both properties must be properly accounted for when comparing or blend-
ing thermal infrared and microwave products.
Weakness: Diurnal heating and evaporative cooling make comparison
of SSTs at different depths difficult; special care must be taken to correct
for their effects
Blending thermal infrared and passive microwave SST: Given the desire
to combine the high accuracy and resolution of the thermal infrared SST
measurements with the better temporal and spatial coverage of passive mi-
crowave SST measurements (due to cloud transparency), efforts are being

made to create a blended product which combines these strengths. In the

effort to combine these two kinds of SST products, careful consideration
must be made to correct for differences due to diurnal heating and evapo-
rative cooling as well as biases introduced by high wind speeds, water vapor,
and other atmospheric conditions. Models are being tested for each of these
considerations. Algorithms which incorporate these models still use in situ
measurements, as well, to quality assure and to adjust the final product.
Strength: Helps scientists better model climate change with

improved SST product
2.7.7 Upwelling
Winds blowing across the ocean surface often push water away from an
area. When this occurs, water rises from beneath the surface to replace the
diverging surface water. This process is known as upwelling. Figure 2.18
highlights major upwelling areas along the world’s coasts. These subsur-
face waters are typically colder, rich in nutrients, and biologically produc-
tive. Therefore, good fishing grounds typically are found where upwelling
is common. For example, the rich fishing grounds along the west coasts of
Africa and South America are supported by year-round coastal upwelling.
FIGURE 2.18 Upwelling.

2.7.8 Sampling
Properties like satellite speed, satellite ground speed, satellite period,
number of orbits/day, separation of ascending track on equator, track sep-
aration, if evenly distributed for H months, and satellite precession rate
determine the sampling and sampling rates. Table 2.8 describes the sam-
pling scheme for the measurements type and notes differences between
the systems.
2.7. 9 Wave Power

Wave power is the transport of energy by ocean surface waves, and the
capture of that energy to do useful work. For example, electricity genera-
tion, water desalination, or the pumping of water (into reservoirs) is done
using wave power. A machine able to exploit wave power is generally known
as a wave energy converter (WEC).
2.7.10 Ocean Floor

The bottom of a body of
water is known as the benthic
zone, regardless of how deep it
occurs. In coastal waters the sea
floor sits upon the continental
shelf and is generally less than
200m deep. Most of the ocean
floor lies upon the ocean crust FIGURE 2.19 The ocean floor was mapped using an
EM120 echo-sounder.
and is between 4,000—6,000
meters deep. Working at such depths requires specialist tools and skills to
obtain the data needed [Figure 2.19].
The reasons for study the benthic zone are just as varied but can include:
■■ Understanding—exploration of areas, learning about ecosystems and
habitats
■■ Resources—locations and quantities of minerals, oil, gases, and food
supplies
■■ Geohazards—landslides such as the one that caused the 2004 Tsunami,
turbidity currents. It is not safe to dump waste at sea.
Ocean sensing and the ice caps: Because the oceans cover about 70% of
Earth’s surface, they make a significant contribution to Earth’s weather and

Measurement Data Sample Sample Sample Stored Real-time Transmitted data
System rate period time data
interval
2359–0001, Daily mean and 2-min mean
Wind – UV components, scalar ATLAS 2-hz 2 min 10 min
0009–0011... on the hour, 16 x per day
speed, direction Air temperature
Relative humidity 2359–0001, Hourly mean and standard
FLEX 2-hz 2 min 10 min
0009–0011... deviation - 24 x per day
2359–0001, Hourly mean and standard
Barometric Pressure FLEX 2-hz 2 min 10 min
0009–0011... deviation—24 x per day
2359–0001, Daily mean and standard
ATLAS 1-hz 2 min 2 min
0001–0003... deviation
Shortwave radiation
Long wave radiation (thermopile, 2359–0001,
ATLAS 1- hz 2 min 2 min Daily mean
case and dome temperatures) 0001–0003...
0000–0001, Daily mean, standard devia-
ATLAS 1-hz 1-hz 1 min
0001–0002... tion, and percent time raining
Rain rate
0000–0001, Hourly mean and percent
FLEX 1-hz 1-hz 1 min
0001–0002. time raining, 24 x per day
Temperature & Conductivity (sea ATLAS 1 per 10 min instantaneous 0000, 0010... 10 min Daily mean
surface and subsurface) FLEX 1 per 10 min instantaneous 0000, 0010. 10 min Hourly reading—24 x per day
ATLAS 1 per 20 min instantaneous 0000, 0010... 20 min Daily mean
Currents
FLEX 1 per 20 min instantaneous 0000, 0020. 20 min Hourly reading—24 x per day.
Air and sea surface water pCO2,O2, MAP-
2-hz 30 sec 0000, 0300... 3 hours 8 data points/day
pH, turbidity, gas tension CO2
TABLE 2.8 Sampling Time
11/09/17 3:47 PM
climate. The oceans interact constantly with the atmosphere above them
and the land and ice that bound them. Yet scientists know far too little
about the details of the oceans effects on weather and climate, in part be-
cause the oceans are monitored only coarsely by ships and buoys. Improv-
ing the safety of people at sea and managing the seas vast natural resources
also depend on receiving better and more timely data on ocean phenom-
ena. Satellite remote sensing is one of the principal means of gathering data
about the oceans.
2.8 RESEARCH ON OCEAN PHENOMENA

To understand the behavior of the oceans and to make more accurate
predictions of their future behavior, scientists need to gather data about sea
temperature, surface color, wave height, the distribution of wave patterns,
surface winds, surface topography, and currents. Fluctuations in ocean tem-
peratures and currents lead to fluctuations in the atmosphere and therefore
play a major part in determining weather and climate. Understanding and
predicting the interactions are major goals of climatologists. The study of
other ocean phenomena would enhance scientists understanding of the
structure and dynamics of the ocean. For example, observations of wave
conditions are important for modeling ocean dynamics. Because winds cre-
ate waves, measurements of wind speed and direction over wide areas can
lead to estimates of wave height and condition. Closely observing the color
of the ocean surface provides a powerful means of determining ocean pro-
ductivity. Variations in ocean color are determined primarily by variations
in the concentrations of algae and phytoplankton, which are the basis of the
marine food chain. Because these microscopic plants absorb blue and red
light more readily than green light, regions of high phytoplankton concen-
tration appear greener than those with low concentration. Because fish feed
on the photoplankton, regions of high concentration indicate the possibility
of greater fish population.
1. What is passive remote sensing?

2. Give examples for active remote sensing.
3. Define “satellite orbit.”

4. What are the geostationary satellites?

5. What is the use of having remote sensing satellites in near polar orbits?
6. Define “swath.”
7. What is the other name of whiskbroom scanner?
8. Give the definition of instantaneous field of view (IFOV).
9. describes the ability of the image to discriminate very
slight differences in energy.
10. Define “spectral range.”
11. What is spectral bandwidth?
12. What is spectral sampling?
13. What is the importance of signal-to-noise ratio?
14. What is the significance of ocean color?
15. Define “ocean color radiometry.”
16. What is upwelling?
17. Define “wave power.”
18. What is the benthic zone?
1. Write a note on remote sensor platforms.

2. Differentiate between passive and active remote sensing.
3. Write about scanner sensor systems.
4. Compare the whiskbroom scanner with the push broom scanner.
5. Write a note on temporal resolution.
6. What factors determine the selection and design of sensors?
7. Write a short note on synthetic aperture radar sensors.
8. How do you measure the surface current?
9. Write a note on surface wind and waves.

10. Write about ocean color sensors.

11. How do satellites see the ocean color?
12. Write about the different methods to measure sedimentation.
EXERCISES: PART C (ANSWER IN 2 OR 3 PAGES)
1. Write in detail about weather satellites.

2. Explain MOS satellites.
3. Write about micro-sensors for ocean monitoring.
4. How do you measure ocean color using sensors?
5. Write in detail about sediment monitoring methods.
6. What are different methods to measure the sea surface temperature?
WEB LINKS
http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov
http://www.planetdiary.com
https://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/sage/oceanography
https://stevengoddard.wordpress.com
http://weather.unisys.com/

CHAPTER
3
UNDERWATER ACOUSTICS
T
his chapter discusses underwater acoustics, including the interac-
tion of sound with the seafloor, sound wave features, transmission of
data underwater, wave height, wave velocities, bubbles study, water
depth, sea temperature, global climate change, ocean current measure-
ment using sound, fish finding, study of Earth history, and surf zone mea-
surement using sound. It describes locating and identifying fish, methods
of underwater communication, measurement of ocean temperature using
acoustic tomography, inverted echo-sounders, acoustic Doppler current
profilers, RAFOS floats, and reciprocal transmission.
3.1 INTERACTION OF SOUND WITH SEAFLOOR

The seafloor is a reflecting and scattering boundary. It is often layered
with a density and sound speed that may change gradually or abruptly with
depth or even over short ranges. The seafloor is highly variable in its acous-
tic properties since its composition may vary from hard rock to soft mud.
Because of the variable stratification of the bottom sediments in many
areas, sound is often transmitted into the bottom where it is refracted and
internally reflected further down. Further, the small-scale roughness of the
seafloor causes scattering and attenuation of sound. Thus the ocean bottom
is a complicated propagating medium.
A typical bottom-structure section is presented in Figure 3.1. This sec-
tion consists of 5 km of water, about 0.5 km of unconsolidated sediments,

1–2 km of basement rock and 4–6

Sound speed
Layer (kms−1) km of crustal rock overlying the
0 upper mantle. Also, typical sound
Water 1.5 speed values are indicated for each
4 layer.
Sediment 2.0
Basement rock 5.0 The crustal rock, or oceanic
Depth (km)
8 crust, consists largely of basalt, and

Crustal rock 6.7 is usually covered by sedimentary
12 rock (denoted “basement rock” in
Figure 3.1). The continental crust
Upper mantle 8.1
largely consists of granite and is
16
much thicker than the oceanic
crust. It is covered by a wider range
of sediments, but usually coarser
FIGURE 3.1 Bottom structures of sea and sound
speed.
than those in the deep ocean.
3.1.1 Underwater Acoustics

Underwater acoustics is the science of utilizing sound waves underwa-
ter as a method of navigating, communicating, or detecting. This technol-
ogy is also used to determine profiles of the earth’s layer immediately below
the ocean. Underwater sound waves can be generated in the frequency
range from as low as 1 KHz (one thousand cycles or waves per second) to as
high as 500 KHz (five hundred thousand cycles per second). Most under-
water acoustic equipment operates in the frequency range of 10 KHz to
100 KHz. As a rule, the lower the frequency of an underwater acoustic sig-
nal, the farther it will travel through water. For example, a 12 KHz acoustic
signal will travel farther than a 50 KHz signal if both are transmitted with
the same amount of power. Another determining factor in how far a sound
wave will travel is the power with which it is driven. As a rule, the higher the
power of the acoustic signal, the greater the distance it will travel through
the water. The strength of an underwater acoustic signal is measured in
“watts” or decibels, also referred to as dB.
The sound wave or acoustic signal is created by a transducer, which
is a technical term for an underwater antenna. The transducer converts
electrical energy into mechanical energy (vibrations) which in turn cre-
ate the sound waves. A transducer, depending upon the application, can
transmit as well as receive. The heart of the transducer is a piezo-electric
ceramic element, usually in the shape of a tube, which is then encapsulated

Underwater Acoustics • 99
in polyurethane. Applying an electric signal (voltage) to this piezo-electric

ceramic element will cause it to alternately contract and expand thereby
creating a pressure or sound wave. Thus a sound wave or acoustic signal is
transmitted through the water.
The size of the transducer is determined by the frequency that is to be
transmitted. The lower the frequency of the signal to be generated, the big-
ger the diameter of the transducer. This is because the piezo-ceramic tube
will be most efficient when operating at its natural resonant frequency and
the larger the diameter of the tube, the lower its resonant frequency will
be. For example, a 12 KHz transducer may have a typical diameter of 4 in
(10 cm) whereas a 50 KHz transducer will have a diameter of less than 1 in
(2.5 cm). An analogy would be if you bang on a large drum, you will get a low
tone or low frequency note; whereas, if you bang on a small drum you will
get a high tone or high frequency note. When a transducer is being used as
a receiving antenna, it is generally referred to as a hydrophone. It receives
or detects an acoustic signal and then converts this signal from mechanical
energy into electrical energy which is then processed by electronics.
Most hydrophones receive in an omnidirectional pattern, which means
they can detect signals from any direction. These types of hydrophones are
called listening hydrophones. They are commonly used to study biological
noise as a reference standard for testing, for detection of noise made by
vehicles such as submarines, or for underwater acoustic survey work. When
it is necessary to determine the direction or the source of an underwater
acoustic signal, a specially designed hydrophone is utilized.
3.1.2 The Features of Sound Waves

■■ A sound wave is created by converting electrical energy into mechanical
energy via a transducer.
■■ Sound in water travels about five times as fast as it travels in air.
■■ Sound waves travel in direct paths based on the “line-of-sight” concept.
■■ Sound waves will be reflected or distorted when traveling through a
thermocline.
■■ Sound waves will be affected by biological or man-made noise, air bub-
bles, and salt.
■■ Most underwater acoustic equipment operates in the frequency range
of 10–100 KHz

■■ The lower the frequency of a sound wave, the farther it will travel.
■■ The higher the acoustic power output of a sound wave, the greater the
distance it will travel.
3.2 TRANSMISSION OF DATA UNDERWATER USING SOUND

Computers use digital data to transmit and receive information,
including e-mail messages and Internet web pages. Submarines do not
have telephone or cable connections, and radio signals do not propagate
underwater, so a submarine relies on sound to send and receive digital data.
Telephone modems allow computers to transmit and receive information
over telephone lines; however, they do not work very well with poor con-
nections. Special acoustic modems that can successfully transmit digital
data underwater have been developed. These modems convert digital data
into special underwater sound signals that can be transmitted between two
submerged submarines or between a submerged submarine and a sur-
face ship, as in Figure 3.2. These digital signals can represent words and
pictures, just as on land, allowing submarines to send and receive e-mail.
Underwater acoustic modems are relatively slow compared to telephone
or cable modems on land. Nonetheless, this technology is very important
because it provides an accurate and efficient means to send and receive
data underwater.
Acoustic Acoustic Data

End User PC Data Instrumentation
Modem Modem
Ship, buoy, or other Underwater Instrumentation
surface platform
Acoustic Transducers
FIGURE 3.2 Basic acoustic communication model.
Oceanographers use acoustics to control underwater instruments and

acquire the data that they collect remotely. This technology can also be
used to control small, unmanned submarines, called autonomous undersea
vehicles (AUVs), and get data back from them in real time. These vehicles
are currently under intensive development and are beginning to be widely
used for oceanographic research and other purposes.

Autonomous vehicles working under the ice can be controlled and their
data can be transmitted to a topside station using underwater acoustic links,
as in Figure 3.3.
Topside modem inside surface station
Dunking
transducer
AUV with subsea modem installed
FIGURE 3.3 AUV control using sound.
Acoustic links are used to control underwater instruments and acquire

the data remotely, as in Figure 3.4. Underwater data links can also be
stic
Acou ands
m
com
a
Dat
Host
instrument
FIGURE 3.4 Underwater instrument control using sound.

combined with satellite data links to provide data in real time from instru-
ments on the seafloor to scientists ashore. One application of this tech-
nique is to provide early warnings of tsunamis generated by undersea
earthquakes. Tsunami waves are generated when an earthquake causes the
seafloor to move. They can cause great damage when the waves build as
they come ashore. Pressure sensors that are deployed on the seafloor can
DART II System
Bi–directional
communication
Iridium & control
satellite
Iridium &
GPS antennas
Lifting
Electronic systems handle
Tsunami and batteries
warning
center
Surface Buoy
2.5 m diameter
4000 kg displacement
1.8 m
Acoustic transducers
(2 each)
Tsunameter
25 mm chain (3.5 m)
Signal flag
Swivel
Bi–directional 25 mm nylon
Glass ball acoustic
flotation telemetry
22 mm nylon 1000–6000 n
13 mm
polyester
– 75 m 19 mm nylon
Acoustic
transducer
Acoustic release 13 mm chain (5 m)
CPU
Batteries
Sensors Anchor 3100 kg
Anchor 325 kg
FIGURE 3.5 DART to early warning of tsunamis.

detect tsunamis. Pressure data are transmitted to a nearby surface buoy via
an acoustic data link using underwater modems. The data are then relayed
to researchers on land in real time via satellite. Researchers can also request
real time data independent of the automatic detection system. The data are
used to provide early warnings of a tsunami before it comes ashore.
Each deep-ocean assessment and reporting of tsunamis (DART;
igure 3.5) station consists of a bottom pressure sensor anchored to the
F
seafloor and a moored surface buoy.
Another practical example
for the use of acoustic communi-
cation technology is in the search
for underwater objects. A robot
crawler carries a modem, a cam-
era, and a digital signal-process-
ing unit [Figure 3.6]. The robot,
traversing the seafloor, searches
for an object. When an object is
found, the robot sends an acous- FIGURE 3.6 Robot to find underwater objects.
tic signal to a ship- or shore-based
station. The robot can then be commanded to take a still frame photo, com-
press it, and transfer the image to an acoustic signal that is sent back to the
investigator. This technology will allow archaeological expeditions to save
money in diving time. Robotic crawlers can carry sensors into very shallow
water or even into the surf zone. This robotic crawler, equipped with a cam-
era and modem, can be controlled from substantial distances via acoustic
communications
3.3 MEASUREMENT OF THE UPPER OCEAN

Measuring the processes at the sea surface and the region immediately
below it is important for both practical and scientific reasons. Large, steep
waves can be hazardous to offshore structures, such as oil platforms. Off-
shore structures and buoys must be designed to survive the largest waves
that are likely to occur. Bubbles created by breaking waves play a role in
the transfer of gases between the atmosphere and ocean. The amount and
types of gases that move between the atmosphere and ocean are important
to determining greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere. Measuring these
properties when the winds are strong and the waves high is difficult. Sonar

[sound navigation and ranging] can measure the upper ocean while being
located safely below the ocean surface.
3.3.1 Wave Height Measurement

Wave heights can be measured using sonar that transmits an acoustic
pulse up toward the sea surface [Figure 3.7]. The pulse is reflected from
the surface and returns to the transmitter, which switches into receiving
mode after transmitting. The time that it takes the signal to travel to the sea
surface and back depends on the distance to the surface from the transmit-
ter and can provide a measurement of wave height.
Large Waves Small Waves
Sound is sent upwards The time taken for the

and is reflected back sound to return changes
as the wave size changes
FIGURE 3.7 Wave height measurement.
Upward-looking sonar can be used to determine wave height. The time

that it takes a sonar signal to travel to the sea surface and back depends on
the distance to the surface from the transmitter and can provide a measure-
ment of wave height.
3.3.2 Wave Velocities Measurement

The velocities in the crests of large, steep waves can also be measured.
A sonar placed on the seafloor transmits an acoustic pulse up toward the sea
surface. Additional hydrophones are placed on the seafloor a short distance
from the sonar. The pulse is not only reflected from the sea surface, but
also scattered from bubble clouds caused by breaking waves. The scattered
signals have slightly different frequencies than the transmitted signals,
because of the motion of the bubbles. The velocities of the bubbles can be

determined by measuring the

small differences in frequen-
cies. The frequency shifts are
due to the Doppler effect, and
the sonar is called a Doppler
sonar [Figure 3.8].
Small bubbles largely
move in response to the cur-
rents in the waves. Therefore,
by measuring the velocities of FIGURE 3.8 Wave velocity measurement.
the bubbles, one can measure
the currents. The currents in the crests of the largest waves are impor-
tant for determining the greatest forces that an offshore structure must be
designed to withstand without collapsing.
3.3.3 Bubbles Study

A simple upward-looking
sonar of the type used to meas-
ure wave heights can also be used
to study the bubble clouds in the
upper ocean caused by breaking
waves. Bubbles are very effective
acoustic scatterers at specific fre-
quencies that depend on the size
of the bubbles. The frequency of
the sonar therefore determines
the size of the bubbles to which
it will be most sensitive. Bubble
clouds have been found to extend
10 meters or more below the sur-
face when winds are strong.
Bubbles in the open ocean are
shown in Figure 3.9. At the time
the image was taken, wave heights FIGURE 3.9 Bubbles study using sonar.
were approximately 2–3 meters and wind speeds were about 15–20 m/s. To
determine the role of bubbles in the transfer of gases between the ocean
and atmosphere, one needs to know the sizes of the bubbles, as well as the
depths to which they penetrate. Acoustic systems use multiple frequencies to

measure the size distribution of the bubbles. The frequency at which bubbles
scatter or absorb sound most strongly depends on their size. The transfer of
gases due to bubbles is small at low wind speeds, but at higher wind speeds the
bubble contribution may dominate in the processes of air-water gas transfer.
3.3.4 Measurement of Water Depth

Sonar is used for seafloor mapping. A combined transmitter and receiver,
called a transducer, sends a sound pulse straight down into the water. The
pulse moves down through the water and bounces off the ocean bottom.
The transducer picks up the reflected sound. Computers precisely measure
the time it takes for the sound pulse to reach the bottom and return. In shal-
low water the sound waves will return very fast and in deeper water it will
take more time to receive the echoes.
The depth of the ocean is calculated
by knowing how fast sound travels
in the water (approximately 1,500
meters per second). This method
of seafloor mapping is called echo-
sounding. Echo-sounders can use
different frequencies of sound to find
Receiver Transmitter
out different things about the ocean.
Water depth is typically measured by
echo-sounders that transmit sound at
12 kHz. Lower frequencies (3.5 kHz)
can be used to look at the layers of
Return Acoustic
Signal.
sediments below the seafloor. Higher
Echo
frequencies (200 kHz) can be used
to identify fish and plankton that are
Ocean
in the water column. Echo sounders
Floor calculate water depth by measuring
the time it takes for the acoustic sig-
FIGURE 3.10 Echo-sounders to find water depth
nal to reach the bottom and the echo
measurement. to return to the ship.
3.4 LOCATING FISH

Sonars send sound waves or signals into the water that rebound when
they strike an object. The fish reflects some of the signal back to the boat, the
remainder of the signal continues to the seafloor then it bounces back to the

boat. Some sonar systems

are especially designed to
locate fish, as shown in Fig-
ure 3.11(a). These systems
use the same basic principle
as other sonar systems—they
transmit sound pulses, meas- FIGURE 3.11 (a) Sonar to locate fish and (b) display of
the deep sea.
ure the time it takes for ech-
oes to return, and calculate the distance to the objects. Fish finding sonar units
send and receive signals many times per second. They concentrate sound into
a beam that is transmitted from a transducer. These units include visual dis-
plays that print the echoes. The bottom appears as a continuous line drawn
across the display. In addition, any objects that are in the water between the
surface and the bottom may also be displayed, as in Figure 3.11(b).
Fish finders detect the presence of fish primarily by detecting the air
in their swim bladders. The air conserved in the swim bladder changes the
sound path and reflects energy back. The fish finder detects this reflected
energy and converts it into fish images on the screen. Fish finders operate at
high frequencies of sound, approximately 20–200 kHz (20–200,000 cycles per
second). This helps define targets and can even display two fish as two sepa-
rate echoes or arches. Lower frequencies (i.e., 50 kHz) can penetrate deeper
waters but may not be able to
define individual targets. Putting
more energy into the pulse sent
out by the transducer increases
the probability of getting a signal
to return in deeper water. Images
are formed on the visual display
as arches due to the movement
of the boat or the fish. When
sound is transmitted from the
transducer it is concentrated into
a beam. As the sound passes into
deeper water, the beam spreads
out and covers a wider area. If the
transmitted sound were plotted, it
would look like a traffic cone with
a pointed top and a broad base, as FIGURE 3.12 Sound transmitted from the boat’s
shown in Figure 3.12. transducer spreads out in a conical shape.

Fish that swim within this cone

may reflect some of the sound back
to the transducer. The reflected
sound, or echo, appears on the
sonar’s chart display. A school of
fish will appear as many different
shapes or formations, depending on
how much of the school are within
the transducer’s cone. Individual
fish, especially those in deeper
FIGURE 3.13 Example of how an arch is formed as a water, may appear as arches on the
fish passes through the sonar beam. display. The following illustrations
[Figure 3.13] demonstrate how a

fish arch forms as the fish moves through the sonar beam.
A fish arch forms as the fish moves through the sonar beam. A mark
appears on the chart display (on right) when the fish enters the outer edge
of the cone. As the fish swims through the cone, the distance between the
transducer and the fish decreases, and the mark begins to curve up. When
the fish is at the center of the beam it is directly beneath the transducer.
The mark begins to flatten out as the fish reaches its closest point to the
transducer. As the fish continues
to move through the beam to the
opposite end of the cone the dis-
tance increases. The mark begins
to curve downward because the fish
is moving further and further away
from the transducer. An arched
mark appears as the chart display
graphs this distance change.
3.4.1 Identifying Fish

Experienced fishermen can use
fish finders to identify species of
fishes [Figure 3.14]. As a fish moves
through the sonar beam of a fish
FIGURE 3.14 Fish finder display shows the seafloor
finder, a mark specific to that fish
gently sloping down to 33.9 feet (black horizontal species appears on the chart dis-
line with gray beneath) while individual fish appear as play. To determine what species of
arches on the display.

fish produces what kinds of marks, fishermen must be familiar with the
area they are fishing, the fish that swim there, and the swimming patterns
of different schools of fish. For instance, slow swimming carp produce short
fat marks. Stripers swim much faster and move around a lot more, so they
produce dotted lines. Baitfish may swim in circles as other fish herd them
or as they swim to the surface, producing a third type of mark. These are
just examples, and each fish finder will have different markings for a par-
ticular fish. Therefore, experience and close watching of patterns will help
to perfect a fisherman’s skill in using fish finding sonars to identify fish.
Scientists are developing new and improved methods to differentiate
between the marks, also called echo signatures. Each species of fish has a
unique size and shape of its swim bladder. The differences in swim blad-
ders cause differences in the return echo of a sonar signal. Echo signatures
for specific species can then be determined and used to identify fish.
Onaga, Long-tailed red snapper

(Etelis coruscans)
Ehu, Red snapper

(Etelis carbunculus)
Opakapaka, Pink snapper

(Pristipomoides filamentosus)
FIGURE 3.15 Echo signatures.
The unique echo signatures of three different species of Hawaiian snap-

per are shown in Figure 3.15. Echo signatures on the left were taken from
an anesthetized fish under controlled conditions at the surface. Echoes on

the right were taken from free-swimming fish at 250 meters deep. Differ-
ences in echo signature structure are observed between species, but dif-
ferences between control and free-swimming measurements are minimal
for each species. Echoes measured at the surface, under controlled condi-
tions, can therefore be applied to identify different fish species at depth.
This type of acoustic data is important for fisheries surveys. This method is
especially useful when studying deep-sea bottom fish. Many fish are found
below diving depth, and therefore can only be studied using submersible
vehicles or fishing gear. Acoustics provide an additional means for scientists
to identify bottom fish and monitor them in their natural environment.
It is important to determine the factors that affect echo signatures. As
water gets deeper, the pressure increases. The increased pressure can com-
press the air in the swim bladder as the fish dives. Using acoustics in con-
junction with video and low light cameras, scientists have found that many
fish can regulate the size and shape of their swim bladders, even under
high pressure. The goal of the research is to identify the echo signatures of
different species and make sure that these signatures do not change with
movement. This will allow new fish finders to differentiate one species from
another very accurately and quantitatively.
3.4.2 Communicating Underwater

Special underwater communication systems have been developed to
allow divers to talk to each other underwater. A transducer is attached to
the diver’s face mask, which converts his or her voice into an ultrasound
signal. A fellow diver has an ultrasound receiver, which accepts the signal
and converts it back to a sound that the diver can hear, allowing for com-
munication. The same system can be used for communication between the
diver and a surface ship.
FIGURE 3.16 Acoustic communication systems allow divers to talk to

each other underwater.

3.5 MEASUREMENT OF OCEAN TEMPERATURE

The speed of sound in water depends on the water properties of tempera-
ture, salinity, and pressure (directly related to the depth). A typical speed of
sound in water near the ocean surface is about 1,520 meters per second. That
is more than four times faster than the speed of sound in air. The speed of
sound in water increases with increasing water temperature, increasing salin-
ity, and increasing depth. Most of the change in sound speed in the surface
ocean is due to changes in temperature. This is because the effect of salinity
on sound speed is small and salinity changes in the open ocean are small. Near
shore and in estuaries, where the salinity varies greatly, salinity can have a
more significant effect on the speed of sound in water. As the depth increases,
the pressure of the water has the largest effect on the speed of sound.
The approximate change in the speed of sound with a change in

each property:
Temperature 1°C = 4.0 m/s
Salinity 1PSU = 1.4 m/s
Depth (pressure) 1 km = 17 m/s
Note: Changes in the speed of sound for a given property are not
linear.
Under most conditions the speed of sound in water is simple to understand.

Sound will travel faster in warmer water and slower in colder water. To meas-
ure the temperature of the water, a sound pulse is sent out from an underwater
sound source and heard by a hydrophone in the water some distance away (up
to thousands of kilometers). The time the sound takes to go from the source
of the sound to the listening device (a hydrophone) is measured. From the
travel time, the speed of sound between the source and the hydrophone can be
calculated. If the salinity and depth where the sound traveled are known, the
temperature of the water can be calculated. Two specific methods of measur-
ing the temperature of the ocean with sound are explained below.
3.5.1 Acoustic Tomography

Acoustic tomography uses precise measurements of acoustic travel
times to draw ocean temperature maps, showing ocean temperatures just as
weather maps show temperatures in the atmosphere. Data from many cross-
ing acoustic paths are used to generate these maps of ocean temperatures.
In Figure 3.17, for example, four acoustic sources (S) are shown transmit-
ting to five acoustic receivers (R), giving 20 acoustic paths through a region

R
roughly 300 kilometers on a side. Sup-
S R pose that the shaded region is warmer
than its surroundings. Sound that trav-
els through the warm region will travel
S R slightly faster than sound that does not,
300 km
because sound speed increases with

increasing temperature, as described
R
S
above. The travel times of sound pulses
traveling through the warm region will
therefore be slightly shorter than they
S R
would have been if the warm region
300 km was not there. By combining all of the
different travel times it is possible to
FIGURE 3.17 Acoustic tomography. draw a map showing the warm and
cold regions through which the sound has traveled. This is important because
the ocean has “weather” just as the atmosphere does. Warm and cold eddies
that are the oceanic equivalent of atmospheric storms move around, grow, and
weaken. There are subsurface oceanic cold and warm fronts just as there are
cold and warm fronts in the atmosphere. These eddy and subsurface fronts
have important effects on marine life, with marine animals that prefer warm
water tending to remain in warm eddies, for example.
The basic principles used in acoustic tomography are closely related
to those used in CAT (computed axial tomography) scans in medicine. In
a CAT scan, the absorption of X-rays is used to map a “slice” through the
human body. (“Tomo” is derived from the Greek word for “cut or slice.”)
In acoustic tomography, the travel time of sound waves are used to map
temperatures in a “slice” of the ocean. Even when it is not feasible to have
enough sources and receivers to make detailed temperature maps, acoustic
travel times can be used to obtain the average temperatures along the paths
which the sound traveled. This is sometimes called acoustic thermometry.
3.5.2 Inverted Echo-Sounders

Inverted echo sounders (IES) measure the temperature of the water
column at a single point. The IES is attached to the ocean bottom. It emits
a sound pulse aimed toward the surface of the ocean. The sound pulse will
reflect off the surface of the ocean and return to the bottom. The IES lis-
tens for the return of the sound pulse from the ocean surface. The travel
time of the sound is used to calculate the speed of sound through the water.
The temperature profile is calculated from the speed of sound through the

water. The IES must be calibrated with a measurement of the water col-
umn properties. Sometimes a pressure sensor is used with the IES to make
the calibration. Inverted echo-sounders are often used to monitor a specific
region of the ocean. They are often placed in groups (or arrays) to cover a
wider area. The IES block diagram is shown in Figure 3.18.
Lifting Bale
Pinger
17" diameter Glass
Shpere in
Polypropylene Polypropylene
Rope Hard Hat
Flasher
Radio
Electrochemical
release block
Flag Nylon Line (1 m)
Moored
IES
Anchor
FIGURE 3.18 Inverted echo-sounders.
3.5.3 Measuring Global Climate Change

One way the ocean will respond to global climate change is with a
change in temperature. The average temperature of the ocean will rise as
global climate warms. Where the warming occurs and the rate at which it
occurs are of great interest to climatologists. There are several difficulties
in measuring the kinds of temperature changes that interest climatologists.
1. The ocean is very large. To get a good picture of temperature change in

the ocean, measurements of the whole ocean are needed.
2. The ocean is filled with warm and cold eddies, like storms in the atmos-
phere. The temperature changes associated with these eddies are large
compared to the small changes in ocean temperature expected from

climate change. Large-scale average temperatures are needed to see

climate change.
3. The temperature measurements must be continuous in time.
All these requirements mean that lowering temperature sensors from

ships will not provide the kind of information on climate change that is
needed. Although measurements made by lowering a temperature sensor
from a ship are very accurate, many such measurements must be combined
to provide the large-scale averages needed to see climate change.
There are simply not enough ships to make continuing measurements
of temperature all over the ocean. Satellite measurements will help, but
Temperature (°C) Salinity (S) Depth (km) Speed of Sound (m/s)

0 0 0 1402
0 35 0 1449
5 35 0 1470
5 35 0 1470
10 35 0 1490
5 35 0 1470
20 35 0 1521
30 35 0 1545
5 35 0 1470
20 5 0 1488
5 35 0 1470
20 10 0 1493
20 20 0 1505
20 35 0 1521
5 35 1 1487
5 35 2 1503
5 35 3 1521
5 35 4 1539
TABLE 3.1 The Speed of Sound Calculated under Different Ocean Conditions
Note: Changes in the speed of sound for a given property are not linear.

they only provide information at the ocean surface. Measurements made

by drifting buoys that send data back by satellite will also help, but data
from many buoys have to be averaged. Using sound to measure ocean tem-
peratures directly provides the large-scale average temperatures needed to
study climate change. In warmer water, sound travels faster. By measuring
the travel time of sound between two points, the average temperature of
the water between those points can be determined. Very precise measure-
ments of the average temperature can be made with sound.
Acoustic tomography can be used to measure the temperature of the
ocean over large areas. A sound source sends out a sound signal at known
times. The sound is sent out in the SOFAR channel so that it will travel as
far as possible. Low-frequency sound can travel thousands of kilometers in
the ocean. Hydrophones all over the ocean basin listen for the sound. The
time taken to travel to each hydrophone is then calculated and the average
temperature determined. The results apply to large areas of the ocean, nec-
essary for understanding climate change.
The time taken to travel to the hydrophone can be measured to within
20–30 milliseconds (20–30 thousandths of a second) at ranges of up to 5,000
kilometers. The travel time over 5,000 kilometers (3,100 miles) is about
an hour. This travel time accuracy lets us determine the average tempera-
ture to within a few millidegress (thousands of a degree) Celsius. Changes
in travel time are due to changes in ocean temperature. The change in
temperature can be measured to within 0.001 degrees Celsius per day, as
shown in Figure 3.19.
H
H
H
H
Sound
H
Source
#2
Sound
Source
H
#1
H = hydrophones H
FIGURE 3.19 Climate change study using acoustic tomography.

3.6 MEASUREMENT OF OCEAN CURRENTS

Currents are commonly measured with sound. There are several differ-
ent ways to measure currents with sound. An instrument called an acoustic
Doppler current profiler or ADCP is often used to measure the current in
specific places like shipping channels, rivers and streams, and at buoys. They
are also called acoustic Doppler profilers (ADP). ADCPs can be placed on
the bottom of the ocean, attached to a buoy or mounted on the bottom of
ships. RAFOS floats (SOFAR spelled backwards) also use sound to measure
currents. RAFOS floats are typically used in the open ocean to measure a
current like the Gulf Stream. A technique called reciprocal transmission
can also be used to measure currents with sound.
3.6.1 Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler

An ADCP sends out a sound pulse. The sound pulse is at a very high
frequency, from 40kHz to 3,000 kHz. The human ear can hear frequencies
up to 20kHz and even dolphins only hear frequencies up to 120kHz. At
such high frequencies the wavelength is very small, about 6 mm to 0.5 mm.
The sound pulse from the ADCP will reflect off small particles in the
water. These small particles may be fine silt or small living creatures like
plankton. Even very clear water has many small particles in it. The ADCP
listens with a hydrophone for the sound that is bounced off the small par-
ticles. [Figure 3.20]. The measurement of currents with sound depends on
the Doppler effect. The Doppler effect is a change in frequency of a sound
due to the motion of the source of the sound relative to the listener. The
most common example of the Doppler effect is the change in frequency
of a train whistle. As the train comes
Transducers toward you, the frequency increases.
2 3 4 This Doppler effect is because the
motion of the train is squeezing the
sound waves. As the train moves away,
the frequency decreases because the
train’s movement is stretching out
the sound waves. The Doppler shift
also occurs in the water. The ADCP
Base sends out a sound that reflects off
small particles and returns to the
FIGURE 3.20 An acoustic Doppler current profiler
(ADCP) uses the Doppler shift to measure currents ADCP. If those particles are in a cur-
in the ocean. rent, then those particles are moving

with the current. There will be a Doppler shift in the frequency of the
sound that reflects off the small particles and returns to the ADCP. That
Doppler shift can be used to calculate the current speed. Most ADCPs
have three or four sound sources
that work together. By using sev-
Particles in water
eral sources, the ADCP can tell
the direction of the current as
well as its speed [Figure 3.21].
The ADCP can also tell at what
depths in the water column the
current is moving by how long it direction of direction of
takes the sound to return to the current current
ADCP. The detailed working of
ADCP is explained in Chapter 9. FIGURE 3.21 ADCP operation.
3.6.2 RAFOS Floats

RAFOS floats (SOFAR
spelled backward) are floating
instruments designed to move
with a current and track the cur-
rent’s movements. The RAFOS
float keeps track of its own posi-
tion by listening for the signal
from sound sources in the water
near the study area and uses the Rafos
time of travel and the phase of float
the sound to determine its posi-
tion. Because the RAFOS float
Sound
moves with the current, the Sources
float’s position tracks the path of
the current. The RAFOS float FIGURE 3.22 RAFOS float.
can be designed to float at different depths, allowing the full structure of
the current to be studied, as in Figure 3.22
3.6.3 Reciprocal Transmission

A boat going downstream with the current in a river travels faster than
a boat going upstream against the current. In same way, a sound pulse mov-
ing in the same direction as a current travels faster than one is moving
against the current. Sound pulses transmitted in opposite directions at the

same time (called reciprocal transmissions) will therefore have different

travel times. The pulse traveling with the current will have a shorter travel
time than the pulse traveling against the current. The difference between
the two travel times can be used to compute the current.
Two sources and two hydrophones are necessary to measure current
velocity by transmitting sound in opposite directions through the current,
as in Figure 3.23. High-precision measurements are required because the
difference in the travel times of oppositely traveling pulses is tiny. Sound
travels at about 1,500 meters per second in the ocean, while ocean currents
typically have speeds of only 0.1 meters per second. Sound traveling with
such a current will travel at about 1,500.1 meters per second, while sound
traveling against the current will travel at about 1,499.9 meters per second.
Acoustic current meters (ACM) apply this basic principle to measure ocean
currents without using propellers or any other moving parts.
Sound
Hydrophone source
B Current
2
Sound Hydrophone
source Current A
1
FIGURE 3.23 Reciprocal transmission.
3.6.4 Measuring Waves in the Surf Zone

Waves generated in distant storms roll across the ocean, eventually
reaching shore. As the water becomes shallow, the waves break, spraying
foam and running up on the beach. Understanding beaches and the surf
zone is vital to coastal development and living wisely along the coast. The
surf zone is a complex place. Breaking waves create currents that run off-
shore (rip currents) and other currents that flow along the beach (along-
shore flows). The direction that the incoming waves travel changes as the

water depth changes. The waves are reflected and refracted because the
speed at which the waves move depends on water depth. In particular, sub-
marine canyons located near shore can have strong effects on the incoming
waves and the surf zone. Submarine canyons are narrow, steep-sided val-
leys on the sea floor that resemble river canyons on land. Acoustic Doppler
current profilers (ADCPs) and acoustic Doppler velocimeters (ADVs) both
measure the speed and direction of ocean currents by measuring how the
frequency of a sound changes as it reflect from a moving object. ADCPs
are used to measure ocean currents and how they vary with depth over dis-
tances extending up to several hundred meters away from the instrument.
3.6.5 Sound Use to Make Long-Term Measurements of the Ocean

For the past century, most ocean measurements have been made from
research vessels. Small groups of scientists and technicians made meas-
urements during research expeditions lasting for a month or so, and then
returned home to analyze the data that had been collected. Although much
has been learned about the ocean using this approach, it is not very satisfac-
tory for studying long-term changes, such as those associated with climate
change, or short-lived events that occur intermittently, such as undersea
volcanic eruptions or severe storms that mix the upper ocean layers. Sci-
entists are now constructing ocean observatories that use undersea cables
to connect instruments to shore. These new observatories are designed
to make long-term, continuous measurements for decades. They will be
used to study biological, chemical, physical, and geological processes in
the ocean, at the seafloor, and at the boundary between the ocean and the
atmosphere. These measurements of ocean properties are like the long-
term, continuous measurements of the atmosphere that have long been
provided by weather stations around the globe. The undersea cables are like
those used to carry telephone calls under the ocean. They provide power
to the instruments, transfer data from the instruments to shore, and allow
scientists to send commands to control the measurements that the instru-
ments make. This approach is like using underground cables and a cable
modem to connect home computers to the Internet. The cabled obser-
vatories essentially extend the Internet far offshore, into the deep ocean.
Sound is used for many purposes in these ocean observatories, including
making measurements of ocean currents and other ocean properties, and
performing various engineering tasks, such as conducting surveys of poten-
tial undersea cable routes.

3.7 SOUND USE TO STUDY THE EARTH’S HISTORY

At the bottom of the ocean, there are layers of sediments that contain
information about the Earth’s history. Sound is used to map and charac-
terize these sediment layers, selecting the precise locations for coring or
drilling sediment samples to study the history of Earth’s climate and ocean.
Scientists also use sound to answer questions such as how and where earth-
quakes occur, how submarine volcanoes form, and what effects their erup-
tions have. The layers of the seafloor are examined with seismic reflection
and seismic refraction (also called wide angle seismics). Echo-sounding is
a basic type of seismic reflection. Echo sounding is used to measure the
depth of the water. High-frequency echo-sounders (12,000 Hz) are used to
measure the depth to the seafloor. A sound pulse is sent from a ship and that
sound reflects off the seafloor and returns to the ship. The time the sound
takes to travel to the bottom and back is used to calculate the distance to the
seafloor. Low-frequency echo sounders (1,000 to 6,000 Hz) can penetrate
a short distance into the seafloor, up to approximately 100 meters, to study
the upper sediment layers.
Seismic reflection uses a stronger sound signal and lower sound fre-
quencies (10–50 Hz) than echo-sounding in order to look deeper below
the seafloor. The sound pulse is often sent from an airgun array towed
behind a slowly moving ship. An airgun uses the sudden release of com-
pressed air to form bubbles. The bubble formation produces a loud sound.
The sound from the airgun travels down to the seafloor. Some of the sound
reflects off the seafloor but some of the sound penetrates the seafloor,
sometimes as much as 20–30 km below it, depending on how the array is
designed. The sound that penetrates the seafloor may also reflect off layers
of sediment or rock within the seafloor. The reflected sounds travel back
up to the surface.
The ship also tows hydrophones (called a towed array or streamer)
which detects the reflected sound signal when it reaches the surface. They
use many hydrophones to hear weaker reflections from deeper in the Earth.
The time it takes the sound to return to the ship can be used to find the
thickness of the layers in the seafloor and their position (sloped, level, etc.).
It also gives information about the composition of the layers. By towing
multiple hydrophone streamers separated by 50–200 meters, scientists can
create 3-dimensional images of the Earth’s sediment layers. This technique
is called multi-channel seismics.

Hydrophones Sound
source
Seismic
reflection
Echo
sounding
Seafloor
Sub-bottom
sediment
layers
FIGURE 3.24 Seismic reflection to study Earth layers.
Seismic reflection [Figure 3.24] gives more information about the lay-
ers. Sound pulses that enter the seafloor are both reflected and refracted
(or bent) as they pass into different layers. The refracted sound pulse fol-
lows a complex path. With seismic refraction, the density of the layers can
be determined. Seismic reflection and refraction can also be done with
an instrument on the seafloor called an ocean bottom seismometer (OBS).
This instrument is placed on the seafloor and uses sound from artificial and
natural sources. A seismic survey may make use of both ship board meas-
urements and measurements from an array of ocean bottom seismometers.
Scientists use the seismic reflection and refraction data for many stud-
ies, including reconstructing past sea-level changes, predicting the location
of future undersea earthquakes, and understanding how oceanic crust is
formed at mid-ocean ridges. As sea level rises, the water depth increases,
submerging land where new ocean sediments are deposited. However, if
sea level falls, sediments on the seafloor are exposed and may be eroded
away. By using sound to map the layers and sampling sediments to date
the layers, the history of sea-level change can be estimated. The world’s
largest earthquakes occur tens of kilometers below the seafloor where two

tectonic plates come together at subduction zones. When the two plates
move relatively smoothly past each other, all is well. However, if the two
plates become locked, stress is built up that is eventually released during
an earthquake [Figure 3.25]. The massive earthquake along the Sumatra
subduction zone caused the December 26, 2004, tsunami that killed over
185,000 people, with thousands more still missing. Sound can show which
regions are locked and suggest the amount of plate movement that has
occurred in the past, providing insight into the potential for earthquake and
tsunami damage in the future.
CONVERGENT
PLATE BOUNDATY
IS
LA
ND
AR
TR
C
EN
CH
STRATO–
VOLCANO
TLE
AN
M
E
AT
PL
ING
UCT
BD
SU
FIGURE 3.25 Ocean subduction zone.

1. Define underwater acoustics.

2. Define acoustic transducer.
3. What is the use of hydrophone?
4. What is the expansion of SONAR?
5. What is Doppler effect?
6. sonar is used to measure wave velocities.
7. The sound wave travels in the water per second
approximately.
8. The method of sea floor mapping is called
9. Sound will travel in warm water and
in cold water.
10. Define acoustic tomography.
11. in the frequency of sound is used to measure ocean
current.
12. profilers measure ocean currents.
13. is used to measure the depth of water.
1. Write about the interaction of sound with sea floor.

2. List the sound wave features.
3. How the data transmission is done using underwater sound.
4. What is the role of SONAR in wave height measurement?
5. Write in detail about the underwater objects detection.
6. How will you measure the wave velocities?
7. Write about the bubble study in short.
8. Explain about the water depth measurement technique.

9. How the divers communicate each other?

10. What is the role of sound in measuring temperature?
11. Write about invert echo sounders to measure temperature.
12. Write about the method to measure global climate change.
13. Write about how to measure waves in the surf zone?
14. Write the role of sound to study the earth’s history.
1. Write about underwater acoustic communication in controlling

tsunamis.
2. Write about locating and identifying fish using sound.
3. Write the working principle of acoustic tomography.
4. Explain the different methods to measure temperature using sound.
5. Write about the ADCP and RAFOS working to measure the ocean
current.
6. Write the 3 different methods to measure the ocean current.
7. Write in detail the use of sound to measure earth layers and subduction
zone.
WEB LINKS
http://nctr.pmel.noaa.gov/Dart2
http://www.dosits.org
http://www.whoi.edu/instruments

CHAPTER
4
UNDERWATER
COMMUNICATION
T
his chapter discusses about underwater wireless communication.
The acoustic waves and acoustic communication, optical waves and
optical communication, underwater acoustic communication, wire-
less underwater optical communications, underwater mobile communica-
tion, types of modulation, Internet, and GPS are also discussed.
4.1 UNDERWATER WIRELESS COMMUNICATION

Underwater wireless communication networks (UWCNs) consist of
sensors and autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) that interact, coor-
dinate and share information with each other to carry out sensing and
monitoring functions. Its range of applications include coastal surveillance
systems, environmental research, autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV)
operation, oil-rig maintenance, collection of data for water monitoring, and
linking submarines to land. In the underwater world, there are three types
of carrier wave that are most commonly used in wireless communication.
1. Electromagnetic wave: Using electromagnetic waves, communication

can be established at a higher frequency and bandwidth. Its limitation is
due to high absorption/attenuation, which has significant effect on the
transmitted signal. Big antennas are also needed for this type of commu-
nication, which affects the design complexity and cost.

2. Optical wave: Optical waves also offer high data rate transmission.
Nevertheless, the signal is rapidly absorbed in water and suffers from
the scattering effect. This will affect the data transmission accuracy.
3. Acoustic wave: Acoustic wave is the most preferred signal by many
applications, owing to its low absorption characteristic for underwater
communication. Even though the data transmission is slower compared
to other carrier signals, the low absorption enables the carrier to travel
at longer range.
4.1.1 Environment/Propagation Medium
In comparison to communication in terrestrial applications, for underwa-
ter wave propagation, the challenges are quite different. Water itself becomes
the main source for signal interference. The type of water (freshwater/sea
water), depth pressure, dissolved impurities, water composition, and tem-
perature affect sound propagation. Common terrestrial phenomena like scat-
tering, reflection, and refraction also occur in underwater communication.
4.2 FUNDAMENTALS OF WAVES

Understanding the first principles of each physical wave used in UWSN
wireless communication is critically important.
4.2.1 Acoustic Waves and Physical Properties

Among the types of waves, acoustic waves are used as the primary car-
rier for underwater wireless communication systems due to their relatively
low absorption in underwater environments. An acoustic wave has several
propagation characteristics that are unique from other waves, two of which
are highlighted below:
Propagation velocity: The extremely slow propagation speed of sound
through water is an important factor that differentiates it from electromag-
netic propagation. The speed of sound in water depends on the water prop-
erties of temperature, salinity, and pressure (directly related to the depth).
A typical speed of sound in water near the ocean surface is about 1,520 m/s,
which is more than four times faster than the speed of sound in air, but five
orders of magnitude smaller than the speed of light. The speed of sound in
water increases with increasing water temperature, increasing salinity, and
increasing depth. Most of the changes in sound speed in the surface ocean
are due to changes in temperature. This is because the effect of salinity on
sound speed is small, as are salinity changes in the open ocean. Near shore

Underwater Communication • 127
and in estuaries, where the salinity varies greatly, salinity can have a more
significant effect on the speed of sound in water. As depth increases, the
pressure of water has the largest effect on the speed of sound. Under most
conditions, the speed of sound in water is simple to understand. Sound will
travel faster in warmer water and slower in colder water. Approximately, the
sound speed increases 4.0 m/s for water temperature. As the depth of water
(therefore also the pressure) increases 1 km, the sound speed increases
roughly 17 m/s. It is noteworthy that the above assessments are only for
rough quantitative or qualitative discussions, and the variations in sound
speed for a given property are not linear in general.
Absorption: During propagation, wave energy may be converted to other
forms and absorbed by the medium. The absorptive energy loss is directly
controlled by the material imperfection for the type of physical wave propa-
gating through it. For acoustic waves, this material imperfection is inelastic-
ity, which converts the wave energy into heat.
4.2.2 Acoustic Communication

Acoustic communication is defined as communication from one point
to another using acoustic signals. Acoustic signal is the only physically
feasible tool that works in underwater environment. Compared with it,
electromagnetic waves can only travel in water a short distance due to the
high attenuation and absorption effect in an underwater environment.
It is found that the absorption of electromagnetic energy in sea water
is about 45 × f dB per kilometer, where f is frequency in Hertz. In con-
trast, the absorption of acoustic signal over most frequencies of interest
is about three orders of magnitude lower. There are some investigations
into utilizing optical signals for underwater applications. However, the
optical signal can only pass through a limited range in a very clean water
environment (deep water, for example). Thus, it is not a proper tool for
long-distance transmission underwater, or in a not-so-clean, e.g., shallow
water environment.
Underwater acoustic networks, underwater acoustic sensor networks
(UASNs), and autonomous underwater vehicle networks (AUVNs), are
defined as networks composed of more than two nodes, using acoustic sig-
nals to communicate for underwater applications. UASNs and AUVNs are
two important kinds of UANs. The former is composed of many sensor
nodes, mostly for monitoring. The nodes are usually immobile or with lim-
ited capacity to move. AUVNs are composed of autonomous or unmanned
vehicles with high mobility, deployed for applications that need mobility,

e.g., exploration. A UAN can be an UASN, an AUVN, or a combination of

both. UAN is explained in detail in Chapter 5.
4.2.3 Optical Waves

Optical wave communication obviously has a big advantage in data rate.
However, there are a couple of disadvantages for optical communication in
water. Firstly, optical signals are rapidly absorbed in this environment. Sec-
ondly, optical scattering caused by suspended particles and planktons is signifi-
cant. Multi-scattering causes the optical pulse to widen in the spatial, temporal,
angular, and polarization domains. Thirdly, the high level of ambient light in
the upper part of the water column is another adverse effect for using optical
communication. Optical wave transmission requires high precision in point-
ing narrow laser beams. In very clean water, e.g., the deep sea, blue-green
wavelengths may be used for short-range connection. The advantage of opti-
cal signaling lies in its high data rate at distances up to 100 meters. As of now,
the only practical solution for underwater communication with acceptable
range utilizes acoustic signals, which travel underwater with longer distance,
less attenuation, and higher reliability. However, the available bandwidth is
extremely limited for acoustic signals. For a very long distance, at the order of
1,000 km, the available bandwidth falls below 1 kHz; only at very short ranges,
below about 100 meters, may more than 100 kHz of bandwidth be available.
A high bit error rate is common in underwater channels, due to the multi-path
interference and time-varying nature of underwater acoustic channels.
4.2.4 Optical Communication

The present acoustic underwater communication is a legacy technology
that provides low data-rate transmissions for medium-range communica-
tion. Data rates of acoustic communication are restricted to around tens of
thousands of kilobits per second for ranges of 1 km, and less than a thou-
sand kilobits per second for ranges up to 100 km, due to severe frequency-
dependent attenuation and surface-induced pulse spread. In addition, the
speed of acoustic waves in the ocean is approximately 1,500 m/s, so that
long-range communication involves high latency, which poses a problem
for real-time response, synchronization, and multiple-access protocols. In
addition, acoustic waves could distress marine mammals such as dolphins
and whales. Thus, acoustic technology cannot satisfy emerging applications
that require around-the-clock, high-data-rate communication networks in
real time. Examples of such applications are networks of sensors for the
investigation of climate change; monitoring biological, biogeochemical,

evolutionary, and ecological processes in sea, ocean, and lake environments;

and unmanned underwater vehicles used to control and maintain oil pro-
duction facilities and harbors. As already pointed out, water quality plays a
key role in deciding whether optical waves can be used for underwater com-
munication. Therefore, the applicability of optical communication heavily
depends on environments. Using the same analogy for acoustic and electro-
magnetic waves, optical communication works in an environment-limited
region. So far, there are not many commercial activities using underwater
optical communication, and no commercial optical modems are available
specifically for underwater use. Recent interest in underwater sensor net-
works and sea floor observatories have greatly stimulated the interest in
short-range, high-rate optical communication in water. Improvements in
the availability of the network could be achieved by a hybrid communi-
cation system that would include an optical transceiver and an acoustical
transceiver. A hybrid communication system can provide high data-rate
transmission by using the optical transceiver. When the water turbidity is
high or the distance between the terminals is large, the system can switch to
a low data rate using the acoustic transceiver, thereby increasing the aver-
age data rate and availability. However, the complexity and cost of the sys-
tem are increased. In this kind of system, smart buffering and prioritization
could help to mitigate short-term data rate reduction. Table 4.1 gives the
performance comparison between acoustic and optical communication.
Telemetry method Range Data rate Efficiency

Acoustic Several Km 1 kbps 100 bits/Joule
Optical 100 meters 1 Mbps 30,000 bits/Joule
TABLE 4.1 Comparison of Acoustic and Optical Communication
Parameters Acoustic Electromagnetic Optical

Nominal speed (m/s) ∼ 1,500 ∼ 33,333,333 ∼ 33,333,333
Power Loss > 0.1 dB/m/Hz ∼ 28 dB/1km/100MHz α turbidity
Bandwidth ∼ kHz ∼ MHz ∼ 10−150 MHz
Frequency band ∼ kHz ∼ MHz ∼ 1014−1015 Hz
Antenna size ∼ 0.1 m ∼ 0.5 m ∼ 0.1 m
Effective range ∼ km ∼ 10 m ∼ 10−100 m
TABLE 4.2 Comparison of Acoustic, EM, and Optical Waves in Seawater Environments

4.3 UNDERWATER ACOUSTIC COMMUNICATION

Underwater acoustic communication is a technique of sending and
receiving messages below water. There are several ways of employing such
communication but the most common is using hydrophones. Underwater com-
munication is difficult due to factors like multi-path propagation [ Figure 4.1],
time variations of the channel, small available bandwidth, and strong signal
attenuation, especially over long ranges. In underwater communication there
are low data rates compared to terrestrial communication, since underwater
communication uses acoustic waves instead of electromagnetic waves.
Surface reflection
Noise
source
Hydrophone
Direct path
Sound
source Ambiant
Noise
Bottom reflection
FIGURE 4.1 Example of multipath propagation.
4.3.1 Limitations of Underwater Acoustic Communication

High delay: The signal propagation speed in the underwater acoustic chan-
nel is about 1.5×103 m/sec, which is five orders of magnitude lower than the
radio propagation speed (3×108 m/sec). The large propagation delay seri-
ously reduces the throughput of the system considerably and determines
the instability of the underwater control network system.
Limited bandwidth: The acoustic band underwater is very small due to ab-
sorption, so most acoustic communication system operates below 30 kHz.
As a result, the bandwidth of underwater acoustic channels operating over

several kilometers is about several tens of kbps, while a short-range system

over several tens of meters can reach hundreds of kbps.
High bit error rate: Because of path loss, multi-path fading, Doppler
spread, and noise (from man and environment) in the underwater acoustic
channel, there is a large bit error rate in the underwater acoustic chan-
nel, which is on the order of 10-2–10-5. To prevent serious errors in com-
munication, special ARQ (automatic repeat request) techniques and FEC
(forward error correction) techniques must be adopted, which improve
complexity in the underwater acoustic sensor network.
High energy consumption: The power consumed in underwater acoustic
communication is greater than in terrestrial radio communication, because
more power is consumed in the complex signal processing at receivers to
compensate for the impairments of the channel.
Affected by the above factors, the current underwater acoustic sensor
network only provides limited communication for different applications,
which can communicate information among different sensor nodes without
any quality of services. At the same time, the above factors cause the effi-
ciency of the underwater acoustic sensor network to be very low and the
complexity of protocol stack to be high.
4.4 UNDERWATER OPTICAL COMMUNICATIONS

This communication technology is expected to play an important role
in investigating climate change, in monitoring biological, biogeochemical,
evolutionary, and ecological changes in sea, ocean, and lake environments,
and in helping to control and maintain oil production facilities and harbors
using unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs), submarines, ships, buoys,
and divers. However, the present technology of underwater acoustic com-
munication cannot provide the high data rate required to investigate and
monitor these environments and facilities. Optical wireless communication
has been proposed as the best alternative to meet this challenge. Laser and
LED are used as optical light sources.
Limitations of acoustic communications are:
1. The speed of acoustic waves in the ocean is approximately 1,500 m/s.
2. Long-range communication involves high latency, which poses a problem
for real-time response, synchronization, and multiple access protocols.
3. Acoustic waves could distress marine mammals such as dolphins and
whales.

Acoustic technology cannot satisfy emerging applications that require

around-the-clock high data-rate communication networks in real time.
Figure 4.2 is an alternative means of underwater communication based on
optics, wherein high data rates are possible. However, the distance between
the transmitter and receiver must be short, due to the extremely challenging
underwater environment, which is characterized by high multi-scattering
and absorption. Multi-scattering causes the optical pulse to widen in the
spatial, temporal, angular, and polarization domains. Although high data
rates are threatened by extremely high absorption and scattering, there is
evidence that broad-band links can be achieved over moderate ranges.
Oil facility
Ship
Unmanned
underwater
vehicle Diver
Unmanned submarine
underwater
vehicle
TX RX TX RX TX RX
sensor sensor sensor
FIGURE 4.2 The line-of-sight communication scenario.
4.4.1 Using Laser as Optical Communication Above Water and

Underwater
There is a growing need in maritime applications to quickly transfer
large volumes of information between different units or in a sensor network.
Radio frequency (RF) channels and satellite links on ships are often limited
to data rates of some hundreds of kilobits per second to some megabits per
second. Laser links offer the opportunity to overcome these restrictions for
optical line-of-sight communications due to the very high frequencies used

and, when compared to conventional RF links, the angle of the transmitting

laser beam is small. Restrictions arise due to precipitation, like rain or fog.
Speed limitations are more pronounced underwater. Underwater acoustic
modems can transfer data up to a few kilobits per second over distances
of some kilometers, depending on the channel characteristics and the fre-
quencies used. Lasers operating in the blue-green spectral range of the
electromagnetic spectrum offer an alternative to realizing much higher data
rates. Depending on the turbidity of the water, communication ranges are
limited to 10 to 100 meters. For testing underwater laser communication
[Figure 4.3], a continuous wave laser operating at 532 nanometers wave-
length was chosen. In coastal waters with high turbidity and high content
of organic matter, the green light attenuation is less than that for blue laser
light, making blue preferable for operations in clear water masses of the
open ocean.
Transmitter Receiver
Converter Modem Modem
Modulator Laser Detector
Fibre optic cable
FIGURE 4.3 Underwater laser optical communication (experimental setup).
Digital data from a notebook computer can be transferred via Ethernet to

a modem of the transmitting unit of the underwater communication system.
A converter drives an acoustic optical modulator (AOM), which is responsible
for the intensity modulation of the laser beam. The system was designed for a
data rate of 10 megabits per second. The modulated laser light was transferred

via a fiber optic cable to an underwater housing that contains a collimator.

The transmitted laser beam travels 3 meters in the water column before it is
coupled back into another fiber optic cable. With the help of a detector and a
second modem, the optical signals are converted back to a digital data stream.
Free-space optical links have proven to be an effective addition to established
communication technologies, both above water and underwater. They allow
much higher data rates in line-of-sight communication.
Blue-green laser in underwater communication: Most laser light cannot
penetrate through the sea due to being absorbed, but the blue-green laser
(the length of wave is about 470~570 nm) has minimum energy fading in
the sea, about 0.155~0.5 db/m. Hence, the blue-green laser can propagate
from several hundreds of meters to kilometers in the sea, and this feature
is called the window effect and some submarine communication systems
have been developed based on it. In these communication systems, the
blue-green laser is a collimated laser beam, which should be aimed at the
submarine when the sender tries to communicate with it. The process of
sending and receiving can be seen in Figure 4.4.
N1 and N2 are the sensor nodes.

The shadow is the propagation
range of blue-green laser
N1 N2
FIGURE 4.4 The process of sending and receiving for the underwater blue-green
laser sensor network.
4.5 UNDERWATER LASER SENSOR ARCHITECTURE

The architecture of a node in the underwater blue-green laser sensor
network is shown in Figure 4.5. It consists of the sensor, the sensor interface
circuitry, the memory, the power supply, the CPU, and the blue-green laser
modem. The CPU gets the data in the sensor through the sensor interface
circuitry, and then the CPU can store the data in the memory, process the
data, and send/receive the data by controlling the blue-green laser modem.
4.5.1 Protocol Stack for the Underwater Laser Sensor Network

The protocol stack for the underwater laser sensor network should
consist of physical layer, data link layer, network layer, transport layer, and

Blue-Green
Memory
laser modem
Sensor
Cpu-Onbord
interface
controller
circuitry
Sensors Power supply
FIGURE 4.5 Internal architecture of a node in the underwater blue-green laser sensor network.
application layer functionalities. Considering the critical underwater envi-

ronments, the underwater laser sensor network is different from the ter-
restrial sensor network. The protocol stack should also include the energy
management plane, 3D topology management plane, QoS management
plane, and the mobile management. The architecture of the protocol stack
for the underwater laser sensor network is pictured in the Figure 4.6.
Motlle Management
QoS Management
Management
Application layer
3D Topology
Management
Transport layer
Energy
Network layer
Data Link layer
Physical layer
FIGURE 4.6 The architecture of protocol stack for the underwater laser
sensor network.

In this architecture, the energy management plane is responsible for

network functionalities aimed at minimizing energy consumption. The 3D
topology management plane is responsible for controlling and adjusting the
underwater network topology according to the requirements of underwater
exploration. The QoS management is responsible for the quality of data
transmission, which should ensure the transmitted information satisfies the
application requirement. The mobile management is responsible for the
sensor node to automatically move to overcome the excursion caused by
the stream, and the sensor node will ensure laser communication cannot be
interrupted because of mobility.
The characteristics of underwater laser sensor network and underwater
acoustic sensor network have been compared in Table 4.3.
Underwater laser Underwater acoustic

sensor network sensor network
Delay Little High
Several hundreds of kbps
Bandwidth 10.75 pt
per kilometer
Bit error rate Low High
Energy consumption
Low High
in communication
Propagation distance 1–2 kilometers Several tens of kilometers
Propagation speed 3 × 10 m/sec
8
1.5 × 103 m/sec
TABLE 4.3 Characteristics of Underwater Laser Sensor Network and Underwater Acoustic Sensor Network
4.5.2 Wireless Laser Communication System Description

Our optical transceiver system consists of a frequency-doubled diode-
pumped solid-state laser (DPSSL) emitting at 532 nm with a processing
electronics unit as optical transmitter and semiconductor detector with a
processing unit as receiver. A laser beam is transmitted after reflection from
two adjustment mirrors placed just behind the laser and finally is made to
pass through a beam collimator (5X) to control the laser beam divergence
and spot size at receiver. A path length of 10 meters between two transceiv-
ers is achieved after multiple beams fold in the water cell. Turbulence is
created using a water churning motor.

Electronics processing unit: Transmitter electronics modules comprise a

level converter followed by a buffer to make an RS 232 signal level com-
patible with laser driving TTL signal. At the receiver, detector output is
passed through a comparator to compensate the laser beam attenuation
and followed by level converter to make the inverted TTL signal compliant
to RS 232 level.
Gain control
Level
converter
Laser driver
Detector
Laser
Laser
Detector
Water cell
Laser driver Level

converter
Gain control
FIGURE 4.7 Block diagram of overall wireless laser communication system.
Operation: As the designed system operates in full duplex hand shaking

mode, both transceiver human interfaces (PCs) are set at same baud rate
and common packet formats. Selection of baud rate solely depends upon the
laser on-off stabilized rate. Laser on-off stabilized rate signifies the number
of missing/distorted pulses per second at a particular specified rate and adds
to bit error rate (BER). Generally, laser supports a lower stabilized on-off
rate in comparison to a specified rate. The designed system can support data
rates up to 100 kbps but the limiting factor is the stabilized on-off rate of
the laser and should be checked before integrating the laser in the system.
After matching the baud rates and data formats of transmitter and receiver,

alignment of both transceiver systems is checked in the chat mode. A char-

acter sequence is transmitted from one end, and from the other end the re-
ceived character sequence is retransmitted to the first end. If the sequence
is the same, the system is aligned and ready for the file transmission. Raw file
formats like Notepad or Word Pad can be transmitted at higher data rates in
comparison to other formats. The system is also equipped with independent
transceiver testing without turning the laser on.
4.6 INSTRUMENTATION SYSTEM DEVICES

In ensuring effective underwater communication, the communication
system design plays a vital role. Factors such as transducer parameter sen-
sitivity, power consumption, noise immunity, transduction mechanism,
directivity, resolution, and properly matched impedance must be taken
into account during the design process. One of the important areas to
focus on is the receiver (sensor) design. With advancement in electronic
technology, the transducer design (especially the receiver) can adopt
MEMS (micro electro mechanical systems) technology to overcome sev-
eral sensor issues and proves to have several advantages compared to the
conventional design.
4.6.1 MEMS Approach

In today’s electronic industries, manufacturers compete to produce
devices with better performance in smaller size. This scenario has enabled
the IC and MEMS technology to grow faster in electronic industries. Until
now, most of the applications that utilize this approach mainly focus in
imaging industries, owing to the fact that this type of sensor can offer a high
bandwidth and sensitivity.
However, the realization of MEMS in underwater communication—
especially in sensor design—could be a worthy effort to bridge the gap
between terrestrial and underwater communication systems. Reduction in
size has offered a lot of advantages in terms of power consumption, port-
ability, production, and cost. Even though the exploration of this approach
in underwater communication is still new, it is technically possible. Its
main contribution is the ability to overcome the problems caused by size
and power consumption. In autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs),
for example, the utilization of a MEMS device with a smaller battery will
reduce the overall weight of the AUV, thus reducing the power needed to

drive the vehicle. Many researchers in underwater communication systems

are concentrating on other aspects, such as overall system development,
communication protocol, signal processing, and conventional transducers.
A MEMS-based sensor for underwater communication can provide a new
platform for researchers to explore more of what this technology can offer
and it can become a new research area that requires extensive study and
could contribute to many novel outcomes.
There has been a growing interest in monitoring underwater mediums
for scientific exploration, commercial exploitation, and attack protection to
contribute to human wellbeing. Industries are increasingly interested in
technologies like wireless sensor networks. Underwater sensor networks
consist of a variable number of sensors and vehicles that are deployed to
perform collaborative monitoring tasks over a given area.
4.7 UNDERWATER MOBILE COMMUNICATION

Underwater communication, especially on mobile platforms, forms
point-to-point links and requires definite pointing and tracking. Systems that
use collimated laser links generally employ such links. There are systems that
use very large aperture (approximately 20 in) photomultiplier tubes (PMTs)
that enlarge the receiver field of view (FOV). Large area PMTs have the dis-
advantage of being expensive and bulky. Hence, compact systems are desired,
which do not have much volume budget or energy budget for sophisticated
pointing and tracking. Smart antennas are used in traditional RF wireless
systems, which make them capable of signal processing to provide angle of
arrival information and broadcast beam-forming. In indoor optical wireless
communication, several antennas with spatial diversity and angular diversity
are employed for non-line-of-sight communications, ambient light rejection,
electronic tracking and pointing, corresponding localization, and multi-hop
networking. Modern networks are also very much required to be energy
efficient. It is obvious to consider the benefits of extending such techniques
to the underwater environment.
4.7.1 Benefits of Smart Optical Systems for Underwater Vehicles

Smart optical transmitters and receivers can evaluate and estimate
the obvious optical effects of water, transmit a beam of light in a fixed
direction, and find out the direction of the light beam and the peculi-
arity of the light beam that is received. A receiver transmission’s gain

and power during detection and acquisition of another platform can be

changed by evaluating water quality. A device’s orientation, identity, and
relative angle can be utilized to localize and evaluate its relative position.
Possible benefits include:
Non-mechanical pointing and tracking on a moving underwater

device: An optical transmitter or receiver mounted on a device can go in
and out of sighting with another stationary or fixed platform. This pro-
cess depends upon the state of the sea and commands of the underwater
device. An optical front end capable of varying its effective field of view
(FOV), detecting the angle of arrival at its receiver and electronically di-
recting its output beam, can possibly maintain a communications link in
such an environment. Furthermore, one can use signal diversity expertise
to improve and enhance signal reliability.
Maintaining a link with a stationary node as an underwater device drives

by: It is quite difficult for underwater devices to maintain a precise relative
position. The ability to interrogate and obtain information from a stationary
sensor node as a device drives by can add significant operational capabil-
ity. Thus, a quasi-omni-directional receiver is valued which can continually
adapt its FOV and optical power.
Providing sensory information to underwater devices: In a swarm envi-

ronment, localization information can be collected from angle of arrival in-
formation as different nodes communicate with one other. This information
can be transmitted to the device to augment its other sensory data for navi-
gation and avoiding collisions. A smart optical front-end can also contribute
to other sensory information such as water quality measurements obtained
from the communications link.
Duplex multi-user system: Each transceiver is composed of a smart re-

ceiver and a smart transmitter which allow synchronous reception from
two non-colocated transmitters. Since each transmitter is code division
multiple access (CDMA) coded, the receiver at one location is also capable
of associating data streams of another smart receiver with a different loca-
tion by its corresponding directions. Whenever two smart receivers lie on
the same line, the CDMA code still permits for dividing the two transmit
streams at the receiver on the first smart receiver. In a mesh network sce-
nario, as illustrated in Figure 4.8, node A and node C are not in the range
of each other.

A C
FIGURE 4.8 Multi-user reception system using three nodes: A, B, and C; A and C are transmitting nodes
while B is receiving node.
Supposing localization data from angle of arrival is kept at each node,

node B can broadcast messages between the node A and the node C
through a hop network. If B is a mobile node, it can be placed to ade-
quately expand the optical communication range between A and C when
needed.
Optical backscatter estimation and evaluation to assess water quality:

The bidirectional system delivers a way for a receiver to observe optical
backscattering while its colocated transmitter is active. Background noise
and unmodulated light are isolated based on the modulated schemes used.
Using volume scattering information, an estimation of the attenuation coef-
ficient can be made found on the measured amount of backscatter. Also, SNR
(signal-to-noise ratio) measurements can be obtained from the transmitted
and received signals.
Electronic switched pointing and tracking: The transmitter receives the

information about angle of arrival from its colocated receiver. The transmit-
ter can hence switch to a light beam which points its output in the direction
of the beam to be received to optimize the link.
4.7.2 Systems and Methods in Underwater Optical Communication

Photomultipliers tubes (PMTs) are used to achieve wide FOV since
they have very large apertures. They have an advantage of short rise time
and wide spectral response, not to mention the blue-green window used
in optical communication. PMTs also have a wide extent of aperture sizes

ranging from 10 mm to 500 mm (20 in) in diameter. These are utilized in

underwater optical communication systems to elude pointing and track-
ing needs.
1. Modulating retro-reflector: A modulating retro reflector can be used to

address power, size, and pointing requirements at the receiver. A modu-
lating retro-reflector strikes out the requirement for a transmitting laser
on a platform containing data and reduces the pointing specifications by
retro-reflecting the modulated light again to the communicating source.
2. Indoor optical wireless: There has been some exploration in the field
of indoor optical wireless in the work of spherical photodiode arrays for
enlarging FOV. An improvement in range by a diminution in path loss,
multi-path distortion, and background noise can be made possible by
optimally combining the photodiode outputs.
3. RF communication: Terrestrial RF communications have gained from
recent growth in spatial diversity and smart antennas. Mobile communica-
tions also give an idea about some of the implementations workable with
an antenna. However, in optical systems, we do not have the RF imple-
mentation of being able to use cogent beam-forming or phased arrays.
4. Smart transmitter: The smart transmitter has the following both
electronic switched beam-steering and increased directionality. The
LED (Light Emitting Diode) is a semiconductor device that produces
a relatively narrow spectrum light, dependent on the material used
with a specific brightness dependent on the forward bias current that
is applied. The speed at which an LED can be modulated is usu-
ally limited by the die size for high-brightness LEDs. This implies
a tradeoff between power and speed, since larger die size provides
higher brightness. The smart transmitter is composed of a shortened
hexagonal pyramid with a large number of LEDs. Each LED in the
transmitter is coupled with its own lens that converges the extensive
FOV of the LED to a limited beam in a particular direction. Each
LED is uniquely addressed and driven, which allows the modula-
tor to select an output direction. This constructs the procedure for a
basic switched beam-steering at the transmitter side. For a multi-user
environment, it is mandatory to provide multiple access to the medi-
um. LEDs at different wavelengths can be used, but receivers would
require multiple filters. Time Division Multiple Access would thus
need synchronous clocks.

5. Smart receiver: Like smart transmitter, the goal of the smart receiver is
to develop a quasi-omni-directional system to reduce the pointing and
tracking requirements generally associated with free-space optical sys-
tems. Further, to potentially reduce pointing and tracking requirements,
this design also potentially allows one to estimate and evaluate angle of
arrival. This can be used in combination with a CDMA-type multiple
access system. Thus, the signals from distinct platforms can be differenti-
ated from their coded signals and have a demonstration of their location.
This increases the number of applications and includes applications such
as localization, navigation assistance, and mesh networking. Using multi-
input multi-output (MIMO) techniques, this optical approach possibly
also imparts angle and spatial diversity for enhancing the representation
of point-to-point links. The smart receiver has increased field of view and
angle of arrival estimation.
There are many design considerations that must be kept in mind due to
their significance to underwater free-space optical communication. First,
unlike optical front-end arrays in terrestrial free-space optics and indoor
optical wireless that use photodiode arrays with no lenses, the smart receiv-
ers that are used in the underwater communication need to be mounted
with an array of lenses. This is done to estimate the angle of arrival of signals
focused on the receiver. Free space optical communication underwater has
always required an improved FOV and this is one of the primary issues to
work upon. A significant improvement in the FOV can be made by using
quasi-omni-directional lenses at the receiver side.
A smart transmitter can evaluate water quality by utilizing its back-
scattered return light and a colocated receiver to estimate the attenuation
coefficient (channel state) of the channel at the transmitter. This expertise
has the benefit of knowing the water quality without counting on a back-
channel for back-telemetry or even a different instrumentation sensor.
Knowing this information allows the transmitter to, for example, adaptively
change its transmitting power, data rate, code rate, or other parameters.
The question for this expertise is that the return beam from backscatter,
depending on the attenuation coefficient of the channel, can be as low as
roughly six orders of magnitude below the output power of the transmit-
ter. To some degree, this can be elucidated by a few methods, including
sending a higher power training sequence to enlarge the amount of back-
scattered light used for estimation and evaluation, the receiver associating
the captured light with the genuine information being transmitted, or even

temporarily increasing the receiver gain. Expertise such as the use of a lock-
in amplifier can be used and is aided by the fact that the transmitter and the
backscatter-receiver are colocated.
4.8 TYPES OF MODULATION

In general, the modulation methods developed for radio communi-
cations can be adapted for underwater acoustic communications (UAC).
However, some of the modulation schemes are more suited to the unique
underwater acoustic communication channel than others. Some of the
modulation methods used for UAC are as follows:
■■ Frequency shift keying (FSK)
■■ Phase shift keying (PSK)
■■ Frequency hopped spread spectrum (FHSS)
■■ Direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS)
■■ Frequency and pulse position modulation (FPPM and PPM)
■■ Multiple frequency shift keying (MFSK)
4.8.1 Frequency Shift Keying as Applied to UAC

FSK is the earliest form of modulation used for more advanced forms
of UAC by acoustic modems and this method has been used to measure the
speed of sound in water. FSK usually employs two distinct frequencies to
modulate data, for example, frequency F1 to indicate bit 0 and frequency
F2 to indicate bit 1. Hence a binary string can be transmitted by alternat-
ing these two frequencies depending on whether it is a 0 or 1. The receiver
can be as simple as having analogue matched filters to the two frequencies
and a level detector to decide if a 1 or 0 was received. This is a relatively
easy form of modulation and was used in the earliest acoustic modems.
However, more sophisticated demodulators using digital signal processors
(DSP) can be used in the present day. The biggest challenge FSK faces in
the UAC is multi-path reflections. With multi-path (particularly in UAC),
several strong reflections can be present at the receiving hydrophone and
the threshold detectors become confused, thus limiting the use of this type
of UAC to vertical channels. Adaptive equalization methods have been
tried with limited success. Adaptive equalization tries to model the highly
reflective UAC channel and subtract the effects from the received signal.

The success has been limited due to the rapidly varying conditions and the
difficulty to adapt in time.
In FSK modulation, information bits are used to select the carrier
frequencies of the transmitted signal. The receiver compares the meas-
ured power at different frequencies to infer what has been sent. Using
only the energy detector at the receiver, this scheme bypasses the need
for channel estimation and is thus robust to channel variations. However,
guard bands are needed to avoid the interference caused by frequency-
spreading, and a guard interval is inserted between successive symbol
transmissions for channel clearing to avoid the interference caused by
time-spreading. As a result, the data rate of FSK is very low. Frequency
hopped (FH) FSK improves the data rate as it does not need to wait the
channel clearing corresponding to the previous symbol transmission on
a different frequency. However, due to the bandwidth expansion via fre-
quency hopping, the overall bandwidth efficiency remains low, typically
much below 0.5 bits/sec/Hz.
4.8.2 Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS)

In DSSS modulation, a narrow band waveform of bandwidth W is
spread to a large bandwidth B before transmission. This is achieved by mul-
tiplying each symbol with a spreading code of length B = W, and trans-
mitting the resulting sequence at a high rate as allowed by bandwidth B.
Multiple arrivals at the receiver side can be separated via the despreading
operation, which suppresses the time-spreading induced interference and
auto-correlation properties of the spreading sequence. Channel estimation
and tracking are needed if phase-coherent modulation such as phase shift
keying (PSK) is used to map information bits to symbols before spreading.
For noncoherent DSSS, information bits can be used to select different
spreading codes to be used, and the receiver compares the amplitudes of
the outputs from different matched filters, with each one matched to one
choice of spreading code. This avoids the need for channel estimation and
tracking. Due to the spreading operation, the data rates are often in the
order of hundreds of bps while using bandwidth of several kHz, resulting in
bandwidth efficiency well below 0:5 bits/sec/Hz.
Single carrier phase-coherent modulation with adaptive channel equali-

zation: One major step towards high rate communication is the direct
transmission of phase-coherent modulations, including phase shift key-
ing (PSK) and quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM). The channel

introduces a great deal of inter-symbol interference (ISI) due to multipath

propagation. Advanced signal processing at the receiver side is used to
suppress the interference; this process is termed as channel equalization.
Although widely used for slowly varying multi-path channels in radio ap-
plications, channel equalization for fast-varying underwater channel is a
big challenge. The canonical receiver is successfully combined a second-
order phase-locked-loop to track channel phase variations with an adap-
tive decision feedback equalizer to suppress the ISI. Without the guard
interval insertion and the spreading operation, much higher data rates
can be achieved with single carrier phase-coherent modulation than those
of FSK and DSSS. One concern about single carrier transmission is that
the receiver may be less robust as the parameters in the adaptive receiver
need to be fine-tuned depending on channel conditions. When data sym-
bols are transmitted at a higher rate, the same physical channel leads to
more channel taps in the discrete-time equivalent model. The complexity
of time-domain equalization grows quickly as the number of channel taps
increases, which will eventually limit the rate increase for single carrier
phase-coherent transmission.
4.8.3 Multicarrier Modulation

The idea of multi-carrier modulation is to divide the available band-
width into a large number of overlapping sub bands, so that the waveform
duration for the symbol at each sub band is long compared to the multi-
path spread of the channel. Consequently, inter-symbol interference may
be neglected in each sub band, greatly simplifying the receiver complex-
ity of channel equalization. Precisely due to this advantage, multicarrier
modulation in the form of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing
(OFDM) has prevailed in recent broadband wireless radio applications.
However, underwater channels entail large Doppler spread, which intro-
duces significant interference among OFDM subcarriers. Lacking effec-
tive techniques to suppress the intercarrier interference (ICI), early
attempts at applying OFDM to underwater environments had a very
limited success.
Recently, there have been extensive investigations of underwater
OFDM communication, including noncoherent OFDM based on on-off
keying, on a low-complexity adaptive OFDM receiver, and on a pilot-
tone-based block-by-block receiver. The block-by-block receiver does not
rely on channel dependence across OFDM blocks, and thus it is robust to
fast channel variations across OFDM blocks. In contrast to single carrier

phase-coherent transmission, OFDM has the desirable property that one

signal design can be easily scaled to fit into different transmission band-
widths with negligible changes on the receiver. With bandwidth vary-
ing from 3 kHz to 50 kHz, data rates from 1:5 kbps to 25 kbps after rate
1/2 coding and QPSK modulation are reported. Further, with different
bandwidths of 12 kHz, 25 kHz, and 50 kHz, data rates of 12 kbps, 25 kbps,
and 50 kbps after rate 1/2 coding and 16-QAM (Quadrature Amplitude
Modulation) are also achieved. These demonstrate the feasibility and
flexibility of OFDM for underwater acoustic communication.
4.8.4. Multi-Input Multi-Output Techniques

A wireless system that employs multiple transmitters and multiple
receivers is referred to as a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system.
It has been shown that the channel capacity in a scattering-rich environ-
ment increases linearly with min(Nt, Nr), where Nt and Nr are the numbers
of transmitters and receivers, respectively. Such a drastic capacity increase
does not incur penalty on precious power and bandwidth resources, but
rather comes from the utilization of the spatial dimension virtually creating
parallel data pipes. Hence, MIMO modulation is a promising technology
to offer yet another fundamental advance on high data rate underwater
acoustic communication. MIMO has been applied in both single carrier
transmission and multi-carrier transmission. For single carrier transmis-
sion, existing adaptive channel equalization algorithms are leveraged to deal
with MIMO channels. The data rate increases substantially. For example, a
12 kbps rate is achieved with 3 kHz bandwidth at the range of 2 km, leading
to a bandwidth efficiency of 4 bits/sec/Hz, using six transmitters and QPSK
modulation. Due to OFDM’s unique strength in handling long dispersive
channels with low equalization complexity, the combination of MIMO and
OFDM is another appealing solution for high data rate transmission but
with low receiver complexity.
MIMO introduces additional interference among parallel data streams
from different transmitters. Also, each receiver has more channels to
estimate, which requires more overhead spent on training symbols. For
fast varying underwater channels, the number of transmitters might not
be large for best rate-and-performance tradeoff. In addition to colocated
antennas, distributed MIMO is also possible if clustered single-transmitter
nodes could cooperate. Certainly, implementation of distributed MIMO
needs to address challenging practical issues such as node synchronization
and cooperation.

4.9 INTERNET TO SHIPS USING OCEANOGRAPHIC

TOOL (SEANET)
Out in the middle of the ocean, thousands of miles from shore,
oceanographers aboard research ships have been cut off from the fiber-
optic-based transmission lines that link the rest of the land-based world
to the Internet. But in 1995, a new communications system called
SeaNet (Figure 4.9) was developed to extend the Internet to ships at
sea. SeaNet greatly expands the number of scientists and students that
can participate on research cruises. It gives them access to shipboard
data, images, and information as they sit at their computer terminals in
shore-based laboratories or schools. The SeaNet system takes advan-
tage of high-speed satellite, cellular, and other communications tech-
nology, as well as specialized software and hardware tools developed by
the SeaNet engineering group, to provide affordable, high-speed data
transmission to and from shore.
The SeaNet uses data pipes to reduce cost and time. It allows data files
to be transferred easily and without errors between the ship and any com-
puter on shore connected to the Internet. Data files containing information
or images are first combined into one batch. Then they are compressed,
so that they don’t take as much time (and money) to be transmitted via
satellite. Then they are put into a computer holding bin. Several times a
day, a technician on board ship establishes a connection to a satellite and
FIGURE 4.9 SeaNet is a new communications system developed in 1995 to extend the Internet to ships at sea.

the batch of compressed files is transferred. To maximize the amount of

data transferred during each active satellite link, data files are transmitted
to and from the ship simultaneously. The files are also transferred at high
speed—about 64,000 bytes per second. This fast, two-way transfer makes
the system very cost-efficient.
4.9.1 Global Positioning System (GPS) in Ship

Ships use satellite naviga-
tion to find their positions in the
middle of the ocean. Each satel-
lite is in a constant, or fixed, orbit
around the Earth and its position
is determined very precisely by
the military, using several ground
stations and antennas around the
world. More than 60 GPS satel-
lites have been launched over the
past 30 years. Figure 4.10 shows FIGURE 4.10 A GPS satellite being launched on a
launching of a GPS satellite. The Delta II Booster rocket.
global positioning system (GPS) is
a satellite-based radio navigation system that permits people on land, at
sea, and or in airplanes to determine their three-dimensional position and
velocity. GPS also provides users with very accurate time. All this informa-
tion is available 24 hours a day in all weather, anywhere on Earth. The GPS
was developed primarily for military applications during the Cold War, but
for the last 25 years oceanographers have also been able to use satellite-
based navigation to determine their position. Knowing your precise loca-
tion is important because all of the data and observations you are collecting
have to be referenced to a position on the Earth’s surface, or in our case,
on the seafloor. In addition, we often want to return to a scientifically inter-
esting seafloor site, which would be almost impossible to relocate without
satellite navigation.
Normally four or more satellites are used to fix a ship’s position. The
satellites and the receivers on the ship all have very precise, synchronized
clocks. Satellites send radio waves to the ship and clocks measure how long
it takes for these signals to make their trip. The longer it takes, the longer
the distance between satellite and ship. In this way, time is converted to dis-
tance. Using measurements from at least three satellites (a method called

triangulation), computers can calcu-

late the unique point on the face of the
Earth where all three (or more) of the
distances measured from all the satel-
lites intersect. This gives the location
of the ship. Figure 4.11 shows a GPS
satellite loaded into the nosecone of
the delivery rocket. The folded-up
gold foil is designed to spread out into
the solar panels, which provide power
to run the satellite when it is orbiting
in space.
Figure 4.12(a) shows the GPS
Nominal Constellation, which has 24
satellites in six orbital planes, four sat-
ellites in each plane 20,200 km altitude,
55° inclination. Figure 4.12(b) shows
GPS contacts to locate the objects.
FIGURE 4.11 GPS satellite nosecone.
FIGURE 4.12. a. GPS satellite orbits and b. GPS contacts with receivers.

4.9.2 Internet Access for Voyagers

For better or worse, we live in a connected world. When a person sets
off voyaging, access to Internet connectivity changes with place. It depends
on factors like the location where we are going, what kind of access is
needed, and what is the cost and energy consumption. There are three main
considerations here: purchase and installation costs, access fees, and energy
consumption requirements to operate.
1. Wi-Fi: One thing that every boat can benefit from for starters is
improved Wi-Fi access. Even laptops with built-in wireless could
add an external Wi-Fi antenna or access point. The biggest impedi-
ment to getting a good signal for Wi-Fi on board is the clutter of
equipment and metal structure between the computer and the
land-based Wi-Fi antenna. For occasional access with little con-
cern about performance, simple USB wireless network adapters are
available. They can be suction-cupped to a port for use and stowed
when not needed. While very convenient, they will be limited by
similar line-of-sight issues to the computer itself. Still, they offer
a significant improvement over the computer’s built-in antenna.
For more reliable Wi-Fi access while in marinas or hot spot areas,
consider an Ethernet-based wireless access point with an external
antenna.
2. Smartphones: One can even use a smartphone as a Wi-Fi hot spot on the
boat. Then a laptop will have instant access to the Web and all of its fea-
tures. Smartphones are very energy efficient and will use little additional
power on board.
3. E-mail offshore: Wi-Fi and smartphones may be good solutions
for some coastal or other near-land voyaging, but what about off-
shore and remote locations? For any sort of access more than a
few miles from home shores, you need to look at satellite or long-
range radio solutions. One of the most common forms of offshore
communications is e-mail via single-sideband (SSB) radio using a
global service like SailMail or Winlink. Any of these services as-
sumes as a prerequisite a good quality SSB radio [Figure 4.13]
and installation. It also requires purchasing a custom radio
modem.

FIGURE 4.13 SSB radio is a good choice for sending e-mail offshore.
4. Global Internet access: Radio e-mail services, although global in reach,

do not allow for general Internet access—for that, a satellite modem is
needed. There are numerous satellite services available, which come in
a range of capabilities and costs. For global operation, there are only a
few satellite services that give Internet access: Iridium and Inmarsat are
probably the two best known. For coastal cruising (or maybe just trans-
Atlantic), Globalstar offers an alternative. These providers—Iridium,
Inmarsat, Globalstar and value-added providers like KVH—provide dif-
ferent technologies and fundamental capabilities. For instance, Iridium
primarily offers satphones for voice communication, but those phones
can be used to send data as well. Or, for higher bandwidth applications,
Iridium offers a standalone dome antenna for use with the company’s
OpenPort service. These ranges of capabilities apply to the other satel-
lite networks as well.
The Iridium Pilot unit is a high-end solution for Internet access for
large yachts and commercial vessels. An alternative is a single Iridium sat-
phone with an external antenna as in Figure 4.14.
Inmarsat—geosynchronous (“geostationary”) orbits (GEO)—
Inmarsat satellites orbit the Earth directly over the equator at an alti-
tude of about 22,236 miles. The period of their orbits exactly matches
the rotational period of the Earth and so they appear to be stationary
over one spot on the Earth at all times. GEO satellites always have a
consistent view of the Earth below, and with control of onboard anten-
nas they can increase capacity in some areas while reducing it in others.
Most voyagers would never reach the polar limits of Inmarsat’s coverage.

FIGURE 4.14 Iridium sat phone with external antenna.
Because GEO satellites are so far away, the antennas here on Earth need
to be high-gain and highly directional. For this reason, dishes are the
most common form of antenna and for use on boats these dishes need to
be actively steered to always point at the selected satellite. As a result,
the antennas tend to be larger, heavier, and more power hungry than
most 40-foot boats care to carry.
Iridium—low earth orbit (LEO)—Iridium satellites orbit the Earth
at an altitude of only 485 miles, and so lower power and omni-directional
antennas can be used on board. Also, any given satellite will only be in view
for a short period from a fixed point on the Earth’s surface. Therefore, the
Iridium space-borne fleet consists of 66 satellites in six different planes
of orbit—in this way one or more satellites should be visible anywhere on
Earth at any given time. (In the original concept, there would have been
seven orbital planes with 11 satellites each. The name Iridium reflects the
77-component concept—the atomic number of iridium is 77. Later it was
determined that six orbital planes were sufficient. The name was never
changed to Dysprosium.) The Iridium network offers true global coverage
because of its ability to relay data from satellite to satellite in real time.
Since a satellite 485 miles above the Pacific Ocean is not going to be able
to “see” a ground station at the same time, to establish its connection from
boat to the Internet, it needs to relay data to another satellite nearby that
can communicate with a ground station. Iridium phone calls and data con-
nections can be reliably established from anywhere on Earth, but they
tend drop out after a short period. Iridium modems operate at low speed
of 10–20 kb/sec.

Globalstar—LEO “bent pipe” satellites—Globalstar satellites are also

in low Earth orbit at an altitude of about 850 miles. Unlike Iridium satel-
lites, the Globalstar birds cannot relay messages from satellite to satellite.
Therefore, to establish a connection from user to network, the satellite
must be simultaneously in view of the user and a Globalstar ground station.
For this reason, Globalstar’s coverage, while far-reaching, does not include
the world’s oceans, or indeed even southern Africa. Globalstar does offer
competitive rates for North and South America, and in between. Like Irid-
ium, its modems are smaller and the antennas are omni-directional.
4.9.3 Voice Communication on Ship

Presently voice communication on ship is provided with the help of an
application called Voice over IP (VOIP) which uses a narrow bandwidth over
the Internet or an IP network. Internet access on ship will not only facili-
tate business but also help crew members to stay in touch with their family
members in a speedier and
cost-effective way.
GSM Provider
Corporate HQ More affordable ser
vices are provided by club-
bing land-based technology
Satellite
and satellite technology.
The service utilizes Inter-
PSTN net protocol virtual private
Internet
networks (IP VPN), which
prevents hackers and thus
helps companies to protect
their vital data. The system
consists of a signal relay-
Earth station ing device that resembles
radar, a satellite earth sta-
tion, and a satellite. This
system allows unlimited
and seamless broadband
connectivity with speed
up to 512K bps which ena-
bles voice calling, e-mail
transferring, GPS system,
and also web browsing
FIGURE 4.15 Internet on ship. [Figure 4.15].

4.9.4. Submarine Communications Cable

Figure 4.16 shows a sub-
marine communication cable 1
2
cross section. The parts are 3
1) polyethylene, 2) Mylar tape,
4 5
3) stranded steel wires, 4) alu- 6
7 8
minum water barrier, 5) polycar-
bonate, 6) copper or aluminum
tube, 7) petroleum jelly, 8) opti-
cal fibers.
A submarine communica-
tions cable is a cable laid on the
sea bed between land-based FIGURE 4.16 A cross section of a modern submarine
communications cable.
stations to carry telecommu-
nication signals across stretches of ocean. The first submarine communi-
cations cables carried telegraphy traffic. Subsequent generations of cables
carried telephone traffic, then data communications traffic. Modern cables
use optical fiber technology to carry digital data, which includes telephone,
Internet, and private data traffic. Modern cables are typically 69 mm (2.7 in)
in diameter and weigh around 10 kg/m (7 lb/ft), although thinner and lighter
cables are used for deep-water sections. As of 2010, submarine cables link all
the world’s continents except Antarctica.
4.9.5 Optical Submarine Cable Repeaters

Optical fiber repeaters use a solid-state optical amplifier, usually an
Erbium-doped fiber amplifier [Figure 4.17]. Each repeater contains sep-
arate equipment for each fiber. These comprise signal reforming, error
measurement, and controls. A solid-state laser dispatches the signal into
the next length of fiber. The solid-state laser excites a short length of doped
fiber that itself acts as a laser amplifier as the light passes through it. This
system also permits wavelength-division multiplexing, which dramatically
increases the capacity of the fiber. Repeaters are powered by a constant
direct current passed down the conductor near the center of the cable,
so all repeaters in a cable are in series. Power feed equipment is installed
at the terminal stations. Typically, both ends share the current genera-
tion, with one end providing a positive voltage and the other a negative
voltage. A virtual earth point exists roughly halfway along the cable under
normal operation. The amplifiers or repeaters derive their power from the
potential difference across them. The optic fiber used in undersea cables

is chosen for its exceptional clarity, permitting runs of more than 100 km
between repeaters to minimize the number of amplifiers and the distortion
they cause.
Pressure-tight 6
box Signal 12
3 line
Pressure-tight Box 8
4 through 20
20" end plate End portion Screw hole Connecting
Screw plate ring
hole
7 2 10 9 21 Oil
5 Transmission Reference
Connecting Pressure-
ring circuit 5 crystal sensitive crystal
Optical
Optical Optical
fiber Signal
fiber fiber
through line
cable cabel
portion
FIGURE 4.17 The optical submarine cable repeater.
4.9.6 Antarctica
Antarctica is the only continent yet to be reached by a submarine
telecommunications cable. All phone, video, and e-mail traffic must be
relayed to the rest of the world via satellite, which is still quite unreliable.
Bases on the continent itself communicate with one another via radio, but
this is only a local network. To be a viable alternative, a fiber-optic cable
would have to be able to withstand temperatures of −80˚ C as well as mas-
sive strain from ice flowing up to 10 meters per year. Thus, plugging into
the larger Internet backbone with the high bandwidth afforded by fiber-
optic cable is still an infeasible economic and technical challenge in the
Antarctic. Figure 4.18 shows the submarine cable map and Figure 4.19
shows the underwater cable.
4.9.7 Perfectly Secure Communication

Underwater vehicles are increasing in tactical importance. To achieve
their full potential, underwater vehicles may be required to be virtually
undetectable and be able to remain submerged for long periods of time.

FIGURE 4.18 Submarine cable map.
FIGURE 4.19 Undersea cables wiring the ends of the Earth.

These operational restrictions impose severe limitations to underwater

communication protocols. In addition, due to strong absorption and scatter-
ing processes, the underwater environment is very challenging for any type
of communication system. To overcome these challenges, recent research
efforts have explored the feasibility of optical communication links connect-
ing satellites and underwater vehicles. Furthermore, it appears to be pos-
sible to guarantee the security of these optical channels using quantum key
distribution protocols. There are four main communication channels that
can enable an underwater network: fiber optic, acoustic, RF, and optical.
Even though fibers provide high bandwidth at long ranges, they are
infeasible for real life implementation in operational environments, as most
underwater operations cannot be carried out with tethered platforms. The
long range of low frequency RF is the reason why this technology is widely
used by the submarine community. However, RF carriers are bandwidth
limited after a few dozen meters. In a similar fashion, the acoustic channel
has an even large range, but once again, bandwidth is severely limited after
a few meters. On the other hand, the optical channel offers the possibil-
ity of high bandwidth at distances on the order of a few hundred meters.
This alone makes infeasible the use of the underwater optical channel to
directly communicate between underwater vehicles. However, this range is
big enough to allow for an optical link with a satellite. Indeed, in such a case
the light beam only needs to travel the water column above the underwater
vehicle. Secure communications with submarines are critical to maintain
our nuclear prevention capability and to enact the Network Centric War-
fare doctrine of naval operations. Thus, the deployment of efficient and
secure communication links with submarines is one of the greatest techno-
logical challenges.
Indeed, due to their planned and calculated importance, submarine
communications require perfectly secure cryptographic protocols. Clearly,
this solution not only presents the problem of efficient distribution of secret
keys before the submarine departs the base, but also imposes a limit on
the number of secret keys available onboard a submarine during prolonged
seaborne missions. Furthermore, because of absorption and scattering
processes, the underwater environment is very challenging for any type of
communication systems.
Existing systems employ very-low-frequency (VLF) and extremely-
low-frequency (ELF) radio communications because waves of these fre-
quencies can partially penetrate a body of water. However, these systems

impose severe operational limitations: these are extremely low bandwidth,

one-way systems that require towed antennas or buoys, and submarines
need to steer specific courses and reduce their speed. RF signals are atten-
uated greatly by water, so VLF is used for submarine communications but
requires a huge antenna system. Therefore, Bluetooth and other RF-based
systems won’t be suitable. For a depth of 30 meters, acoustic modems are
a practical solution. Optical communications would be another possibility.
With optical it would depend a lot on the water quality and ambient light.
Submarine communication is restricted by the depth at which vessels
can exchange information and the speed at which they can do so through
the medium of water. Recently however, researchers have made impressive
strides in solving this dilemma using a technique called quantum key distri-
bution (QKD). QKD promises to guarantee secure communication through
the principles of quantum mechanics, without sacrificing speed or forcing
the submarine to rise nearer the surface. “Submarine communication is
restricted by the depth at which vessels can exchange information.” For a
submarine to retain all its tactical advantage, it must remain submerged in
the mixed layer, which is around 60–100 meters deep, below which surface
sonars cannot detect them. Submarine communications are currently car-
ried out while submerged using ELF or VLF radio waves because only very
low or extremely low frequencies can penetrate the water at those depths.
Using ELF and VLF presents several disadvantages, however. The
transmission sites must be very large, meaning the submarine must tow
cumbersome antenna cables, plus it usually has to align on a specific ori-
entation and reduce speed to obtain optimal reception. VLF and ELF fre-
quencies only offer very low bandwidth: VLF supports a few hundred bits
a second while ELF sustains just a few bits each minute. This prevents the
transmission of complex data such as video. One potential solution is to
carry out optical communications using a laser, a concept which has been
around since the 1980s when experiments were carried out to demonstrate
that it is possible to maintain an optical channel between a submarine and
an airborne platform. The perfectly secure communication system requires
two optical channels: a quantum channel to enable the generation of per-
fectly secure keys and a classical channel to transmit the encrypted infor-
mation. Both channels are realized with lasers operating in the region of
least attenuation (around 460–480 nm). In addition, both channels need
to be operational at depths greater than the mixed layer (60–100m) so the
underwater vehicle will not reveal its location to an active surface sonar. It

is important to note that the proposed system does not require underwater
optical communications over long distances.
Indeed, the communications link only needs to traverse the water
column above an underwater vehicle traveling at a nominal depth of 100
meters. Of course, the optical beam also needs to travel across the atmos-
pheric column to reach a low earth orbit satellite (between 160–2,000 km
above Earth’s surface). The proposed optical channel overcomes the biggest
limitations of current VLF and ELF communication systems. Indeed, this
is a two-way communication system which allows the underwater vehicle
to receive and transmit messages; the transmitter does not have the vulner-
abilities of the large ELF and VLF antenna sites; the underwater vehicle
is not required to alter its course or reduce its speed; the optical carrier
allows for higher data bandwidth; and finally, quantum encryption allows
for perfectly secure communications without the need of using a trusted
courier to distribute the cryptographic keys before the underwater vehicles
leaves the base. In all fairness, the optical channel introduces its own share
of potential disadvantages. The most important is the possibility that the
optical beam could be detected by the opponent. If the adversary manages
to locate two points in the laser beam, then the position of the underwater
vehicle will be revealed.
There are some considerations and mitigation strategies that could
overcome this problem. On one side, lasers are not highly susceptible to
passive detection and interception because they are highly directional nar-
row beams. In principle, a satellite could detect any eavesdropper on the
line of sight to the underwater vehicle and act accordingly (e.g., stop the
transmission). On the other hand, it is known that if enough light is recov-
ered, scattered signal reconstruction (SSR) techniques could reconstruct
the original signal from the light that has been scattered out of the laser
beam. This means that an optical channel, even if it is highly directional,
requires some level of encryption. QKD is a protocol which uses quantum
information to generate a pair of perfectly secure keys.
“Quantum information is different from classical information, because
in classical information the unit is the bit and it can have the value of zero or
one.” “The unit of quantum information is the qubit, which is a quantum state
of a photon. It can be on zero, one or any superposition of zero and one. It’s
more of a concept of information than the classical one.” Quantum informa-
tion has two important properties for securing communications. It cannot
be copied which means it cannot be forged, and every time a quantum state

is measured by an observer it gets collapsed, which means its properties are

very difficult to detect. “QKD promises to guarantee secure communication
through the principles of quantum mechanics, without sacrificing speed.”
Combined in QKD, these properties can be used to generate perfectly secure
keys because the secrecy of the keys is guaranteed by the laws of physics.
4.9.8 Environmental Impact

The main point of interaction of cables with marine life is in the benthic
zone of the oceans where most cable lies. Studies in 2003 and 2006 have
indicated that cables pose minimal impact on life in these environments. In
sampling sediment cores around cables and in areas removed from cables,
there were few statistically significant differences in organism diversity or
abundance. The main difference was that the cables provided an attachment
point for anemones that typically could not grow in soft sediment areas.
FURTHER READINGS
1. OFDM for Underwater Acoustic Communications by Shengli Zhou

and Zhaohui Wang
2. Advanced optical wireless communication systems by Shlomi Amon at al.
3. Wireless communication by S.K.Kataria.
PART A QUESTIONS: (ANSWER IN A WORD OR

A SENTENCE)
1. What are the advantages of electromagnetic wave communication?

2. What are the limitations of electromagnetic wave communication?
3. List one advantage and one limitation of optical wave communication.
4. What is the main advantage of acoustic wave communication?
5. What is the speed of sound in water?
6. What are the range, data rate, and efficiency of acoustics?
7. What are the range, data rate, and efficiency of optical?
8. Compare optical and acoustic communication.

9. lights are used in optical communication as sources.

10. What is the window effect of blue-green laser?
11. What are QAM, OFDM, and FSK anagrams of?
12. are low earth orbit satellites.
13. Geosynchronous orbit satellites are .
14. Globalstar satellites are .
PART B QUESTIONS: (ANSWER IN A PAGE)
1. What are the properties of acoustic waves?

2. What is acoustic communication?
3. Write about the optical communication.
4. Compare acoustic, electromagnetic, and optical waves in a seawater
environment.
5. What are the limitations of underwater acoustic communications?
6. Write about wireless underwater optical communication.
7. Write about underwater laser sensor architecture.
8. Compare underwater laser sensor networks with underwater acoustic
sensor networks.
9. Explain the operation of wireless laser communication systems.
10. What is the role of MEMS in underwater communication?
11. What is frequency shift keying?
12. What is direct sequence spread spectrum?
13. What is multicarrier modulation?
14. Write a note on SeaNet.
15. Write a short note about GPS in ships.
16. What are the parts of the submarine communication cable?

PART C QUESTIONS: (ANSWER WITHIN 2 OR 3 PAGES)
1. What are the three different carriers used for underwater communica-
tion? Explain each.
2. Write about underwater laser communication in detail.
3. Explain underwater mobile communication.
4. Write about the different types of modulation for UAV.
5. How can you achieve Internet access on ship?
REFERENCES
http://www.brighthubengineering.com/
http://opticalengineering.org/

CHAPTER
5
OCEANOGRAPHIC
WIRELESS SENSOR
NETWORKS
T
his chapter discusses wireless sensor networks, oceanographic WSN,
WSN architecture, WSN network topologies, WSN applications, and
underwater network technology. It also discusses wireless underwa-
ter acoustic sensor networks, 2-dimensional underwater sensor network
architecture, 3-dimensional underwater sensor network architecture, and
sensor network architecture with AUV.
5.1 INTRODUCTION TO WIRELESS SENSOR NETWORKS

The ocean must be continuously observed to detect climate changes
or pollution of the environment, which effects human and animal habitats.
A wireless sensor network (WSN) consists of thousands of sensor nodes,
each node containing a processing unit, a transceiver, memory, a battery,
and sensors. Current terrestrial applications include the prevention of
wood fires or the detection of leakages along a dike. The new approach is to
verify the advantages of WSNs in oceanography to enhance hydrography,
eutrophication, and detection of pollution.
A wireless sensor network (WSN) consists of dedicated sensor nodes
with sensing and computing capabilities, which can sense and monitor the
physical parameters and transmit the collected data to a central location
using wireless communication technologies. A WSN has several inherent
characteristics, including uncontrollable environments, topological con-
straints, and limited node resources for energy and computational power.
Generally, a WSN deploys more sensors than the optimal placement to

improve system reliability and fault tolerance. Marine environment sys-

tems are particularly vulnerable to the effects of human activities related
to industry, tourism, and urban development. Traditionally, oceanographic
research vessels or ships were used to monitor marine environments, which
is a very expensive and time-consuming process that has a low resolution
both in time and space. In a WSN-based marine environment monitoring
system, various kinds of sensors are used to monitor and measure differ-
ent physical and chemical parameters such as water temperature, pressure,
wind direction, wind speed, salinity, turbidity, pH, oxygen density, and chlo-
rophyll levels.
5.1.1 Terrestrial vs. Oceanographic WSNs

Extensive research has been conducted on terrestrial wireless sensor
networks (t.WSNs). In t.WSNs the high miniaturization of each node is
demanded, in oceanographic WSNs (o.WSNs) the size of a node is less
important because high density is not required. Table 5.1 gives the differ-
ence between the two different networks.
Terrestrial WSN Oceanographic WSN

Network-Density Fine grained (small Coarse grained (large area,
area, many nodes) few nodes)
Size of one Device Required tiny Small
Network-Mobility Low High (due to streams)
Energy Consumption Low (radio frequency, High (acoustic waves, high
short distances) attenuation, long distances)
Prize per Node Cheap Expensive (modem, sensors)
TABLE 5.1 Basic Differences between Terrestrial and Oceanographic WSNs
Mobility in t.WSNs is not a problem in most scenarios. However, due

to water streams, mobility in o.WSNs is very high and must be consid-
ered if nodes are not fixed. In both networks, minimized power consump-
tion is imperative because, on the one hand, nodes in t.WSNs are very
tiny with a small battery, while on the other hand, in o.WSNs underwater
modems feature high power consumption (omni-directional transmission)
and radio transceivers on the water surface have to transmit over large
distances. Correspondingly, o.WSNs are very expensive, due to the need
for acoustic modems, special sensors (e.g., chlorophyll), and water, press-
proofed cases.

Oceanographic Wireless Sensor Networks • 167
5.2 OCEANOGRAPHIC WSNS

At present, measurements of the ocean environment are mainly done
by ships and with buoys fixed at the sea bottom. Particularly, research ships
enable detailed measurements with a high variety of sensors (e.g., tempera-
ture, salinity, and oxygen). In contrast, area coverage is highly limited since the
ships cruise only on limited routes. Additionally, ship of opportunity sampling
is an inexpensive alternative, wherein regular ferries, freighter and other com-
mercial ships take measurements on their routes. Moreover, satellites mea-
sure sea surface temperature and sea level (e.g., SeaSat, ERS-X, and IRS).
The problems of classical methods are the high costs of navigation, the small
period of data acquisition, the partly missing interaction between control sys-
tems ashore and in the water, and the rising financial costs. Moreover, the
time expenditure is high due to possible device errors or failures that cannot
be fixed immediately. Sometimes, more than months lie in between measure-
ment and its examination. A new approach is to deploy large WSNs over and
under the ocean surface. There are two different scenarios. First, short-term
monitoring facilitates the acquisition of high resolution measurements in a
small region (e.g., disaster prevention, pollution observation). Second, long-
term monitoring of large areas is possible (e.g., improved weather forecasts,
detection of climate change), which has been extremely difficult. Addition-
ally, new observation techniques are imaginable, like the dynamic tracing
of streams, where sensor nodes float with the stream (e.g., tracing the Gulf
Stream). After spreading the sensor nodes over the ocean by plane, in a first
phase the network is established in a self-organized manner and every node
computes an initial position, as in Figure 5.1.
5)
4)
2)
3)
1)
FIGURE 5.1.A Oceanographic wireless sensor network: 1) Sensor node with links; 2) on-shore base
station; 3) ship; 4) fixed base station; 5) satellite

FIGURE 5.1.B Prototype of sensor node.
Then, the nodes start the observation phase by measuring the environ-
ment with specific sensors. At constant time intervals, nodes send sensor data
and positions, hop-by-hop fashion, to one of the base stations in range. Either
the base station is the endpoint (on-shore base station) and the information is
analyzed instantly, or the data are forwarded to a satellite (from ship, fixed base
station), where all endpoints are connected. Finally, over time a stream profile
can be created such that the sensor nodes are traced with their positions in the
stream. At present the following problems arise:
■■ Ecological recycling of sensor nodes
■■ High energy consumption of components
■■ Missing media access control-protocols under water
■■ Problems of deployment and fixation
■■ Missing reliable hardware-platforms
■■ Missing robust and small, accurate sensors
■■ High cost per sensor node

Encapsulated prototype modules (Figure 5.1.b) with integrated tem-

perature sensors allow monitoring of the surface temperature. Wireless
sensor networks enhance the quality of ocean monitoring. In addition to
the higher resolution of measuring data, the higher coverage of surface,
and long-term monitoring in real time, new applications are enabled, such
as dynamic observation of streams.
5.2.1 Application Areas of Oceanographic WSN

WSN-based marine environment monitoring has broad coverage,
including a number of application areas: water quality monitoring, ocean
sensing and monitoring, coral reef monitoring, and marine fish farm mon-
itoring. Different application areas require different WSN system archi-
tectures, communication technologies, and sensing technologies. A water
quality monitoring system is usually developed to monitor water conditions
and qualities including temperature, pH, turbidity, conductivity, and dis-
solved oxygen (DO) for ocean bays, lakes, rivers, and other water bodies.
An ocean sensing and monitoring system is used to monitor ocean water
conditions and other environmental parameters. A coral reef monitoring
system is normally installed to monitor coral reef habitats using an autono-
mous, real-time, and in-situ wireless sensor network. A marine fish farm
monitoring system is developed to monitor water conditions and qualities,
including temperature and pH, and accurately quantify the amount of fecal
waste and uneaten feed for a fish farm.
5.2.2 Common WSN Architecture

Figure 5.2 shows a common wireless sensor network architecture for
monitoring marine environments, which consists of sensor nodes, sink nodes,
a base station, a server, and user terminals. Sensor nodes can sense and moni-
tor the in-situ environmental parameters such as water temperature, salinity,
turbidity, pH, oxygen density, and chlorophyll levels and transmit the col-
lected data to sink nodes via wireless communication using ZigBee or some
other communication protocol. Communication between sensor nodes and
a sink node is usually point-to-point. A sink node collects data from a group
of sensor nodes, and transmits the collected data to the base station via the
GPRS network. The server stores and processes the received data from the
base station. The user terminals connect the server over the Internet.
The design and deployment of a lasting and scalable WSN for marine
environment monitoring should carefully take into account the following
factors: the hostile environment, the network topology, communication

protocols, the number of nodes, buoys, mooring systems, oceanographic

sensors, energy supply, and so on.
Sink
node
Terminal user 1 Terminal user 2
Network 1
Internet
Sea
Sink
node Data server
Network 2 Base station
Sea Wifi Wifi
Terminal user 3 Terminal user a

Sink
node
Network a
FIGURE 5.2 Common architecture of WSN-based marine monitoring systems.
5.2.3 General Sensor Node

Figure 5.3 shows the architecture of a general sensor node in a marine
environment monitoring system. It usually includes a buoy device to pro-
tect nodes’ electronic devices against water. A marine monitoring sensor
node normally consists of the following four main modules:

1. A sensing module for data acquisition;

2. A central processing module for local data processing and storage;
3. A wireless transceiver module for wireless data communication;
4. A power supply module for energy supply.
A sensing module is usually composed of several probes and sensors

(with associated amplifiers and A/D converters) to sense and monitor the
physicochemical parameters of marine environment as mentioned above.
A central processing module normally includes a CPU and memory to pro-
cess and store the collected data. A wireless transceiver module mainly
consists of a RF transceiver and an antenna to send the collected data and
receive instructions from the sink node. A power supply module usually con-
tains energy storage devices (rechargeable batteries), a power management
system, and energy harvesting devices (solar panel, wind energy, tidal power,
seawater generator, etc.). Finally, the buoy has an anchor device to prevent it
from moving (due to waves, marine currents, wind, tide, etc.).
Energy
Power supply
harvesting Antenaa
module
devices
Power Energy
management storage Buoy
system devices
Sensing Central Wireless

processing processing transceiver
module module module
Sea
Oceanographic
sensors Anchor
FIGURE 5.3 General architecture of an oceanographic sensor node.

The energy options for sensor nodes usually include batteries, capaci-
tors, heat engines, fuel cells, and energy harvesting. Sensor nodes are bat-
tery powered in most application systems. However, the use of a battery in
sensor nodes has disadvantages:
1. As sensor nodes increase in number and size, the replacement of

depleted batteries is wasteful and time-consuming.
2. A battery has limited energy that cannot last through the long life of
sensor nodes.
3. Batteries have environmental contamination and disposal issues since
the chemical composition of a battery often involves toxic heavy metals.
It is therefore necessary to explore an alternative power supply for sensor

nodes. Harvesting energy from the ambient environment is a promising power
supply for sensor networks with lower cost and long life. Energy harvesting
methods include photovoltaics, fluid flow, temperature gradients, pressure
variations, and vibration harvesting. In terms of efficiencies and reliability,
the most outstanding energy harvesting at the moment is photovoltaics.
5.2.4 Sensing Parameters and Sensors

The operating principle of sensors is to respond to changes in their
environment by producing an electrical signal in the form of voltage, cur-
rent, or frequency. Sensors can commonly be divided into physical sen-
sors and chemical sensors. In a marine monitoring system, physical sensors
are used to measure physical parameters (temperature, humidity, pressure,
wind speed, and wind direction), and chemical sensors are used to sense
various chemical parameters (salinity, turbidity, pH, nitrate, chlorophyll,
dissolved oxygen [DO], etc.) as shown in Table 5.2.
The right choice of marine environment monitoring sensors depends
on the user requirements of deployment area, measurement range, accu-
racy, resolution, power consumption, and intended deployment time. The
table gives the sample sensor details.
5.2.5. Challenges in Oceanographic WSN

While the development and deployment of an adaptive, scalable,
and self-healing WSN system needs to address critical challenges such as
autonomy, scalability, adaptability, self-healing, and simplicity, the design
and deployment of a lasting and scalable WSN for marine environment

Sensors Monitoring Range Accuracy Power supply Unit
parameters
SBE 16plusV2 Temperature -5 to +35°C +/-0.005°C 9–28V °C
GT301 Pressure 0 to 60 <+/-0.5% of FRO 24V Bar
SBE 16plusV2 Conductivity 0–9 +/- 0.0005 9–28V S/m
(salinity)
OBS-3+ Turbidity Mud 5,000–10,000 mg/L 0.5NTU 15V NTU
Sand 50,000–100,000 mg/L
PS-2102 pH 0–14 pH +/-0.1 N/A pH
YSI 5025 Chlorophyll 0–400 µg/L 0.1 µg/L 6V µg/L
ISUS V3 Nitrate 0.007–28 mg/L +/-0.028 mg/L 0–18V mg/L
SBE 63 Dissolved 120% of surface saturation 0.1 0–24V; 35Ma mg/L
Oxygen(DO) in all natural waters
TABLE 5.2 Common Marine Environment Monitoring Sensors
11/09/17 3:47 PM
monitoring should take into account the following challenges, different

from those on land:
Higher water resistance: Sensor nodes of a marine monitoring system

require greater levels of water resistance.
Stronger robustness: A marine monitoring system needs stronger robust-

ness, since the marine environment with waves, marine currents, tides,
typhoons, vessels, etc., is aggressive and complex and causes movement
of nodes.
Higher energy consumption: Energy consumption is higher due to long

communication distances and an environment in constant motion.
More unstable line-of-sight: The oscillation of the radio antenna can cause
a more unstable line-of-sight between transmitters and receivers.
Other problems: There are also some other problems, including the dif-
ficulty for deployment and maintenance of nodes, the need for buoy and
mooring devices, sensor coverage problems, and possible acts of vandalism.
5.3 WIRELESS COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES

WSN physical topology and density are entirely dependent on the
applications, so the design and deployment of a WSN should consider
its environment and application. Sensor nodes are densely deployed to
improve data accuracy and achieve better system connectivity. However,
a dense deployment of sensor nodes has some disadvantages: high energy
consumption, data collisions, interferences, etc. WSN nodes normally have
three typical kinds of network topologies: star topology, cluster/tree topol-
ogy and mesh topology, as shown in Figure 5.4.
Star topology: A star topology is a point-to-point single-hop architecture

in which each sensor node connects directly to a sink node. It potentially
uses the least amount of power among the three topology architectures.
Mesh topology: A mesh topology is a one-to-many multi-hopping architec-

ture in which each router node connects to multiple nodes. Its advantages
over a star topology include a longer range of transmission, decreased loss
of data, and higher self-healing communication ability. However, its disad-
vantages are at the cost of higher latency and higher power consumptions.

Star Cluster/Tree Mesh
Sensor node
Router node
Sink node
FIGURE 5.4 General WSN network topologies.
Cluster/tree topology: A cluster/tree topology is hybrid star-mesh archi-

tecture. It takes advantage of the low power consumption and simple archi-
tecture of a star topology, as well as the extended range and fault tolerance
of a mesh one. However, there probably exists some latency.
The right and reasonable choice of network topology depends on the
amount and frequency of data to be transmitted, transmission distance, bat-
tery life requirements, and the mobility of the sensor node. It should be
noted that a WSN physical topology may change due to available energy,
position variations of nodes, malfunction, reachability (due to noise, severe
weathers, moving obstacles, etc.), and task details of sensor nodes. A sen-
sor node normally incorporates a radio module for wireless communica-
tion. The transmitted distance of wireless communication can be anywhere
between a few meters (Bluetooth, ZigBee, WiFi, etc.) and thousands of
kilometers (GSM or GPRS radio communication). Wireless communica-
tion has various standards and technologies including Bluetooth, ZigBee,
WiFi, GSM, GPRS and WiMAX. Table 5.3 provides a summary and brief
comparison of these communication technologies. Usually, two or more
wireless communication technologies are used in a real wireless sensor
network. Underwater acoustic communication technologies can be a par-
ticularly good choice for data collection and exchange among underwater
sensors.
Generally, the longer the range a radio module must transmit, the more
energy consumption a radio module will have. The choice of wireless com-
munication technology depends on the amount and frequency of the trans-
mitted data, transmission distance, and amount of available energy.

Technology Standard Description Throughput Range Frequency
WiFi IEEE 802.11a; System of wireless data 11/54/300/ <100m 5.8GHz

802.11b/g/n transmission over computa- Mbps 2.4GHz
tional networks
Blue IEEE 802.15.1 Industrial specification for v.1.2: 1Mbps Class 1: 100m 2.4GHz
tooth WPAN which enables voice v.2.0: 3Mbps Class 2: 15–20m
and data transmission between UWB: Class 3: 1m
different devices by means of a 53–480Mbps
secure, globally free radio link
Zig IEEE 802.15.4 Specification of a set of high 250Kbps <75m 2.4GHz
Bee level wireless communication
protocols for use with low
consumption digital radios,
based on WPAN standard
IEEE 802.13.4
Wi IEEE 802.16 Standard for data transmission <75Mbps <10km 2–11GHz

Max using radio waves
GSM Standard system for 9.6Kbps Dependent on 850/900/1800/
communication via mobile service provider 1900
telephone incorporating digital MHz
technology
GPRS GSM extension for unswitched 56–144Kbps Dependent on 850/900/1800/
(or packaged) data transmission service provider 1900 MHz
TABE 5.3 Wireless Communication Technologies
11/09/17 3:47 PM
5.3.1 Oceanographic Sensors Protection

In marine environments, there are over 4,000 organisms related to
fouling problems. Organisms can be classified by size into micro-organisms
(or so-called biofilms, slimes, and micro-fouling) and macro-fouling. Biofoul-
ing development on a sensor surface is subject to several chemical, physical
and biological factors such as pH, dissolved oxygen, temperature, light,
location depth, conductivity, organic material, and hydrodynamic conditions.
When oceanographic sensors are immersed in seawater, they are suscepti-
ble to biofouling problems, which often cause long-term accuracy issues in
marine environmental sensor measurements. Since the marine environment
is aggressive and seawater is corrosive, oceanographic sensors should take
appropriate fouling protection measures.
Biofouling protection for oceanographic sensors may be divided into
three techniques according to their different actions: wipers mechanisms,
copper corrosion mechanisms, and chlorine evolution mechanisms.
Wiper mechanisms: A biofouling protection system based on wipers is a

purely mechanical method. It is an effective biofouling protection tech-
nique as long as the sensor head has a suitable shape for wiper cleaning and
the wipers are in good condition.
Copper corrosion mechanisms: A copper corrosion mechanism is an ef-

fective biofouling protection method to protect the sensitive sensor head,
but the protection mechanism is not easy to apply to existing sensors and
the cost is relatively high.
Chlorine evolution mechanisms: A biofouling protection system based on

a chlorine evolution mechanism uses bleach or chlorine generation by sea-
water electrolysis. Moreover, this protection mechanism is easily adapted to
existing sensors and the cost is relatively low.
Biofouling protection for oceanographic in-situ sensors is a very difficult
problem. The ideal biofouling protection for oceanographic sensors should
consider six aspects: low cost, low power consumption, easy installation on
existing sensors, no or low impact on measurement precision and the envi-
ronment, long lifetime, and robustness against aggressive conditions.
5.3.2 Advanced Buoy Design

Because the marine environment is aggressive and complex, it is crucial
to design an advanced flotation device (buoy) for a marine environment

monitoring system. A buoy normally consists of a wireless sensor network

node (CPU, sensors, radio, and batteries), an energy harvesting module,
underwater sensors, and a mooring system. The design and deployment of
an advanced buoy for marine wireless sensor networks should address the
following requirements: low cost, watertightness, strong stability, energy
harvesting, and mooring system.
Low cost: A marine environment monitoring system using wireless sensor

networks is usually composed of many sensor nodes. Therefore, each buoy
device needs to be low cost.
Watertightness: To protect the stability of the marine environment moni-

toring system and prolong its lifetime, its electronic devices must be in a
waterproof housing to avoid water damage.
Strong stability: As the marine environment is aggressive and complex,

the monitoring system should have strong stability against adverse atmo-
spheric conditions.
Energy harvesting: Since it is not convenient to replace the batteries de-

ployed on the marine surface and the sensor nodes, which are far away from
the land and are power-hungry, it is necessary to consider the use of energy
harvesting to reduce system maintenance requirements.
Mooring system: Due to tides, waves, marine currents, wind, etc., an an-
chor is required on the seabed to avoid the movement of the buoy devices.
Besides these requirements, the buoy mechanic design should meet a
number of requirements, including buoy visibility with bright yellow color
and a warning light for maritime traffic, the use of environmentally friendly
materials, the connection of several sensors, and a reasonable antenna
height for better communication propagation.
5.3.3 Energy Harvesting System Design

The energy supply of a wireless sensor network is generally provided
by batteries which have limited energy. In addition, in marine environment
monitoring systems, wireless sensor nodes are often deployed in unap-
proachable sea surface areas, and they are mostly planned for long-time
operation, therefore, it is not convenient to replace the sensor batteries.
Moreover, marine sensor nodes (sink nodes) have high energy consump-
tion due to the use of long-range wireless communication protocol (GPRS).

To reduce system maintenance requirements effectively, there is a clear

need to design an energy harvesting system which uses renewable energy
sources such as solar power, tidal power, or wind energy. To design an
advanced energy harvesting system for marine environment monitoring,
we should consider the following three aspects: energy harvesting devices,
power management system, and energy storage devices.
Energy harvesting devices: An energy harvesting device is responsible for

harvesting energy from the ambient environment. According to the charac-
teristics of available ambient energies, we should choose appropriate energy
harvesting devices and consider how to install the energy harvesting devices.
Power management system: A power management system can intelligent-

ly manage the batteries to be charged and discharged at separate intervals
of time. An ideal power management system can prolong the lifetime of
batteries and easily store more energy for the system.
Energy storage devices: Energy storage devices normally use rechargeable

batteries. Usually, the energy capacity of rechargeable batteries is larger
than the system’s daily energy consumption and daily harvesting stores en-
ergy and permits the system to supply power even in bad weather.
Given the aggressive and hostile marine environment, to harvest and
use more reliable renewable energies, we can envision a hybrid harvesting
energy system for marine environment monitoring in the future, which can
use several renewable power sources such as solar power, tidal power, sea-
water generation, and wind energy.
5.3.4 System Stability and Reliability

Considering the aggressive and complex environment, it is very impor-
tant to analyze reliability in a marine environmental monitoring system
using wireless sensor networks. Therefore, research on the reliability of a
WSN-based marine environment monitoring system should consider the
following aspects.
Battery life issues: As mentioned above, marine sensor nodes (sink nodes)
consume more energy than other kinds of wireless sensor nodes. Therefore,
battery life always affects system reliability.
Communication relay issues: Communication relay dramatically affects

system reliability, when some nodes fail or simply disappear.

Severe environment conditions: The marine environment always has ex-

ternal interference from ships, fish, and birds and has severe weather con-
ditions such as waves, marine currents, tides, and typhoons. Such severe
environment conditions further influence system reliability.
5.4 WIRELESS UNDERWATER SENSOR NETWORK

Applications of underwater sensing range from the oil industry to aqua-
culture, and include instrument monitoring, pollution control, climate
recording, prediction of natural disturbances, search and survey missions,
and study of marine life. Underwater wireless sensing systems are envi-
sioned for stand-alone applications and control of autonomous underwa-
ter vehicles (AUVs), and as an addition to cabled systems. For example,
cabled ocean observatories are being built on submarine cables to deploy
an extensive fiber optic network of sensors (cameras, wave sensors, and
seismometers) covering miles of ocean floor. These cables can support
communication access points, very much as cellular base stations are con-
nected to the telephone network, allowing users to move and communicate
from places cables cannot reach. Another example is cabled submersibles,
also known as remotely operated vehicles (ROVs). These vehicles, which
may weigh more than 10 metric tons, are connected to the mother ship
by a cable that can extend over several kilometers and deliver high power
to the remote end, along with high-speed communication signals. A pop-
ular example of an ROV/AUV tandem is the Alvin/Jason pair of vehicles
deployed by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) in 1985
to discover the Titanic. Such vehicles were also instrumental in the discov-
ery of hydro-thermal vents, sources of extremely hot water on the bottom
of deep ocean, which revealed forms of life different from any others previ-
ously known. The first vents were found in the late 1970s, and new ones are
still being discovered. The importance of such discoveries is comparable
only to space missions, and so is the technology that supports them.
Today, both vehicle technology and sensor technology are mature enough
to motivate the idea of underwater sensor networks. To turn this idea into real-
ity, however, one must face the problem of communications. Underwater com-
munication systems today mostly use acoustic technology. Complementary
communication techniques, such as optical and radio frequency or even elec-
trostatic communication, have been proposed for short-range links (typically
1–10 m), where their very high bandwidth (MHz or more) can be exploited.

These signals attenuate very rapidly, within a few meters (radio) or tens of
meters (optical), requiring either high-power or large antennas. Acoustic com-
munications offer longer ranges, but are constrained by three factors: limited
and distance-dependent bandwidth, time-varying multi-path propagation, and
low speed of sound. Together, these constraints result in a communication
channel of poor quality and high latency, thus combining the worst aspects of
terrestrial mobile and satellite radio channels into a communication medium
of extreme difficulty.
Among the first underwater acoustic systems was the submarine com-
munication system during the end of World War II, which used analogue
modulation in the 8–11 kHz band (single-side band amplitude modulation).
Research has since advanced, pushing digital modulation-detection tech-
niques into the forefront of modern acoustic communications. At present,
several types of acoustic modems are available commercially, typically offering
up to a few kilobits per second (kbps) over distances up to a few kilometers.
The major challenges were identified over the past decade, pointing once
again to the fundamental differences between acoustic and radio propaga-
tion. For example, acoustic signals propagate at 1,500 m/s, causing propaga-
tion delays as long as a few seconds over a few kilometers. With bit rates of
the order of 1,000 bps, propagation delays are not negligible with respect
to typical packet durations—a situation very different from that found in
radio based networks. Moreover, acoustic modems are typically limited to
half duplex operation. These constraints imply that acoustic-conscious pro-
tocol design can provide better efficiencies than direct application of proto-
cols developed for terrestrial networks (e.g., 802.11 or transmission control
protocol [TCP]). In addition, for anchored sensor networks, energy efficiency
will be as important as in terrestrial networks, since battery recharging hun-
dreds of meters below the sea surface is difficult and expensive. Finally,
underwater instruments (sensors, robots, modems, and batteries) are neither
cheap nor disposable.
5.4.1 Underwater Sensing Applications

The need to sense the underwater world drives the development of
underwater sensor networks. Applications can have very different require-
ments: fixed or mobile, short or long lived, best effort or life or death; these
requirements can result in different designs. The different kinds of deploy-
ments, classes of applications and several specific examples, both current
and speculative are explained below.

Deployments: Mobility and density are two parameters that vary over dif-
ferent types of deployments of underwater sensor networks. Here, the fo-
cus is on wireless underwater networks, although there is significant work
in cabled underwater observatories, from the sound surveillance system
military networks in the 1950s to the recent Ocean Observatories Initiative.
Figure 5.5 illustrates several ways to deploy an underwater sensor network.
Underwater networks are often static: individual nodes attached to docks,
anchored buoys, or the seafloor (as in the cabled or wireless seafloor sen-
sors in Figure 5.5). Alternatively, semi-mobile underwater networks can be
suspended from buoys that are deployed by a ship and used temporarily,
but then left in place for hours or days. (The moored sensors in Figure
5.5 may be short-term deployments.) The topologies of these networks
are static for long durations, allowing engineering of the network topology
to promote connectivity. However, network connectivity still may change
owing to small-scale movement or to water dynamics (as currents, surface
waves, or other effects change). When battery powered, static deployments
may be energy constrained.
Underwater networks may also be mobile, with sensors attached to
AUVs, low-power gliders, or unpowered drifters. Mobility is useful to maxi-
mize sensor coverage with limited hardware, but it raises challenges for
localization and maintaining a connected network. Energy for communica-
tions is plentiful in AUVs, but it is a concern for gliders or drifters.
As with surface sensor networks, network density, coverage and num-
ber of nodes are interrelated parameters that characterize a deployment.
Underwater deployments to date are generally less dense, have longer range
and employ significantly fewer nodes than terrestrial sensor networks. For
example, the Seaweb deployment in 2000 involved 17 nodes spread over
a 16km2 area, with a median of five neighbours per node. Finally, as with
remote terrestrial networks, connectivity to the Internet is important and
can be difficult. Figure 5.5 shows several options, including underwater
cables, point-to-point wireless and satellite.
Application domains of underwater networks: Applications of underwa-

ter networks fall into similar categories as for terrestrial sensor networks.
Scientific applications observe the environment: from geological processes
on the ocean floor, to water characteristics (temperature, salinity, oxygen
levels, bacterial and other pollutant content, dissolved matter, etc.) to count-
ing or imaging animal life (micro-organisms, fish, or mammals). Industrial
applications monitor and control commercial activities, such as underwater

surface
satellite
buoy/station
onshore surface
sinks sink
autonomous
underwater
vehicle moored
sensors
cabled seafloor acoustically
sensors connected sensors
FIGURE 5.5 Deployments can be cabled, fixed, and moored wireless, mobile (on AUVs), and can
have different links to shore.
equipment related to oil or mineral extraction, underwater pipelines, or

commercial fisheries. Industrial applications often involve control and ac-
tuation components as well. Military and homeland security applications
involve securing or monitoring port facilities or ships in foreign harbors,
de-mining, and communication with submarines and divers.
While the classes of applications are similar, underwater activities have
traditionally been much more resource-intensive than terrestrial sens-
ing. Finally, underwater sensing deployments occur over shorter peri-
ods (several hours), rather than the days to months or years common in
terrestrial sensing. Primary reasons are deployment cost, coupled with a
large area of interest, and battery limitations. Underwater deployments can
be harsher than surface sensing, with biofouling requiring periodic main-
tenance. Powered or glider-based AUVs may be coupled with buoys or
anchored deployments.

Motivations for underwater sensor networks are similar to those for

terrestrial sensor nets: wireless communications reduce deployment costs;
interactive data indicate whether sensing is operational or prompts cor-
rective actions during collection; and data analysis during collection allows
attendant scientists to adjust sensing in response to interesting observations.
5.5 UNDERWATER COMMUNICATIONS AND NETWORKING

TECHNOLOGY
In this section, physical layer, medium access layer, and network layer
requirements and available techniques are discussed.
5.5.1 Physical Layer

Outside water, the electromagnetic spectrum dominates communi-
cation, since radio or optical methods provide long-distance communi-
cation (meters to hundreds of kilometers) with high bandwidths (kHz to
tens of MHz), even at low power. In contrast, water absorbs and disperses
almost all electromagnetic frequencies, making acoustic waves a preferred
choice for underwater communication beyond tens of meters. Propagation
of acoustic waves in the frequency range of interest for communication
can be described in several stages. Fundamental attenuation describes the
power loss that a tone at frequency f experiences as it travels from one
location to another. The first (basic) stage takes into account this funda-
mental loss that occurs over a transmission distance d. The second stage
takes into account the site-specific loss due to surface bottom reflections
and refraction that occurs as sound speed changes with depth and provides
a more detailed prediction of the acoustic field around a given transmitter.
The third stage addresses the apparently random changes in the large-
scale received power (averaged over some local interval of time) that are
caused by slow variations in the propagation medium (e.g., tides). These
phenomena are relevant for determining the transmission power needed
to close a given link. A separate stage of modeling is required to address
the small-scale, fast variations of the instantaneous signal power.
Multi-path propagation creates signal echoes that arrive with varying
delays. Delay spreading depends on the system location and can range from
a few milliseconds to several hundreds of milliseconds. In a wideband sys-
tem, this leads to a frequency selective channel transfer function as different
frequency components may exhibit substantially different attenuation. The

channel response and the instantaneous power often exhibit small-scale,

fast variations, typically caused by scattering and the rapid motion of the sea
surface (waves) or of the system itself. While large-scale variations influence
power control at the transmitter, small-scale variations influence the design
of adaptive signal processing algorithms at the receiver. Directional motion
causes additional time variation in the form of Doppler effect. A typical
AUV velocity is on the order of a few meters per second, while freely sus-
pended platforms can drift with currents at similar speeds. Because sound
propagates slowly, the ratio of the relative transmitter/receiver velocity to
the speed of sound can be as high as 0.1%—an extreme value that implies
the need for dedicated synchronization. This situation is in stark contrast
with radio systems, where corresponding values are orders of magnitude
smaller, and typically only the center frequency shifting needs to be taken
into account.
To avoid the long delay spread and time-varying phase distortion, early
systems focused on frequency modulation (frequency shift keying) and
noncoherent (energy) detection. Although these methods do not make effi-
cient use of the bandwidth, they are favored for robust communication at
low bit rates (typically of the order of 100 bps over a few kilometers), and
are used in both commercial modems. The development of bandwidth-
efficient communication methods that use amplitude or phase modulation
(quadrature amplitude modulation, phase-shift keying) gained momentum
in the 1990s, after coherent detection was shown to be feasible on acoustic
channels. The research focused on adaptive equalization and synchroniza-
tion for single carrier wideband systems, leading to real time implementa-
tions that today provide high speed communications at several kbps over
varying link configurations (horizontal, vertical), as well as with AUVs.
Research on the physical layer is extremely active. Single carrier
modulation/detection is being improved using powerful coding and turbo
equalization, while multi-carrier modulation/detection is considered as an
alternative. Both types of systems are being extended to multi-input multi-
output configurations that provide spatial multiplexing (the ability to send
parallel data streams from multiple transmitters), and bit rates of several
tens of kbps have been demonstrated experimentally. Respecting the physi-
cal aspects of acoustic propagation is crucial for successful signal process-
ing; understanding its implications is essential for proper network design.
A greater bandwidth yields a greater bit rate and shorter packets—as mea-
sured in seconds for a fixed number of bits per packet. While shorter bits

imply less energy per bit, shorter packets imply fewer chances of collision
on links with different, non-negligible delays. Both facts have beneficial
implications on the network performance (and lifetime), if the interference
can be managed.
These characteristics of the physical layer influence medium access
and higher layer protocol design. For example, the same network protocol
may perform differently under a different frequency allocation—moving to
a higher frequency region will cause more attenuation to the desired sig-
nal, but the interference will attenuate more as well, possibly boosting the
overall performance. Also, propagation delay and packet duration matter,
since a channel that is sensed to be free may nonetheless contain interfer-
ing packets; their length will affect the probability of collisions and the effi-
ciency of retransmission (throughput). Finally, power control, coupled with
intelligent routing, can greatly help us to limit interference.
5.5.2 Medium Access Control and Resource Sharing

Multi-user systems need an effective means to share the communica-
tion resources among the participating nodes. In wireless networks, the
frequency spectrum is inherently shared and interference needs to be
properly managed. Several techniques have been developed to provide
rules to allow different stations to effectively share the resource and sepa-
rate the signals that coexist in a common medium. In designing resource
sharing schemes for underwater networks, one needs to keep in mind the
peculiar characteristics of the acoustic channel. Most relevant are long
delays, frequency dependent attenuation and the relatively long reach of
acoustic signals. In addition, the bandwidth constraints of acoustic hard-
ware (and the transducer in particular) must also be considered. Signals
can be deterministically separated in time (time division multiple access;
TDMA) or frequency (FDMA). In the first case, users take turns accessing
the medium, so that signals do not overlap in time and therefore interfer-
ence is avoided. In FDMA, instead, signal separation is achieved in the fre-
quency domain; although they may overlap in time, signals occupy disjoint
parts of the spectrum. These techniques are extensively used in most com-
munications systems, and have been considered for underwater networks
as well. For example, owing to acoustic modem limitations, in FDMA
use of guard bands for channel separation leads to some inefficiency and
this type of frequency channel allocation has very little flexibility (e.g., to
accommodate varying transmission rates). TDMA can be more flexible, but

requires synchronization among all users to make sure they access disjoint
time slots. Many schemes and protocols are based on such an underlying
time division structure, which however needs some coordination and some
guard times to compensate for inconsistencies in dealing with propagation
delays.
Another quasi-deterministic technique for signal separation is code
division multiple access (CDMA), in which signals that coexist in both time
and frequency can be separated using specifically designed codes in com-
bination with signal processing techniques. The price to pay in this case
is a bandwidth expansion, especially acute with the narrow bandwidth of
the acoustic channel (20 kHz or less for typical hardware). CDMA-based
medium access protocols with power control have been proposed for under-
water networks and have the advantages of not requiring slot synchroni-
zation and being robust to multi-path fading. While these deterministic
techniques can be used directly in multi-user systems, data communication
nodes typically use contention-based protocols that prescribe the rules by
which nodes decide when to transmit on a shared channel. In the simplest
protocol, ALOHA, nodes just transmit whenever they need to (random
access), and end-terminals recover from errors owing to overlapping signals
(called collisions) with retransmission. More advanced schemes implement
carrier-sense multiple access (CSMA), a listen-before-transmit approach,
with or without collision avoidance (CA) mechanisms, with the goal of
avoiding transmission on an already occupied channel. While CSMA/CA has
been very successful in radio networks, the latencies encountered underwa-
ter (up to several seconds) make it very inefficient underwater (even worse
than ALOHA). In fact, while ALOHA is rarely considered in radio systems
owing to its poor throughput, it is a potential candidate for underwater net-
works when combined with simple CSMA features. Two examples of pro-
tocols specifically designed for underwater networks following the CSMA/
CA approach are distance aware collision avoidance protocol (DACAP) and
tone-Lohi (T-Lohi). DACAP is based on an initial signaling exchange to
reserve the channel, thereby decreasing the probability of collision. T-Lohi
exploits CA tones, whereby nodes that want to transmit signal their inten-
tion by sending narrowband signals and proceed with data transmission if
they do not hear tones sent by other nodes, providing lightweight signaling
at the cost of greater sensitivity to the hidden-terminal problem. T-Lohi
also exploits high acoustic latency to count contenders in ways impossible
with radios, allowing very rapid convergence.

While unsynchronized protocols are simpler, explicit coordination can

improve the performance at the price of acquiring and maintaining a time
reference. Although long propagation still causes inefficiency, synchroniza-
tion allows protocols to exploit the space time volume, intentionally over-
lapping packets in time while they remain distinct in space.
(a) (b)
A A
B B
C C D
D
E E
FIGURE 5.6 Illustration of space-time volume: long acoustic latencies mean that packets from A and E
are successfully received at B and D in part (a), even though they are sent concurrently, while in part (b),
packets collide at B even though they are sent at different times. (a) Same transmission time, no collision;
(b) different transmission time but collision at B.
Figure 5.6 gives an example of this principle, where unlike in near

instant radio communications, long acoustic latencies mean concurrent
packets can be received successfully (Figure 5.6a) and packets sent at dif-
ferent times may collide (Figure 5.6b). Even though, in most cases, it is
very difficult to operate such protocols in large networks, local synchro-
nization can be achieved and used to improve efficiency. Several proto-
cols have been proposed that assume a common slotted structure accessed
by the various nodes in the system. Early work exploited this effect, using
centralized scheduling instead of random access to completely avoid colli-
sions, although for static topologies and with additional signaling. Slotted
floor acquisition multiple access (FAMA) is a decentralized, CSMA-based
protocol that uses synchronization to reduce the probability of collision,
but is also subject to longer delays due to guard times. The underwater
wireless acoustic networks media access protocol is another such protocol
that is designed to minimize energy consumption through sleep modes and
local synchronization. Several hybrid schemes have also been developed in
which two or more of the earlier mentioned techniques are combined.

5.5.3. Network Layer, Routing, and Transport

In large networks, it is unlikely that any pair of nodes can communi-
cate directly, and multi-hop operation, by which intermediate nodes are
used to forward messages towards the final destination, is typically used.
In addition, multi-hop operation is beneficial in view of distance band-
width dependence. In this case, routing protocols are used to determine a
variable route that a packet should follow through a topology. The design
of transport protocols in underwater acoustic networks is another critical
issue. Protocols such as TCP (transmission control protocol) are designed
for low to moderate latencies, not the large fractions of a second commonly
encountered in underwater networks, and limited bandwidth and high loss
suggest that end-to-end retransmission will perform poorly. Work on higher
layer data dissemination protocols underwater has been sparse, with each
deployment typically using a custom solution. Finally, an important issue is
that of topology control, where nodes sleep to reduce energy while main-
taining network connectivity. With this feature, it is possible to wake up
nodes on demand and to obtain a virtually perfect topology control mecha-
nism. The sensor networks for undersea seismic experimentation (SNUSE)
modem implements such as a low-power wake-up circuit, which has been
integrated into the media access protocol (MAC) layer.
5.5.4 Network Services

Of the many network services possible, localization and time synchroni-
zation have seen significant research because of their applicability to many
scenarios. Localization and time synchronization are, in a sense, duals of each
other: localization often estimates communication time of flight, assuming
accurate clocks, and time synchronization estimates clock skew, modeling
slowly varying communication delays. Underwater, both pose the challenge
of coping with long communications latency and noisy, time-varying chan-
nels. Time synchronization in wired networks dates to the network time
protocol in the 1990s; wireless sensor networks prompted a resurgence of
research a decade later, with an emphasis on message and energy conserva-
tion through one-to-many or many-to-many synchronization and integra-
tion with hardware to reduce jitter. Underwater time synchronization has
built upon these ideas, revised to address challenges in slow acoustic propa-
gation. Time synchronization for high latency networks showed that clock
drift during message propagation dominates the error for acoustic chan-
nels longer than 500 meters. More recently, D-Sync incorporated Doppler

shift estimation to account for error due to node mobility or water currents.
Localization, too, has a history in wired and radio-based wireless networks,
where node-to-node ranging (based on communications time of flight) and
beacon proximity (reachability due to attenuation) are the two fundamental
methods used to locate devices. As with time synchronization, localization
protocols are often pairwise, or a beacon may broadcast to many poten-
tial receivers. Slow acoustic propagation improves localization, since each
microsecond error in timing only corresponds to a 15 mm error in location.
However, bandwidth limitations make reducing message counts even more
important than for radio networks.
Two underwater-specific localization systems with experimental valida-
tion are sufficient distance map estimation (SDME). SDME exploits post
facto localization (analogous to post facto time synchronization of reference
broadcast synchronization) to reduce message counts using an otherwise
standard scheme based on all pairs, broadcast-based, inter-station ranging.
They observe localization accuracy of about 1 meter at ranges of 139 meters.
Their localization scheme is based on acoustic ranging between vehicles
with synchronized, high precision clocks, combined with AUV location esti-
mates from inertial navigation, combined post facto with an extended Kal-
man filter. In sea trials tracking an AUV at 4,000 meter depths, their scheme
estimates position with a standard deviation of about 10–14 meters.
5.5.5 Sensing and Application Techniques

Some types of underwater sensors are easy and inexpensive, but many
rapidly become difficult and expensive from a few hundreds to thousands
of dollars or more. Inexpensive sensors include pressure sensing, which can
give approximate depth, and photo diodes and thermistors that measure
ambient light and temperature. More specialized sensors include fluorim-
eters that estimate concentrations of chlorophyll, devices to measure water
CO2 concentrations or turbidity, and sonar to detect objects underwater.
Such specialized sensors can be much more expensive than more basic sen-
sors. Traditional biology and oceanography rely on samples taken in the
environment and returned to the laboratory for analysis. As traditional
underwater research has assumed personnel on site, the cost of sample
return is relatively small compared with the cost of getting the scientist to
the site.
Algorithms for managing underwater sensing, sensor fusion, and coor-
dinated and adaptive sensing are just beginning to develop. Sonar has been

used for over more than 60 years for processing single sensors and sensor
array data, and today, offline pre-mission planning of AUVs has become
routine. As the field matures, in future the work involves online, adaptive
sampling using communicating AUVs.
5.5.6 Hardware Platforms

Many hardware platforms for acoustic communication have been devel-
oped over the years, with commercial, military, and research success. These
platforms are essential to support testing and field use. Teledyne/Benthos
modems are widely used commercial devices. They have been extensively
used, but their firmware is not accessible to general users, limiting their
use for new physical layer and MAC research. Evologics S2C modems may
provide some additional flexibility in that they support the transmission
of short packets, which are completely customizable by users and can be
transmitted instantly without any medium access protocol rule. By using
such packets, there is some room for implementing and testing protocols,
even though the level of reprogrammability of commercial devices remains
rather limited. The data rates supported by these modems range from a
few hundred bps to a few kbps in various bands of the tens of kHz fre-
quency range, over distances up to a few tens of kilometers and with power
consumptions of tens of watts. While there is no universal development
environment or operating system for underwater research, platforms are
generally large enough that traditional embedded systems operating envi-
ronments are feasible. Many groups use embedded variants of Linux, for
example.
5.5.7 Test Beds, Simulators, and Models

The breadth of interest in underwater networks has resulted in a great
deal of work in the laboratory and simulation, but field experiments remain
difficult, and the cost and time of boat rental and offshore deployment are
high. Unlike in radio frequency wireless sensor networks, where experimen-
tation is comparatively accessible and affordable, underwater hardware is
expensive and costly to deploy, so alternatives are important. Also important
is the need for rapid and controlled, reproducible testing over a wide range
of conditions. Simulation and modeling is ideal to address both problems.
Unfortunately, in many instances, the accuracy of networking simulators in
modeling the physical layer and the propagation effects is poor, limiting the
predictive value of such tools. Many researchers develop custom simulators
to address their specific question, and others develop personal extensions

to existing tools such as the network simulator (ns-2, ns-3). However, distri-
bution and generality of these tools is often minimal. Several recent efforts
have approached the goal of building underwater simulation tools for the
general research community, particularly striving to capture, in sufficient
detail, the key properties of acoustic propagation.
A complementary approach also under consideration is to connect a
simulator directly to acoustic modems (instead of simulating propagation
and physical layers), combining simulation and hardware to emulate a com-
plete system. Several sophisticated modeling tools (including both analyti-
cal and computational approaches, e.g., ray tracing) have been developed to
study acoustic propagation. However, in most cases, the complexity of such
models makes them unsuitable for use in the analysis of communication
systems and networks, where the time scales involved require lightweight
channel/error models and where many lower level details may have a lesser
effect on the overall performance. For this reason, there is currently a
strong interest in the development of alternative models, designed to be
used in analytical or simulation systems studies.
5.6 WIRELESS UNDERWATER ACOUSTIC SENSOR

NETWORK
Underwater acoustic sensor networks (UW-ASN) consist of a variable
number of sensors and vehicles that are deployed to perform collaborative
monitoring tasks over a given area. To achieve this objective, sensors and
vehicles self-organize in an autonomous network that can adapt to the charac-
teristics of the ocean environment. Underwater networking is a rather unex-
plored area, although underwater communications have been experimented
since World War II when, in 1945, an underwater telephone was developed
in the United States to communicate with submarines. Acoustic communi-
cations are the typical physical layer technology in underwater networks. In
fact, radio waves propagate at long distances through conductive sea water
only at extra low frequencies (30–300 Hz), which require large antennae and
high transmission power. Optical waves do not suffer from such high atten-
uation but are affected by scattering. Moreover, transmission of optical sig-
nals requires high precision in pointing the narrow laser beams. Thus, links
in underwater networks are based on acoustic wireless communications.
The traditional approach for ocean-bottom or ocean column monitoring
is to deploy underwater sensors that record data during the monitoring

mission, and then recover the instruments. This approach has the following
disadvantages:
1. Real-time monitoring is not possible. This is critical especially in sur-

veillance or in environmental monitoring applications such as seismic
monitoring. The recorded data cannot be accessed until the instruments
are recovered, which may happen several months after the beginning of
the monitoring mission.
2. No interaction is possible between onshore control systems and the
monitoring instruments. This impedes any adaptive tuning of the instru-
ments, nor is it possible to reconfigure the system after particular events
occur.
3. If failures or misconfigurations occur, it may not be possible to detect
them before the instruments are recovered. This can easily lead to the
complete failure of a monitoring mission.
4. The amount of data that can be recorded during the monitoring mission
by every sensor is limited by the capacity of the onboard storage devices
(memories, hard disks, etc.).
Therefore, there is a need to deploy underwater networks that will

enable real-time monitoring of selected ocean areas, remote configura-
tion, and interaction with onshore human operators. This can be obtained
by connecting underwater instruments by means of wireless links based
on acoustic communication. Major challenges in the design of underwater
acoustic networks are:
1. Battery power is limited and usually batteries cannot be recharged, also

because solar energy cannot be exploited
2. Available bandwidth is severely limited
3. Channel characteristics, including long and variable propagation delays,
multi-path and fading problems
4. High bit error rates and temporary losses of connectivity (shadow zones)
5. Underwater sensors are prone to failures because of fouling, corrosion,
etc.
6. Propagation delay is five orders of magnitude higher than in Radio Fre-
quency (RF) terrestrial channels

5.6.1 Underwater Acoustic Sensor Network vs. Terrestrial Network

1. Communication method: Terrestrial sensor networks employ electro-
magnetic waves but in underwater network is relied on physical means
like acoustic sounds to transmit the signal.
2. Protocols: Due to distinct network dynamics, existing communication
protocols for terrestrial networks are not suitable for underwater envi-
ronment.
3. Cost: Terrestrial networks are becoming inexpensive but underwater
sensors are still expensive devices.
4. Deployment: While terrestrial sensor networks are densely deployed, in
underwater, the deployment is generally sparser.
5. Power: The power needed for acoustic underwater communications is
higher than in terrestrial radio communications.
6. Memory: Underwater sensors need to have large memory compared to
terrestrial sensors.
7. Node mobility: In terrestrial networks, nodes mobility can be predicted
whereas in underwater networks, prediction of mobility of the node is
difficult.
8. Spatial correlation: Readings taken from terrestrial networks with sen-
sors are often correlated but this is not the case in underwater networks.
5.6.2 Unique Characteristics of Underwater Acoustic Sensor Network
1. Communication media: Acoustic communication is the most versatile
and widely used technique in underwater due to low attenuation in
water.
2. Transmission loss: Attenuation is mainly provoked by absorption due to
conversion of acoustic energy into heat. The geometric spreading refers
to the spreading of sound energy due to the expansion of wave fronts.
3. Noise: Man-made noise is mainly caused by machinery noise and ship-
ping activity, while the ambient noise is related to hydrodynamics and to
seismic and biological phenomena
4. Multipath propagation: Doppler spreading generates two effects: a
simple frequency translation and a continuous spreading of frequencies.

5. Doppler spread: Multi-path propagation may be responsible for severe

degradation of the acoustic communication signal, since it generates ISI.
6. High delay: The propagation speed in the UW-A channel is five orders
of magnitude lower than in the radio channel. Large propagation delay
of 0.67 s/km.
5.6.3 Underwater Acoustic Sensor Network Architecture
There are several different architectures for Underwater Acoustic
Sensor Networks, depending on the application:
1. Two-dimensional UW-ASNs for ocean bottom monitoring: These are

constituted by sensor nodes that are anchored to the bottom of the
ocean. Typical applications may be environmental monitoring, or moni-
toring of underwater plates in tectonics.
2. Three-dimensional UW-ASNs for ocean column monitoring: These
include networks of sensors whose depth can be controlled and may be
used for surveillance applications or monitoring of ocean phenomena
(ocean bio-geo-chemical processes, water streams, pollution, etc.).
3. Three-dimensional networks of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles
(AUVs): These networks include fixed portions composed of anchored
sensors and mobile portions constituted by autonomous vehicles.
5.6.4 Two-Dimensional Underwater Sensor Network Architecture
The reference architecture for 2-dimensional underwater networks is
shown in the Figure 5.7. A group of sensor nodes are anchored to the bot-
tom of the ocean with deep ocean anchors. By means of wireless acoustic
links, underwater sensor nodes are interconnected to one or more under-
water sinks (uw-sinks), which are network devices in charge of relaying
data from the ocean bottom network to a surface station. To achieve this
objective, uw-sinks are equipped with two acoustic transceivers, namely a
vertical and a horizontal transceiver. The horizontal transceiver is used by
the uw-sink to communicate with the sensor nodes to: 1) send commands
and configuration data to the sensors (uw-sink to sensors); 2) collect moni-
tored data (sensors to uw-sink). The vertical link is used by the uw-sinks
to relay data to a surface station. Vertical transceivers must be long-range
transceivers for deep water applications, as the ocean can be as deep as
10 km. The surface station is equipped with an acoustic transceiver that
can handle multiple parallel communications with the deployed uw-sinks.

surface sink
satellite
onshore sink
surface station
surface
sink
surface
station cluster cluster
uw–sink
vertical link
uw–sensor horizontal
cluster multi–hop
link
FIGURE 5.7 Two-dimensional underwater sensor networks.
It is also endowed with a long- range RF and/or satellite transmitter to com-

municate with the onshore sink (os-sink) and/or to a surface sink (s-sink).
Sensors can be connected to uw-sinks via direct links or through multi-
hop paths. In the former case, each sensor directly sends the gathered data
to the selected uw-sink. This is the simplest way to network sensors, but it
may not be the most energy efficient, since the sink may be far from the
node and the power necessary to transmit may decay with powers greater
than two of the distance. Furthermore, direct links are very likely to reduce
the network throughput because of increased acoustic interference due to
high transmission power. In case of multi-hop paths, as in terrestrial sen-
sor networks, the data produced by a source sensor is relayed by interme-
diate sensors until it reaches the uw-sink. This results in energy savings
and increased network capacity, but increases the complexity of the rout-
ing functionality as well. In fact, every network device usually takes part in
a collaborative process whose objective is to diffuse topology information
such that efficient and loop free routing decisions can be made at each

intermediate node. This process involves signaling and computation. Since

energy and capacity are precious resources in underwater environments, in
UW-ASNs the objective is to deliver event features by exploiting multi-hop
paths and minimizing the signaling overhead necessary to construct under-
water paths at the same time.
5.6.5 Three-Dimensional Underwater Sensor Network Architecture

Three-dimensional underwater networks are used to detect and
observe phenomena that cannot be adequately observed by means of ocean
bottom sensor nodes, i.e., to perform cooperative sampling of the 3D ocean
environment. In 3-dimensional underwater networks, sensor nodes float
at different depths in order to observe a given phenomenon. One possible
solution would be to attach each uw-sensor node to a surface buoy, by means
of wires whose length can be regulated to adjust the depth of each sensor
node. However, although this solution allows easy and quick deployment of
the sensor network, multiple floating buoys may obstruct ships navigating
on the surface, or they can be easily detected and deactivated by enemies
in military settings.
For these reasons, a different approach can be to anchor sensor
devices to the bottom of the ocean. In this architecture, depicted in
the figure 5.8 above, each sensor is anchored to the ocean bottom and
equipped with a floating buoy that can be inflated by a pump. The buoy
pushes the sensor towards the ocean surface. The depth of the sensor can
then be regulated by adjusting the length of the wire that connects the
sensor to the anchor, by means of an electronically controlled engine that
resides on the sensor.
Many challenges arise with such an architecture, that needs to be solved
to enable 3D monitoring, including:
1. Sensing coverage: Sensors should collaboratively regulate their depth to

achieve full column coverage, according to their sensing ranges. Hence,
it must be possible to obtain sampling of the desired phenomenon at all
depths.
2. Communication coverage: Since in 3D underwater networks there is
no notion of uw-sink, sensors should be able to relay information to
the surface station via multi-hop paths. Thus, network devices should
coordinate their depths such a way that the network topology is always
connected, i.e., at least one path from every sensor to the surface station
always exists.

surface sink
satellite
onshore sink
surface station
surface
sink
surface
station
anchored
uw–sensor
acoustic
vertical link
FIGURE 5.8 Three-dimensional underwater sensor networks.
5.6.6 Sensor Networks Architecture with AUVs

AUVs can function without tethers, cables, or remote control, and thus
have a multitude of applications in oceanography, environmental monitor-
ing, and underwater resource study. Inexpensive AUV submarines equipped
with multiple underwater sensors can reach any depth in the ocean. Hence,
they can be used to enhance the capabilities of underwater sensor networks
in many ways. The integration and enhancement of fixed sensor networks
with AUVs is an almost unexplored research area which requires new net-
work coordination algorithms, such as:
Adaptive sampling: This includes control strategies to command the mo-

bile vehicles to places where their data will be most useful. This approach
is also known as adaptive sampling and has been proposed in pioneering
monitoring missions. For example, the density of sensor nodes can be adap-
tively increased in an area when a higher sampling rate is needed for a given
monitored phenomenon.

Self-configuration: This includes

control procedures to automati-
cally detect connectivity holes
due to node failures and request
the intervention of an AUV. AUVs
can either be used to deploy new
sensors or as relay nodes to re-
store connectivity.
Figure 5.9 shows an Auto-
matic Underwater Vehicle with
sensors of Doppler velocity logs,
Acoustic doppler, current profil- FIGURE 5.9 Different sensors are integrated in AUV.
ers, conductivity and temperature, fluorimeter, Li-Cor PAR sensor, inertial
navigation systems, attitude heading reference, marine global positioning
systems, and depth gauges.
5.7. NETWORKING CHALLENGES FOR UNDERWATER

ACOUSTIC SENSOR NETWORKS
Due to the unique characteristics of underwater acoustic channels
(long latency and low bandwidth) and the harsh underwater environments
(resulting in high channel dynamics), technology used in terrestrial radio
networks could not be applied to underwater acoustic networks.
Medium access control: Due to the dense deployment of sensors in

UWSNs, it is necessary to design an efficient medium access control (MAC)
protocol to coordinate communication among sensors. This is a large-
ly
unexplored challenge in the communication/networking community.
On the one hand, there is no need for MAC protocols in existing small-
scale acoustic networks, since in such networks, sensors are sparsely sepa-
rated from each other and point-to-point communication is sufficient. On
the other hand, most existing MAC protocols in radio-based networks as-
sume that the signal propagation delay between neighbor nodes is negli-
gible. In UWSNs, the propagation delay of sound in water is five magni-
tudes higher than that of radio in air. Moreover, the bandwidth capacities of
acoustic channels are very low compared with those of RF channels. While
ALOHA-type random access protocols used in satellite networks a ddress
the long delay issue to some extent, medium access control handling both
long propagation delay and low bandwidth is relatively uninvestigated.

Furthermore, the energy efficiency of MAC protocols in satellite networks

is usually not a major concern. In short, a viable MAC solution for UWSNs
should take long propagation delay, low available bandwidth, energy effi-
ciency (for long-term applications), and node mobility (for mobile UWSNs)
into account. So far, various approaches have been explored. Among the
scheduling based protocols—including time division multiple access
(TDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), and code division
multiple access (CDMA)—CDMA is considered a promising technique for
underwater sensor networks. For contention-based protocols (where nodes
compete for a shared channel, resulting in probabilistic coordination), the
applicability of random access methods and RTS/CTS-based approaches
in underwater sensor networks has been used and are suitable for dense
underwater sensor networks with high traffic rate.
Multi-hop routing: Forwarding data from source nodes to command/con-

trol stations efficiently is very challenging in UWSNs, especially in mobile
UWSNs for long-term applications. In such networks, saving energy is a
major concern. At the same time, routing should be able to handle node
mobility. This requirement makes most existing energy efficient routing
protocols unsuitable for UWSNs. In mobile UWSNs, however, most sensor
nodes are mobile, and the “network topology” changes very rapidly. The
frequent maintenance and recovery of forwarding paths is very expensive in
highly dynamic networks, and even more expensive in dense 3-dimensional
UWSNs. Geographic routing is considered promising for mobile UWSNs.
Another critical issue challenge for routing in UWSNs is link outrage due to
water turbulence, currents, obstacles (e.g., ships), etc., as these may cause
intermittent network partitioning (that is, some nodes are disconnected
from the other nodes). There may be situations where no connected path
exists at any given time between the source and the destination.
Reliable data transfer: Reliable data transfer is important in UWSNs,

especially for those aquatic exploration applications requiring reliable

information. There are typically two approaches to reliable data transfer:
end-to-end and hop-by-hop. The most common end-to-end solution is TCP
(transmission control protocol). In UWSNs, due to the high and dynamic
channel error rates and the long propagation delay, TCP’s performance
will be problematic. There are several techniques that can be used to ren-
der TCP’s performance more efficient. Another type of approach for reli-
able data transfer is hop-by-hop. The hop-to-hop approach is favored in
wireless and error-prone networks and is believed to be more suitable for

sensor networks. The protocol that mainly takes the hop-by-hop approach
is ARQ. Due to the long propagation delay of acoustic signals, conventional
ARQ will cause very low channel utilization in underwater environments.
Thus, new approaches are desired for efficient reliable data transfer in
UWSNs. One possible direction to solve the reliable data transfer problem
in UWSNs is to investigate coding schemes, including erasure coding and
network coding, which, though introducing additional computational and
packet overhead, can avoid retransmission delay and significantly enhance
the network robustness.
Localization: Localization of mobile sensor nodes is indispensable for

UWSNs. Some applications, such as aquatic monitoring, demand high pre-
cision localization, while other applications, such as surveillance networks,
require a localization solution that can scale to a large number of nodes.
However, underwater acoustic propagation characteristics and sensor mo-
bility pose great challenges on high-precision and scalable localization solu-
tions in that:
1. Underwater acoustic channels are highly dispersive, and time delay of

arrival (TDOA) estimation is hampered by dense multipath.
2. Acoustic signal does not travel on a straight path due to the stratification
effect.
3. Underwater acoustic channels have extremely low bandwidth that ren-
ders any approach based on frequent message exchange not appealing.
4. Large-scale sensor deployment prevents centralized solutions.
5. Sensor mobility entails dynamic network topology change. To effectively
handle the channel effects, high-precision localization usually involves
advanced signal processing algorithms.
5.7.1 Research Challenges and Opportunities

From the above discussions (though the problem list is far from com-
plete), we conclude that, although acoustic waves are practical for under-
water acoustic sensor networks from the physics and communication point
of view, a tremendous amount of work is demanded from the networking
perspective. So far, wireless sensor networks have been widely applied to
terrestrial areas, and some of these deployments have achieved satisfactory
performance. However, the application of WSNs in marine environment
monitoring is still in its infancy, and most WSN-based systems are purely

experimental. Few challenges of wireless sensor networks for marine envi-

ronment monitoring including oceanographic sensors protection, advanced
buoy design, energy harvesting system design, network protocol, MAC
protocol, simulator tools, hardware platforms, and system stability and
reliability.
1. What is meant by “wireless sensor network”?

2. List the challenges in oceanographic WSN.
3. List some application area in WSN marine.
4. What is meant by “star topology”?
5. List the disadvantages of mesh topology.
6. What are the advantages of tree topology?
7. What are the components of a buoy?
8. What are CDMA, TDMA, and FDMA acronyms for?
9. What is TDMA?
10. Define FDMA.
11. What is the meaning of “CDMA”?
12. What is UW-ASN?
1. What are the differences between land and water WSNs?

2. Write briefly about sensing parameters and sensors.
3. Explain WSN network topologies.
4. What are the different wireless communication technologies available
for underwater sensors?
5. Write a note on oceanographic sensor protection.
6. What are the design requirements of buoy design?

7. Compare underwater acoustic sensor networks and terrestrial net-

works.
8. What are the characteristics of underwater acoustic sensor networks?
1. Explain WSN architecture for marine monitoring.

2. Write in detail about underwater communication and network tech-
nologies.
3. What are the three different architectures of underwater acoustic sen-
sor network? Explain any one of the architectures in detail.
4. Explain in detail about the 2-dimensional underwater sensor networks.
5. With the help of diagram, write in detail about 3- dimensional under-
water sensor network architecture.
6. Write about your own network challenges in WSN.
WEB LINKS
http://rsta.royalsocietypublishing.org/
http://www.ece.gatech.edu/research/labs/bwn/UWASN/

CHAPTER
6
IMAGE PROCESSING FOR
THE OCEAN
T
his chapter deals with analog and digital images, EM spectrum,
multi-layer images, spectral response patterns, multi-spectral imag-
es, multi-spectral remote sensing, superspectral images, hyperspec-
tral images, hyperspectral remote sensing, sensor/platform systems, special
resolution, pixel size, radiometric resolution, data volume, infrared remote
sensing, black body radiation, microwave remote sensing, digital image pro-
cessing, and software for ocean color and algorithms.
6.1 ANALOG AND DIGITAL IMAGES

An image is a 2-dimensional representation of objects in a real scene.
Remote sensing images are representations of parts of the Earth’s surface
as seen from space. The images may be analog
or digital. Aerial photographs are examples of Column
analog images while satellite images acquired
using electronic sensors are examples of digi-
tal images. A digital image is a 2-dimensional
array of pixels. Each pixel has an intensity Row
value (represented by a digital number) and
a location address (referenced by its row and
column numbers). A digital image comprises a Pixels
2-dimensional array of individual picture ele-
ments called pixels arranged in columns and FIGURE 6.1 The representation of
rows, as in Figure 6.1. Each pixel represents a digital image.

an area on the Earth’s surface. A pixel has an intensity value and a location
address in the 2-dimensional image.
The intensity value represents a measured physical quantity such as
the solar radiance in a wavelength band reflected from the ground, emit-
ted infrared radiation, or backscattered radar intensity. This value is nor-
mally the average value for the whole ground area covered by the pixel.
The intensity of a pixel is digitized and recorded as a digital number. Due
to finite storage capacity, a digital number is stored with a finite number of
bits (binary digits). The number of bits determines the radiometric resolu-
tion of the image. For example, an 8-bit digital number ranges from 0 to
255 (i.e., 28–1), while a 11-bit digital number ranges from 0 to 2047. The
detected intensity value needs to be scaled and quantized to fit within this
range of value. In a radiometrically calibrated image, the actual intensity
value can be derived from the pixel digital number. The address of a pixel
is denoted by its row and column coordinates in the 2-dimensional image.
There is a one-to-one correspondence between the column-row address of
a pixel and the geographical coordinates (e.g., longitude, latitude) of the
imaged location. To be useful, the exact geographical location of each pixel
on the ground must be derivable from its row and column indices, given the
imaging geometry and the satellite orbit parameters.
6.2 THE ELECTROMAGNETIC SPECTRUM

Most remote sensing devices make use of electromagnetic energy. How-
ever, the electromagnetic spectrum is very broad and not all wavelengths
are equally effective for remote sensing purposes. Figure 6.2 illustrates the
0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 (µm)

Green
Blue
UV Near – infrared
Red
Visible
(1mm) (1m)
10−6 10−5 10−4 10−3 10−2 10−1 1 10 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 Wavelength
(µm)
γr
Co
N ibleolet
M ar − UV
Th I
Te d R
Vi ravi
lt
e
ay
ra
id IR
icr
s
le ad
sm
er R
an
ys
s
vis i
−
ow
m
ic
al
io o
av
ra
n
IR
ys
a
(
)
FIGURE 6.2 The electromagnetic spectrum.
Ocean Electronics_Chapter-6.indd 206 13/09/17 9:47 AM

Image Processing for the Ocean • 207
electromagnetic spectrum. The atmosphere itself causes significant absorp-

tion and/or scattering of the very shortest wavelengths. In addition, the glass
lenses of many sensors also cause significant absorption of shorter wave-
lengths such as the ultraviolet (UV). Thus the first significant window (i.e., a
region in which energy can significantly pass through the atmosphere) opens
up in the visible wavelengths. Even here, the blue wavelengths undergo
substantial attenuation by atmospheric scattering, and are thus often left
out in remotely sensed images. However, the green, red, and near-infrared
(IR) wavelengths all provide good opportunities for gauging Earth surface
interactions without significant interference by the atmosphere. In addition,
these regions provide important clues to the nature of many Earth surface
materials. Chlorophyll, for example, is a very strong absorber of red visible
wavelengths, while the near-infrared wavelengths provide important clues
to the structures of plant leaves. Thus the bulk of remotely sensed images
used in GIS-related applications are taken in these regions. Extending into
the middle and thermal infrared regions, a variety of good windows can be
found. The longer of the middle infrared wavelengths have proven to be
useful in many geological applications. The thermal regions have proven
to be very useful for monitoring not only the obvious cases of the spatial
distribution of heat from industrial activity, but a broad set of applications
ranging from fire monitoring to animal distribution studies to soil moisture
conditions.
After the thermal IR, the next area of major significance in environ-
mental remote sensing is in the microwave region. Many important win-
dows exist in this region and are of particular importance for the use of
active radar imaging. The texture of the Earth’s surface materials causes
significant interactions with several microwave wavelength regions. This
can thus be used as a supplement to information gained in other wave-
lengths, and offers the significant advantage of being usable at night
(because, as an active system, it is independent of solar radiation) and in
regions of persistent cloud cover (since radar wavelengths are not signifi-
cantly affected by clouds).
6.2.1 A Push Broom Scanner

This type of imaging system is commonly used in optical remote sens-
ing satellites such as SPOT. The imaging system has a linear detector array
(usually of the CCD type) consisting of many detector elements (6,000 ele-
ments in SPOT HRV). Each detector element projects an instantaneous
field of view (IFOV) on the ground. The signal recorded by a detector

Flight Direction
Detector Array
Imaging Optics
Instantaneous
Field of View
FIGURE 6.3 Push-broom scanner.
element is proportional to the total radiation collected within its IFOV

[Figure 6.3]. At any instant, a row of pixels is formed. As the detector
array flies along its track, the row of pixels sweeps along to generate a
2-dimensional image.
6.3 MULTI-LAYER IMAGE

Several types of measurement may be made from the ground area cov-
ered by a single pixel. Each type of measurement forms images which carry
some specific information about the area. By “stacking” these images from
the same area together, a multi-layer image is formed. Each component
image is a layer in the multi-layer image. Multi-layer images can also be
formed by combining images obtained from different sensors, and other
subsidiary data. For example, a multi-layer image may consist of three lay-
ers from a SPOT multi-spectral image, a layer of ERS synthetic aperture
radar image, and perhaps a layer consisting of the digital elevation map of
the area being studied. The multi-layer image consisting of five component
layers is as shown in Figure 6.4.

FIGURE 6.4 Multi-layer image.
6.3.1 Interaction Mechanisms

When electromagnetic energy
strikes a material, three types of Light Source
interaction can follow: reflection,
absorption and/or transmission (as
in Figure 6.5). The main concern is
with the reflected portion, since it is
usually this which is returned to the
sensor system. Exactly how much is reflection
reflected will vary and will depend
upon the nature of the material and
where in the electromagnetic spec- absorption transmission
trum the measurement is being
taken. The nature of this reflected FIGURE 6.5 Interaction process.
component over a range of wave-
lengths characterizes the result as a
spectral response pattern.
6.4 SPECTRAL RESPONSE PATTERNS

A spectral response pattern is sometimes called a signature. It is a
description (often in the form of a graph) of the degree to which energy
is reflected in different regions of the spectrum. Most humans are very
familiar with spectral response patterns since they are equivalent to the

human concept of color. For example, Figure 6.6 shows idealized spec-
tral response patterns for several familiar colors in the visible portion of
the electromagnetic spectrum, as well as for white and dark grey. The
bright red reflectance pattern, for example, might be that produced by a
piece of paper printed with a red ink. Here, the ink is designed to alter
the white light that shines upon it and absorb the blue and green wave-
lengths. What is left, then, are the red wavelengths, which reflect off
the surface of the paper back to the sensing system (the eye). The high
return of red wavelengths indicates a bright red, whereas the low return
of green wavelengths in the second example suggests that it will appear
quite dark.
B G R B G R B G R
bright red dark green yellow
B G R B G R B G R
purple white dark gray
FIGURE 6.6 Spectral response patterns.
The eye can sense spectral response patterns because it is truly a

multi-spectral sensor (i.e., it senses in more than one place in the spec-
trum). Although the actual functioning of the eye is quite complex, it
does in fact have three separate types of detectors that can usefully be
thought of as responding to the red, green, and blue wavelength regions.
These are the additive primary colors, and the eye responds to mixtures
of these three to yield a sensation of other hues. For example, the color
perceived by the third spectral response pattern in Figure 6.6 would be
a yellow—the result of mixing a red and a green. However, it is impor-
tant to recognize that this is simply our phenomenological perception of a
spectral response pattern. Consider, for example, the fourth curve. Here
we have reflectance in both the blue and red regions of the visible spec-
trum. This is a bimodal distribution, and thus technically not a specific

hue in the spectrum. However, we would perceive this to be a purple!

Purple (a color between violet and red) does not exist in nature (i.e., as a
hue—a distinctive dominant wavelength). It is very real in our perception,
however. Purple is simply our perception of a bimodal pattern involving
a nonadjacent pair of primary hues.
Figure 6.7 shows an idealized spectral response pattern for vegetation
along with those of water and dry bare soil. The strong absorption by leaf
pigments (particularly chlorophyll for purposes of photosynthesis) in the
blue and red regions of the visible portion of the spectrum leads to the
characteristic green appearance of healthy vegetation. However, while this
signature is distinctively different from most nonvegetated surfaces, it is
not very capable of distinguishing between species of vegetation—most will
have a similar color of green at full maturation. In the near infrared, how-
ever, we find a much higher return from vegetated surfaces because of scat-
tering within the fleshy mesophyllic layer of the leaves. Plant pigments do
not absorb energy in this region, and thus the scattering, combined with the
multiplying effect of a full canopy of leaves, leads to high reflectance in this
region of the spectrum. However, the extent of this reflectance will depend
highly on the internal structure of leaves (e.g., broadleaf versus needle).
Significant differences between species can thereby often be detected in
this region.
Dry bare soil

Vegetation
Water (clear)
Relative Reflectance
0.4 0.8 1.2 1.6 2.0 2.4

Wavelength (µm)
FIGURE 6.7 Spectral response pattern for different items.

6.5 MULTI-SPECTRAL IMAGE

A multi-spectral image consists of a few image layers; each layer repre-
sents an image acquired at a specific wavelength band. For example, the SPOT
HRV (high resolution visible) sensor operating in the multi-spectral mode
detects radiations in three wavelength bands: the green (500–590 nm), red
(610–680 nm) and near-infrared (790–890 nm) bands. A single SPOT multi-
spectral scene consists of three intensity images in the three wavelength bands.
In this case, each pixel of the scene has three intensity values corresponding
to the three bands. A multi-spectral IKONOS image consists of four bands:
blue, green, red, and near infrared, while a LANDSAT TM (thematic mapper)
multi-spectral image consists of seven bands: blue, green, red, and near-IR
bands, two SWIR bands, and a thermal IR band.
6.5.1 Multi-Spectral Remote Sensing

In the visual interpretation of remotely sensed images, a variety of
image characteristics are brought into consideration: color (or tone in the
case of panchromatic images), texture, size, shape, pattern, context, and
the like. However, with computer-assisted interpretation, it is most often
simply color (i.e., the spectral response pattern) that is used. It is for this
reason that a strong emphasis is placed on the use of multi-spectral sensors
(sensors that, like the eye, look at more than one place in the spectrum and
thus can gauge spectral response patterns), and the number and specific
placement of these spectral bands.
The LANDSAT satellite is a commercial system providing multi-spectral
imagery in seven spectral bands at a 30-meter resolution. It can be shown
through analytical techniques such as principal components analysis, that in
many environments, the bands that carry the greatest amount of informa-
tion about the natural environment are the near-infrared and red wavelength
bands. Water is strongly absorbed by infrared wavelengths and is thus highly
distinctive in that region. In addition, plant species typically show their great-
est differentiation here. The red area is also very important because it is the
primary region in which chlorophyll absorbs energy for photosynthesis. Thus,
it is this band which can most readily distinguish between vegetated and non-
vegetated surfaces. Given this importance of the red and near-infrared bands,
it is not surprising that sensor systems designed for earth resource monitoring
will invariably include these in any particular multi-spectral system. Other
bands will depend upon the range of applications envisioned. Many include
the green visible band since it can be used, along with the other two, to pro-
duce a traditional false color composite—a full-color image derived from the

green, red, and infrared bands (as opposed to the blue, green, and red bands
of natural color images). This format became common with the advent of
color infrared photography and is familiar to many specialists in the remote
sensing field. In addition, the combination of these three bands works well in
the interpretation of the cultural landscape as well as natural and vegetated
surfaces. However, it is increasingly common to include other bands that
are more specifically targeted to the differentiation of surface materials. For
example, LANDSAT TM Band 5 is placed between two water absorption
bands and has thus proven very useful in determining soil and leaf moisture
differences. Similarly, LANDSAT TM Band 7 targets the detection of hydro-
thermal alteration zones in bare rock surfaces. By contrast, the AVHRR sys-
tem on the NOAA series satellites includes several thermal channels for the
sensing of cloud temperature characteristics.
6.5.2 Superspectral Image

The more recent satellite sensors can acquire images at many more wave-
length bands. For example, the MODIS sensor onboard NASA’s TERRA
satellite consists of 36 spectral bands, covering the wavelength regions rang-
ing from the visible, near infrared, and short-wave infrared to the thermal
infrared. The bands have narrower bandwidths, enabling the finer spectral
characteristics of the targets to be captured by the sensor. The term super-
spectral has been coined to describe such sensors.
6.6 HYPERSPECTRAL IMAGE

A hyperspectral image consists of about a hundred or more contiguous
spectral bands. The characteristic spectrum of the target pixel is acquired in a
hyperspectral image. The precise spectral information contained in a hyper-
spectral image enables better characterization and identification of targets.
Hyperspectral images have potential applications in such fields as precision
agriculture (e.g., monitoring the types, health, moisture status, and maturity
of crops), coastal management (e.g., monitoring of phytoplanktons, pollu-
tion, and bathymetry changes). Currently, hyperspectral imagery is not com-
mercially available from satellites. There are experimental satellite-sensors
that acquire hyperspectral imagery for scientific investigation (e.g., NASA’s
Hyperion sensor onboard the EO1 satellite, the CHRIS sensor onboard
ESA’s PRABO satellite). An illustration of a hyperspectral image cube is
shown in Figure 6.8. The hyperspectral image data usually consists of over a
hundred contiguous spectral bands, f orming a three-dimensional (two spatial
dimensions and one spectral dimension) image cube. Each pixel is associated

with a complete spectrum of the imaged area. The high spectral resolution of
hyperspectral images enables better identification of land cover.
Reflectance, R / %
80
40
0
400 800 1200
λ
Wavelength, λ / nm
FIGURE 6.8 Hyperspectral image.
6.6.1 Hyperspectral Remote Sensing

In addition to traditional multi-spectral imagery, some new and experi-
mental systems such as AVIRIS and MODIS can capture hyperspectral data.
These systems cover a similar wavelength range to multi-spectral systems,
but in much narrower bands. This dramatically increases the number of
bands (and thus precision) available for image classification (typically tens
and even hundreds of very narrow bands). Moreover, hyperspectral signa-
ture libraries have been created in lab conditions and contain hundreds of
signatures for different types of land covers, including many minerals and
other earth materials. Thus, it should be possible to match signatures to
surface materials with great precision.
6.7 SENSOR/PLATFORM SYSTEMS

Given recent developments in sensors, a variety of platforms are now
available for the capture of remotely sensed data. Here we review some of
the major sensor/platform combinations that are typically available to the
GIS user community.

6.7.1 Aerial Photography

Aerial photography is the method in which the cameras mounted
in light aircraft flying between 200 and 15,000 meters capture a large
quantity of detailed information. Aerial photos provide an instant
visual inventory of a portion of the Earth’s surface and can be used
to create detailed maps. Aerial photographs commonly are taken by
commercial aerial photography firms which own and operate spe-

cially modified aircraft equipped with large format (23 cm × 23 cm)
mapping-quality cameras. Aerial photos can also be taken using small
format cameras (35 mm and 70 mm), handheld or mounted in unmodi-
fied light aircraft. Camera and platform configurations can be grouped
in terms of oblique and vertical. Oblique aerial photography is taken
at an angle to the ground. The resulting images give a view as if the
observer is looking out an airplane window. These images are easier to
interpret than vertical photographs, but it is difficult to locate and mea-
sure features on them for mapping purposes. Vertical aerial photography
is taken with the camera pointed straight down. The resulting images
depict ground features in plan form and are easily compared with maps.
Vertical aerial photos are always highly desirable, but are particularly
useful for resource surveys in areas where no maps are available. Aerial
photos depict features such as field patterns and vegetation which are
often omitted on maps. Comparison of old and new aerial photos can also
capture changes within an area over time. Vertical aerial photos contain
subtle displacements due to relief, tip and tilt of the aircraft, and lens dis-
tortion. Vertical images may be taken with overlap, typically about 60%
along the flight line and at least 20% between lines. Overlapping images
can be viewed with a stereoscope.
6.7.2 Aerial Videography

Light, portable, inexpensive video cameras and recorders can be carried
in chartered aircraft. In addition, many smaller aerial mapping companies
offer videography as an output option. By using several cameras simultane-
ously, each with a filter designed to isolate a specific wavelength range; it is
possible to isolate multi-spectral image bands that can be used individually
or in combination in the form of a color composite. For use in digital analy-
sis, special graphics hardware boards known as frame grabbers can be used
to freeze any frame within a continuous video sequence and convert it to
digital format, usually in one of the more popular exchange formats such as
TIF or TARGA.

6.7.3 Satellite-Based Scanning Systems

Photography has proven to be an important input to visual interpreta-
tion and the production of analog maps. However, the development of sat-
ellite platforms, the associated need to telemeter imagery in digital form,
and the desire for highly consistent digital imagery have given rise to the
development of solid-state scanners as a major format for the capture of
remotely sensed data. The specific features of systems vary (including,
in some cases, the removal of a true scanning mechanism). However, in
the discussion which follows, an idealized scanning system is presented
that is highly representative of current systems in use. The basic logic of
a scanning sensor is the use of a mechanism to sweep a small field of view
(known as an instantaneous field of view [IFOV] as in Figure 6.3) in a west-
to-east direction at the same time the satellite is moving in a north-to-south
direction. Together, this movement provides the means of composing a
complete raster image of the environment. A simple scanning technique
is to use a rotating mirror that can sweep the field of view in a consistent
west-to-east fashion. The field of view is then intercepted with a prism that
can spread the energy contained within the IFOV into its spectral compo-
nents. Photoelectric detectors (of the same nature as those found in the
exposure meters of commonly available photographic cameras) are then
arranged in the path of this spectrum to provide electrical measurements
of the amount of energy detected in various parts of the electromagnetic
spectrum. As the scan moves from west to east, these detectors are polled
to get a set of readings along the east-west scan. These form the columns
along one row of a set of raster images, one for each detector. Movement
of the satellite from north to south then positions the system to detect the
next row, ultimately leading to the production of a set of raster images as a
record of reflectance over a range of spectral bands.
There are several satellite systems in operation today that col-
lect imagery that is subsequently distributed to users. Each type of sat-
ellite data offers specific characteristics that make it appropriate for a
particular application. In general, there are two characteristics that may
help guide the choice of satellite data: spatial resolution and spectral
resolution. The spatial resolution refers to the size of the ground area
that is summarized by one data value in the imagery. This is the instan-
taneous field of view (IFOV) described earlier. Spectral resolution refers
to the number and width of the spectral bands that the satellite sensor
detects. In addition, issues of cost and imagery availability must also be
considered.

6.8 SPATIAL RESOLUTION

Spatial resolution refers to the size of the smallest object that can be
resolved on the ground. In a digital image, the resolution is limited by the
pixel size, i.e., the smallest resolvable object cannot be smaller than the pixel
size. The intrinsic resolution of an imaging system is determined primarily
by the instantaneous field of view (IFOV) of the sensor, which is a measure
of the ground area viewed by a single detector element in a given instant
in time. However, this intrinsic resolution can often be degraded by other
factors which introduce blurring of the image, such as improper focusing,
atmospheric scattering, and target motion. The pixel size is determined by
the sampling distance. A high-resolution image refers to one with a small
resolution size. Fine details can be seen in a high-resolution image. On the
other hand, a low-resolution image is one with a large resolution size, i.e.,
only coarse features can be observed in the image. A low-resolution MODIS
scene with a wide coverage is shown in Figure 6.9. The intrinsic resolution of
the image was approximately 1 km, but the image shown here has been resa-
mpled to a resolution of about 4 km. The coverage is more than 1,000 km
from east to west. A large part of Indochina, Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore,
and Sumatra can be seen in the image.
A browse image of a high-resolution SPOT scene is shown in Figure 6.10.
The multi-spectral SPOT scene has a resolution of 20 meters and covers an
area of 60 km by 60 km. The browse image has been resampled to 120 meter
pixel size, and hence the resolution has been reduced. This scene shows Sin-
gapore and part of the Johor State of Malaysia.
FIGURE 6.9 Low-resolution image. FIGURE 6.10 High-resolution image.

6.8.1 Spatial Resolution and Pixel Size

Image resolution and pixel size are often used interchangeably,
but in reality, they are not equivalent. An image sampled at a small pixel size
does not necessarily have a high resolution. The three images in Figure
6.11 illustrate this point. The first image is a SPOT image of 10-meter
pixel size. It was derived by merging a SPOT panchromatic image of
10-meter resolution with a SPOT multi-spectral image of 20 meters reso-
lution. The merging procedure “colors” the panchromatic image using the
colors derived from the multi-spectral image. The effective resolution is
thus determined by the resolution of the panchromatic image, which is
10 meters. This image is further processed to degrade the resolution while
FIGURE 6.11 Different resolution, same pixel size images: L–R: 10 meter resolution,
10 meter pixel size; 30 meter resolution, 10 meter pixel size; 80 meter resolution,
10 meter pixel size.

maintaining the same pixel size. The next two images are the blurred ver-
sions of the image with larger resolution size, but still digitized at the
same pixel size of 10 meters. Even though they have the same pixel size as
the first image, they do not have the same resolution.
The images in Figure 6.12 illustrate the effect of pixel size on the visual
appearance of an area. The first image is a SPOT image of 10 meter pixel
size derived by merging a SPOT panchromatic image with a SPOT multi-
spectral image. The subsequent images show the effects of digitizing the
same area with larger pixel sizes.
FIGURE 6.12 Effect of pixel size in the images; L–R: pixel size = 10 meters, image
width, height = 160 pixels; pixel size = 20 meters, image width, height = 80 pixels; pixel
size = 80 meters, image width, height = 20 pixels.

6.9 RADIOMETRIC RESOLUTION

Radiometric resolution refers to the smallest change in intensity level
that can be detected by the sensing system. The intrinsic radiometric reso-
lution of a sensing system depends on the signal-to-noise ratio of the detec-
tor. In a digital image, the radiometric resolution is limited by the number
of discrete quantization levels used to digitize the continuous intensity
value. The images in Figure 6.13 illustrate the effects of the number of
quantization levels on the digital image. The first image is a SPOT panchro-
matic image quantized at 8 bits (i.e., 256 levels) per pixel. The subsequent
images show the effects of degrading the radiometric resolution by using
fewer quantization levels.
Digitization using a small number of quantization levels does not affect
very much the visual quality of the image. Even 4-bit quantization (16 lev-
els) seems acceptable in the examples shown. However, if the image is to
be subjected to numerical analysis, the accuracy of analysis will be compro-
mised if few quantization levels are used.
6.9.1 Data Volume

The volume of the digital data can potentially be large for multi-
spectral data, as a given area is covered in many different wavelength bands.
8-bit quantization (256 levels). 6-bit quantization (64 levels).
FIGURE 6.13 Continued on next page

FIGURE 6.13 Different radiometric resolution images.
For example, a 3-band multi-spectral SPOT image covers an area of about

60 × 60 km2 on the ground with a pixel separation of 20 meters, so there
are about 3,000 × 3,000 pixels per image. Each pixel intensity in each band
is coded using an 8 bit (i.e., 1 byte) digital number, giving a total of about
27 million bytes per image. In comparison, panchromatic data has only one

band. Thus, panchromatic systems are normally designed to give a higher

spatial resolution than the multi-spectral system. For example, a SPOT
panchromatic scene has the same coverage of about 60 × 60 km2 but the
pixel size is 10 meters, giving about 6,000 × 6,000 pixels and a total of about
36 million bytes per image. If a multi-spectral SPOT scene is digitized also
at a 10-meter pixel size, the data volume will be 108 million bytes. For very
high spatial resolution imagery, such as the one acquired by the IKONOS
satellite, the data volume is even more significant. For example, an IKONOS
4-band multi-spectral image at 4-meter pixel size covering an area of 10 km
by 10 km, digitized at 11 bits (stored at 16 bits), has a data volume of 4 ×
2,500 × 2,500 × 2 bytes, or 50 million bytes per image. A 1-meter resolution
panchromatic image covering the same area would have a data volume of
200 million bytes per image. The images taken by a remote sensing satel-
lite is transmitted to Earth through telecommunication. The bandwidth of
the telecommunication channel sets a limit to the data volume for a scene
taken by the imaging system. Ideally, it is desirable to have a high spatial
resolution image with many spectral bands covering a wide area. In reality,
depending on the intended application, spatial resolution may have to be
compromised to accommodate a larger number of spectral bands, or wide
area coverage. A small number of spectral bands or a smaller area of cover-
age may be accepted to allow high spatial resolution imaging.
LANDSAT: LANDSAT carries two multi-spectral sensors. The first is

the multi-spectral scanner (MSS) which acquires imagery in four spec-
tral bands: blue, green, red, and near-infrared. The second is the thematic
mapper (TM) which collects seven bands: blue, green, red, near-infrared,
two mid-infrared, and one thermal infrared. The MSS has a spatial resolu-
tion of 80 meters, while that of the TM is 30 meters. Both sensors image a
185-km wide swath, passing over each day at 09:45 local time, and return-
ing every 16 days. With LANDSAT 7, support for TM imagery is to be con-
tinued with the addition of a coregistered 15-meter panchromatic band.
SPOT: SPOT satellites carry two high resolution visible (HRV) pushbroom
sensors which operate in multi-spectral or panchromatic mode. The multi-
spectral images have 20-meter spatial resolution while the panchromatic im-
ages have 10-meter resolution. All SPOT images cover a swath 60 kilometers
wide. The SPOT sensor may be pointed to image along adjacent paths. This
allows the instrument to acquire repeat imagery of any area 12 times during
its 26-day orbital period. The pointing capability makes SPOT the only satel-
lite system which can acquire useful stereo satellite imagery.

IRS: The Indian Space Research Organization currently has five satel-
lites in the IRS system. IRS-1D satellites that together provide continuing
global coverage with the following sensors:
■■ IRS-Pan: 5.8 meter panchromatic
■■ IRS-LISS38: 23.5 meter multi-spectral in the following bands: green
(0.52–0.59), red (0.62–0.68), near-infrared (0.77–0.86), shortwave infra-
red (1.55–1.7)
■■ IRS-WiFS9: 180 meter multi-spectral in the following bands: red
(0.62–0.68), near-infrared (0.77–0.86)
6.10 INFRARED REMOTE SENSING

Infrared remote sensing makes use of infrared sensors to detect infra-
red radiation emitted from the Earth’s surface. The middle-wave infrared
(MWIR) and long-wave infrared (LWIR) are within the thermal infra-
red region. These radiations are emitted from warm objects such as the
Earth’s surface. They are used in satellite remote sensing for measure-
ments of the Earth’s land and sea surface temperature. Thermal infra-
red remote sensing is also often used for detection of forest fires. This is
Satellite
Emitted
Thermal Radiation
Atmosphere
Bare Soil Paved Built–up Area

Forest Grass
Water Road
FIGURE 6.14 Infrared remote sensing.

6.10.1 Black Body Radiation

The amount of thermal radiation emitted at a wavelength from a warm
object depends on its temperature. If the Earth’s surface is regarded as a
blackbody emitter, its apparent temperature (known as the brightness tem-
perature) and spectral radiance are related by Planck’s blackbody equation,
plotted in Figure 6.15 for several temperatures. For a surface at a brightness
temperature around 300 K, spectral radiance peaks at a wavelength around
10 µm. The peak wavelength decreases as the brightness temperature
increases. For this reason, most satellite sensors for measurement of Earth’s
surface temperature have a band detecting infrared radiation around 10 µm.
Besides the measurement of regular surface temperature, infrared sensors
can be used for detection of forest fires or other warm/hot objects. For typi-
cal fire temperatures from about 500 K (smoldering fire) to over 1,000 K
(flaming fire), the radiance versus wavelength curves peak at around 3.8 µm.
Sensors such as the NOAA-AVHRR, ERS-ATSR and TERRA-MODIS are
equipped with this band that can be used for detection of fire hot spots.
Thermal Emission
1.E+33
c1 / λ5 300 K
1.E+32 Eλ =
exp(c2 / λT) − 1 500 K
750 K
1.E+31 1000 K
Emittance (Arb. Unit)
1200 K
1.E+30
1.E+29
1.E+28
1.E+27
1.E+26
0.1 1.0 10.0 100.0
Wavelength (micron)
FIGURE 6.15 Thermal emission from a surface at various temperatures, modeled by Planck’s equation
for an ideal blackbody.

The two bands around 3.8 µm (e.g., AVHRR band 3) and 10 µm

(e.g. AVHRR band 4) commonly available in infrared remote sensing satel-
lite sensors are marked in Figure 6.15. A 50-km resolution global sea surface
temperature (SST) field for the period 11 to 24 September 2014 derived
from NOAA-AVHRR thermal infrared data is shown in Figure 6.16. Occur-
rence of abnormal climatic conditions such as the El Nino can be predicted
by observations of the SST anomaly, i.e., the deviation of the daily SST from
the mean SST.
February 1, 2016
Sea Surface Temperature Anomaly (SSTA)
February 1, 2016
degrees F
−5.0 0.0 5.0
FIGURE 6.16 Sea surface temperature data.
6.11 MICROWAVE REMOTE SENSING

Electromagnetic radiation in the microwave wavelength region is
used in remote sensing to provide useful information about the Earth’s
atmosphere, land, and ocean. A microwave radiometer is a passive device
which records the natural microwave emission from the Earth. It can
be used to measure the total water content of the atmosphere within its
field of view. A radar altimeter sends out pulses of microwave signals and
record the signal scattered back from the Earth’s surface. The height of

the surface can be measured from the time delay of the return signals.
A wind scatterometer can be used to measure wind speed and direction
over the ocean’s surface. It sends out pulses of microwaves along several
directions and records the magnitude of the signals backscattered from
the ocean surface. The magnitude of the backscattered signal is related
to the ocean’s surface roughness, which in turns is dependent on the
sea surface wind condition, and hence wind speed and direction can be
derived.
Synthetic aperture radar (SAR): In synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imag-

ing, microwave pulses are transmitted by an antenna towards the earth sur-
face. The microwave energy scattered back to the spacecraft is measured.
The SAR makes use of the radar principle to form an image by utilizing the
time delay of the backscattered signals.
SAR Antenna
SAR Antenna
Incident
Radar Backscattered
Pulse Radar Pulse
Ground Targets Ground Targets

FIGURE 6.17 SAR using microwave remote sensing.
A radar pulse is transmitted from the antenna to the ground. The radar
pulse is scattered by the ground targets back to the antenna as in Figure
6.17. In real aperture radar imaging, the ground resolution is limited by
the size of the microwave beam sent out from the antenna. Finer details
on the ground can be resolved by using a narrower beam. The beam width
is inversely proportional to the size of the antenna, i.e., the longer the

Short Antenna Long Antenna antenna, the narrower the beam, as

in Figure 6.18.
The microwave beam sent
out by the antenna illuminates an
area on the ground (known as the
antenna’s footprint). In radar imag-
ing, the recorded signal strength
depends on the microwave energy
backscattered from the ground tar-
gets inside this footprint. Increas-
ing the length of the antenna will
Wide Footprint Narrow Footprint decrease the width of the footprint.
It is not feasible for a spacecraft to
FIGURE 6.18 The relationship between antenna size
and footprint.
carry the very long antenna that is
required for high-resolution
Satellite Flight Path imaging of the Earth’s surface.
To overcome this limitation,
SAR capitalizes on the motion
SAR Antenna of the spacecraft to emulate a
large antenna (about 4 km for
Radar Beam the ERS SAR) from the small
Satellite Altitude antenna (10 meters on the
Ground Track ERS satellite) it actually car-
ries on board. Imaging geome-
Incidence Angle try for a typical strip-mapping
synthetic aperture radar imag-
Antenna’s ing system is shown in Figure
Footprint 6.19. The antenna’s footprint
Ground Swath sweeps out a strip parallel to
the direction of the satellite’s
FIGURE 6.19 SAR imaging system. ground track.
6.11.1 Interaction between Microwaves and Earth’s Surface

When microwaves strike a surface, the proportion of energy scattered
back to the sensor depends on many factors:
■■ Physical factors such as the dielectric constant of the surface materials
which also depends strongly on the moisture content

■■ Geometric factors such as surface roughness, slopes, and orientation of

the objects relative to the radar beam direction
■■ The types of land cover (soil, vegetation, or man-made objects)
■■ Microwave frequency, polarization, and incident angle
6.12 DIGITAL IMAGE PROCESSING

Digital data analysis techniques to the image data with the use of com-
puter is the field of study called digital image processing, which is largely
concerned with four basic operations:
1. Image restoration or preprocessing

2. Image enhancement
3. Image classification
4. Image transformation
Image restoration is concerned with the correction and calibration

of images to achieve as faithful a representation of the Earth’s surface as
possible—a fundamental consideration for all applications. Image enhance-
ment is predominantly concerned with the modification of images to opti-
mize their appearance to the visual system. Visual analysis is a key element,
even in digital image processing, and the effects of these techniques can be
dramatic. Image classification refers to the computer assisted interpretation
of images, an operation that is vital to GIS. Finally, image transformation
refers to the derivation of new imagery through mathematical treatment
of the raw image bands. To undertake the operations listed, it is necessary
to have access to image processing software. IDRISI is one such system.
While it is known primarily as a GIS software system, it also offers a full
suite of image processing capabilities.
6.12.1 Image Preprocessing

Prior to data analysis, initial processing on the raw data is usu-
ally carried out to correct for any distortion due to the characteristics
of the imaging system and imaging conditions. Depending on the user’s
requirement, some standard correction procedures may be carried out by
the ground station operators before the data is delivered to the end user.
These procedures include radiometric correction to correct for uneven

sensor response over the whole image and geometric correction to cor-
rect for geometric distortion due to Earth’s rotation and other imaging
conditions (such as oblique viewing). The image may also be transformed
to conform to a specific map projection system. Furthermore, if accurate
geographical location of an area on the image needs to be known, ground
control points (GCPs) are used to register the image to a precise map
(georeferencing).
Remotely sensed images of the environment are typically taken at a
great distance from the Earth’s surface. As a result, there is a substantial
atmospheric path that electromagnetic energy must pass through before it
reaches the sensor. Depending upon the wavelengths involved and atmo-
spheric conditions (such as particulate matter, moisture content, and tur-
bulence), the incoming energy may be substantially modified. The sensor
itself may then modify the character of that data since it may combine
a variety of mechanical, optical, and electrical components that serve to
modify or mask the measured radiant energy. In addition, during the time
the image is being scanned, the satellite is following a path that is subject
to minor variations as the earth is moving underneath. The geometry of the
image is thus in constant flux. Finally, the signal needs to be telemetered
back to Earth, and processed to yield the final data we receive. Conse-
quently, a variety of systematic and apparently random disturbances can
combine to degrade the final quality of the image. Image restoration seeks
to remove these degradation effects. Broadly, image restoration can be
broken down into the subareas of radiometric restoration and geometric
restoration.
Radiometric restoration: Radiometric restoration refers to the removal or

diminishment of distortions in the degree of electromagnetic energy reg-
istered by each detector. A variety of agents can cause distortion in the
values recorded for image cells. Some of the most common distortions for
which correction procedures exist include: uniformly elevated values, due
to atmospheric haze, which preferentially scatters short wavelength bands
(particularly the blue wavelengths); striping, due to detectors going out of
calibration; random noise, due to unpredictable and unsystematic perfor-
mance of the sensor or transmission of the data; and scan line drop out, due
to signal loss from specific detectors. It is also appropriate to include here
procedures that are used to convert the raw, unitless relative reflectance
values (known as digital numbers, or DN) of the original bands into true
measures of reflective power (radiance).

Geometric restoration: For mapping purposes, it is essential that

any form of remotely sensed imagery be accurately registered to the
proposed map base. With satellite imagery, the very high altitude of
the sensing platform results in minimal image displacements due to re-
lief and registration can usually be achieved through the use of a sys-
tematic rubber sheet transformation process that gently warps an image
(through the use of polynomial equations) based on the known positions
of a set of widely dispersed control points. This capability is provided
in IDRISI through the module RESAMPLE. With aerial photographs,
however, the process is more complex. In these instances, it is neces-
sary to use photogrammetric rectification to remove these distortions
and provide accurate map measurements. Failing this, the central por-
tions of high altitude photographs can be resampled with some success.
RESAMPLE is a module of major importance, and it is essential that one
learn to use it effectively. Doing so also requires a thorough understand-
ing of reference systems and their associated parameters such as datums
and projections.
6.12.2 Image Enhancement

Image enhancement is concerned with the modification of images
to make them more suited to the capabilities of human vision. Regard-
less of the extent of digital intervention, visual analysis invariably plays a
very strong role in all aspects of remote sensing. While the range of image
enhancement techniques is broad, the following fundamental issues form
the backbone of this area:
Contrast stretch: Digital sensors have a wide range of output values to

accommodate the strongly varying reflectance values that can be found in
different environments. However, in any single environment, it is often the
case that only a narrow range of values will occur over most areas. Grey
level distributions thus tend to be much skewed. Contrast manipulation
procedures are thus essential to most visual analyses. Figure 6.20 shows
TM band 3 (visible red) and its histogram. Note that the values of the im-
age are quite skewed. The right image of the figure shows the same image
band after a linear stretch between values 12 and 60 has been applied. In
IDRISI, this type of contrast enhancement may be performed interactively
through composer’s layer properties while the image is displayed. This is
normally used for visual analysis only—original data values are used in nu-
meric analyses. New images with stretched values are produced with the
module STRETCH.

Histogram of tm band 3
0 50 100 150 200 250
FIGURE 6.20 Linear stretch.
Composite generation: For visual analysis, color composites make fullest

use of the capabilities of the human eye. Depending upon the graphics sys-
tem in use, composite generation ranges from simply selecting the bands
to use, to more involved procedures of band combination and associated
contrast stretch. Figure 6.21 shows several composites made with different
band combinations from the same set of TM images. (See Figure 6.20 for
TM band definitions.) The IDRISI module COMPOSITE is used to con-
struct three-band composite images.

Digital filtering: One of the most intriguing capabilities of digital analysis

is the ability to apply digital filters. Filters can be used to provide edge en-
hancement (sometimes called crispening), to remove image blur, and to iso-
late lineaments and directional trends, to mention just a few. The IDRISI
module FILTER is used to apply standard filters and to construct and apply
user defined.
RGB = bands 3, 2, 1. RGB = bands 4, 3, 2.
RGB = bands 4, 5, 3. RGB = bands 7, 4, 2.

FIGURE 6.21 Several composites made with different band combinations from the same (Figure 6.20) set
of TM images.

To aid visual interpretation, the visual appearance of the objects

in the image can be improved by image enhancement techniques
such as grey level stretching to improve the contrast and spatial filtering
for enhancing the edges. An example of an enhancement procedure is
shown here.
FIGURE 6.22 Unenhanced images.
A multi-spectral SPOT image is shown in Figure 6.22. Radiometric

and geometric corrections have been done. The image has also been trans-
formed to conform to a certain map projection (UTM projection). This
image is displayed without any further enhancement. In the above unen-
hanced image, a bluish tint can be seen all over the image, producing a
hazy appearance. This hazy appearance is due to scattering of sunlight by
atmosphere into the field of view of the sensor. This effect also degrades
the contrast between different land covers. It is useful to examine the
image histograms before performing any image enhancement. The X-axis of
the histogram is the range of the available digital numbers, i.e., 0–255. The
Y-axis is the number of pixels in the image having a given digital number.
The histograms of the three bands of this image are shown in Figure 6.23:
XS3 (near-infrared) band (displayed in red), XS2 (red) band (displayed in
green), and XS1 (green) band (displayed in blue).

XS3 Histogram XS2 Histogram

5000 3500
3000
4000
2500
3000 2000
2000 1500
1000
1000
500
0 0
0 50 100 150 200 250 0 50 100 150 200 250
DN DN
XS1 Histogram
3500
3000
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0
0 50 100 150 200 250
DN
FIGURE 6.23 Histograms of the three bands’ images.
Note that the minimum digital number for each band is not zero. Each
histogram is shifted to the right by a certain amount. This shift is due to the
atmospheric scattering component adding to the actual radiation reflected
from the ground. The shift is particularly large for the XS1 band compared
to the other two bands due to the higher contribution from Rayleigh scat-
tering for the shorter wavelength. The maximum digital number of each
band is also not 255. The sensor’s gain factor has been adjusted to antici-
pate any possibility of encountering a very bright object. Hence, most of
the pixels in the image have digital numbers well below the maximum
value of 255. The image can be enhanced by a simple linear grey-level

stretching. In this method, a level

Greylevel Transformation threshold value is chosen so that
250 all pixel values below this thresh-
old are mapped to zero. An upper
200
threshold value is also chosen so
that all pixel values above this
Output DN
150
threshold are mapped to 255. All
100
other pixel values are linearly inter-
polated to lie between 0 and 255.
50 The lower and upper thresholds are
usually chosen to be values close to
0 the minimum and maximum pixel
0 50 100 150 200 250 values of the image. The grey-level
Input DN transformation table is shown in
Figure 6.24.
FIGURE 6.24 Grey-level transformation table for per-
The result of applying the lin-
forming linear grey level stretching of the three bands
ear stretch is shown in Figure 6.25.
of the image. Red line: XS3 band; Green line: XS2
band; Blue line: XS1 band.
Note that the hazy appearance has
generally been removed, except for some parts near the top of the image.
The contrast between different features has been improved.
FIGURE 6.25 Multi-spectral SPOT image after enhancement by a simple linear grey-level stretching.

6.12.3 Image Classification

Image classification refers to the computer-assisted interpretation of
remotely sensed images. There are two general approaches to image classi-
fication: supervised and unsupervised. They differ in how the classification
is performed. In the case of supervised classification, the software system
delineates specific land cover types based on statistical characterization
data drawn from known examples in the image (known as training sites).
With unsupervised classification, however, clustering software is used to
uncover the commonly occurring land cover types, with the analyst provid-
ing interpretations of those cover types at a later stage.
Supervised classification: In supervised classification, the spectral
features of some areas of known landcover types are extracted from the
image. These areas are known as the training areas. Every pixel in the
whole image is classified as belonging to one of the classes depending on
how close its spectral features are to the spectral features of the training
areas. The software system is then used to develop a statistical character-
ization of the reflectance for each information class. This stage is often
called signature analysis and may involve developing a characterization
as simple as the mean or the range of reflectance on each band, or as
complex as detailed analyses of the mean, variances and covariances over
all bands. Once a statistical characterization has been achieved for each
information class, the image is then classified by examining the reflec-
tance for each pixel and deciding which of the signatures it resembles
most. There are several techniques for making these decisions, called
classifiers. Most image processing software will offer several, based on
varying decision rules. IDRISI offers a wide range of options falling into
three groups depending upon the nature of the output desired and the
nature of the input bands.
Hard classifiers: The distinguishing characteristic of hard classifiers is

that they all make a definitive decision about the land cover class to which
any pixel belongs. IDRISI offers three supervised classifiers in this group:
parallelepiped (PIPED), minimum distance to means (MINDIST), and
maximum likelihood (MAXLIKE). They differ only in how they develop
and use a statistical characterization of the training site data. Of the three,
the maximum likelihood procedure is the most sophisticated and is un-
questionably the most widely used classifier in the classification of remote-
ly sensed imagery.

Soft classifiers: In contrast to hard classifiers, soft classifiers do not make

a definitive decision about the land cover class to which each pixel belongs.
Rather, they develop statements of the degree to which each pixel belongs
to each of the land cover classes being considered. Thus, for example, a soft
classifier might indicate that a pixel has a 0.72 probability of being forest, a
0.24 probability of being pasture, and a 0.04 probability of being bare ground.
A hard classifier would resolve this uncertainty by concluding that the pixel
was forest. However, a soft classifier makes this uncertainty explicitly avail-
able, for any of a variety of reasons. For example, the analyst might conclude
that the uncertainty arises because the pixel contains more than one cover
type and could use the probabilities as indications of the relative proportion
of each. This is known as subpixel classification. Alternatively, the analyst may
conclude that the uncertainty arises because of unrepresentative training
site data and therefore may wish to combine these probabilities with other
evidence before hardening the decision to a final conclusion. IDRISI offers
three soft classifiers (BAYCLASS, BELCLASS, and FUZCLASS) and three
corresponding hardeners (MAXBAY, MAXBEL, and MAXFUZ). The differ-
ence between them relates to the logic by which uncertainty is specified:
Bayesian, Dempster-Shafer, and Fuzzy Sets, respectively. In addition, the sys-
tem supplies a variety of additional tools specifically designed for the analysis
of subpixel mixtures (e.g., UNMIX, FUZSIG, MIXCALC, and MAXSET).
Hyperspectral classifiers: All the classifiers mentioned above operate on

multi-spectral imagery—images where several spectral bands have been
captured simultaneously as independently accessible image components.
Extending this logic to many bands produces what has come to be known as
hyperspectral imagery. Although there is essentially no difference between
hyperspectral and multi-spectral imagery (i.e., they differ only in degree), the
volume of data and high spectral resolution of hyperspectral images does lead
to differences in the way that they are handled. IDRISI provides special
facilities for creating hyperspectral signatures either from training sites or
from libraries of spectral response patterns developed under lab conditions
(HYPERSIG) and an automated hyperspectral signature extraction routine
(HYPERAUTOSIG). These signatures can then be applied to any of several
hyperspectral classifiers: spectral angle mapper (HYPERSAM), minimum dis-
tance to means (HYPERMIN), linear spectral unmixing (HYPERUNMIX),
orthogonal subspace projection (HYPEROSP), and absorption area analysis
(HYPERABSORB). An unsupervised classifier for hyperspectral imagery
(HYPERUSP) is also available.

Unsupervised classification: In unsupervised classification, the computer

program automatically groups the pixels in the image into separate clusters,
depending on their spectral features. Each cluster will then be assigned
a landcover type by the analyst. Each class of landcover is referred to as
a theme and the product of classification is known as a thematic map. In
contrast to supervised classification, where the system about the charac-
ter (i.e., signature) of the information classes are looking for, unsupervised
classification requires no advance information about the classes of interest.
Rather, it examines the data and breaks it into the most prevalent natural
spectral groupings, or clusters, present in the data. The analyst then identi-
fies these clusters as land cover classes through a combination of familiarity
with the region and ground truth visits.
The logic by which unsupervised classification works is known as
cluster analysis, and is provided in IDRISI primarily by the CLUSTER
module. CLUSTER performs classification of composite images (created
with COMPOSITE) that combine the most useful information bands. It
is important to recognize, however, that the clusters unsupervised classifi-
cation produces are not information classes, but spectral classes (i.e., they
group together features [pixels] with similar reflectance patterns). It is
thus usually the case that the analyst needs to reclassify spectral classes
into information classes. For example, the system might identify classes for
asphalt and cement which the analyst might later group together, creat-
ing an information class called pavement. While attractive conceptually,
unsupervised classification has traditionally been hampered by very slow
algorithms. However, the clustering procedure provided in IDRISI is
extraordinarily fast (unquestionably the fastest on the market) and can thus
be used iteratively in conjunction with ground truth data to arrive at a very
strong classification. With suitable ground truth and accuracy assessment
procedures, this tool can provide a remarkably rapid means of producing
quality land cover data on a continuing basis.
In addition to these techniques, two modules bridge both supervised
and unsupervised classifications. ISOCLUST uses a procedure known
as self-organizing cluster analysis to classify up to 7 raw bands with the
user specifying the number of clusters to process. The procedure uses
the CLUSTER module to initiate a set of clusters that seed an iterative
application of the MAXLIKE procedure, each stage using the results
of the previous stage as the training sites for this supervised procedure.
The result is an unsupervised classification that converges on a final set

of stable members using a supervised approach (hence the notion of

“self-organizing”). MAXSET is also, at its core, a supervised procedure.
However, while the procedure starts with training sites that characterize
individual classes, it results in a classification that includes not only these
specific classes, but also significant (but unknown) mixtures that might
exist. Thus, the end result has much the character of that of an unsuper-
vised approach.
Accuracy assessment: A vital step in the classification process, whether

supervised or unsupervised, is the assessment of the accuracy of the fi-
nal images produced. This involves identifying a set of sample locations
(such as with the SAMPLE module) that are visited in the field. The land
cover found in the field is then compared to that which was mapped in
the image for the same location. Statistical assessments of accuracy may
then be derived for the entire study area, as well as for individual classes
(using ERRMAT). In an iterative approach, the error matrix produced
(sometimes referred to as a confusion matrix), may be used to identify
cover types for which errors are in excess of that desired. The informa-
tion in the matrix about which covers are being mistakenly included in
a class (errors of commission) and those that are being mistakenly ex-
cluded (errors of omission) from that class can be used to refine the clas-
sification approach.
Other transformations: As mentioned earlier, IDRISI offers a vari-

ety of other transformations. These include color space transformations
(COLSPACE), texture calculations (TEXTURE), blackbody thermal trans-
formations (THERMAL), and a wide variety of ad hoc transformations
(such as image ratioing) that can be most effectively accomplished with the
image calculator utility. The availability of this data, coupled with the com-
puter software necessary to analyze it, provides opportunities for environ-
mental scholars and planners, particularly in the areas of land use mapping
and change detection that would have been unheard of only a few decades
ago. The inherent raster structure of remotely sensed data makes it readily
compatible with raster GIS. Thus, while IDRISI provides a wide suite of
image processing tools, they are completely integrated with the broader set
of raster GIS tools the system provides. A plausible assignment of landcover
types to the thematic classes is shown in Table 6.1. The accuracy of the the-
matic map derived from remote sensing images should be verified by field
observation.

Class No. (Color in Map) Land Cover Type

1 (black) Clear water
2 (green) Dense forest with closed canopy
3 (yellow) Shrubs, less-dense forest
4 (orange) Grass
5 (cyan) Bare soil, built-up areas
6 (blue) Turbid water, bare soil, built-up areas
7 (red) bare soil, built-up areas
8 (white) bare soil, built-up areas
TABLE 6.1 Land Cover Types to the Thematic Class
The spectral features of these land cover classes can be exhibited in

two graphs shown in Figure 6.26. The first graph is a plot of the mean pixel
values of the XS3 (near-infrared) band versus the XS2 (red) band for each
class. The second graph is a plot of the mean pixel values of the XS2 (red)
versus XS1 bands. The standard deviations of the pixel values for each class
are also shown.
250 250
8
XS3 (Near IR Band) DN
8
XS2 (Red Band) DN
200 3 200
4 7
150 7 150
6
100 2 6 100 5
5
50 50 2 4
1 1
0 0 3
0 50 100 150 200 250 0 50 100 150 200 250
XS2 (Red Band) DN XS1 (Green Band) DN
FIGURE 6.26 Scatterplot of the mean pixel values for each land cover class.

In the scatterplot of the class means in the XS3 and XS2 bands, the data
points for the nonvegetated landcover classes generally lie on a straight line
passing through the origin. This line is called the soil line. The vegetated
landcover classes lie above the soil line due to the higher reflectance in the
near-infrared region (XS3 band) relative to the visible region. In the XS2
(visible red) versus XS1 (visible green) scatterplot, all the data points gener-
ally lie on a straight line. This plot shows that the two visible bands are very
highly correlated. The vegetated areas and clear water are generally dark
while the other nonvegetated landcover classes have varying brightness in
the visible bands.
6.12.4 Image Transformation

Digital image processing offers a limitless range of possible trans-
formations on remotely sensed data. Two are mentioned here specifi-
cally, because of their special significance in environmental monitoring
applications.
Vegetation indices: There are a variety of vegetation indices that have

been developed to help in the monitoring of vegetation. Most are based
on the very different interactions between vegetation and electromag-
netic energy in the red and near-infrared wavelengths. Reflectance in
the red region (about 0.6–0.7µ) is low because of absorption by leaf pig-
ments (principally chlorophyll). The infrared region (about 0.8–0.9µ),
however, characteristically shows high reflectance because of scattering
by the cell structure of the leaves. A very simple vegetation index can
thus be achieved by comparing the measure of infrared reflectance to
that of the red reflectance. Although several variants of this basic logic
have been developed, the one which has received the most attention is
the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI). It is calculated in
the following manner:
NDVI = (NIR – R) / (NIR + R)
Where,
NIR = Near Infrared and R = Red
Figure 6.27 shows NDVI calculated with TM bands 3 and 4 for the
same area shown in Figures 6.20 and 6.21.

Normalized Difference Vegetation Index
FIGURE 6.27 NDVI corrected image.
Principal components analysis: Principal components analysis (PCA) is a

linear transformation technique related to factor analysis. Given a set of im-
age bands, PCA produces a new set of images, known as components, that
are uncorrelated with one another and are ordered in terms of the amount
of variance they explain from the original band set. PCA has traditionally
been used in remote sensing as a means of data compaction. For a typical
multi-spectral image band set, it is common to find that the first two or three
components can explain virtually all of the original variability in reflectance
values. Later components thus tend to be dominated by noise effects. By re-
jecting these later components, the volume of data is reduced with no appre-
ciable loss of information. Given that the later components are dominated
by noise, it is also possible to use PCA as a noise removal technique. The
output from the PCA module in IDRISI includes the coefficients of both
the forward and backward transformations. By zeroing out the coefficients
of the noise components in the reverse transformation, a new version of the
original bands can be produced with these noise elements removed.
Recently, PCA has also been shown to have special application in envi-
ronmental monitoring. In cases where multi-spectral images are available
for two dates, the bands from both images are submitted to a PCA as if they
all came from the same image. In these cases, changes between the two
dates tend to emerge in the later components. More dramatically, if a time

series of NDVI images (or a similar single-band index) is submitted to the

analysis, a very detailed analysis of environmental changes and trends can
be achieved. In this case, the first component will show the typical NDVI
over the entire series while each successive component illustrates change
events in an ordered sequence of importance. By examining these images,
along with graphs of their correlation with the individual bands in the
original series, important insights can be gained into the nature of changes
and trends over the time series. The TSA (time series analysis) module in
IDRISI is a specially tailored version of PCA to facilitate this process.
Measurement of biogeophysical parameters: Specific instruments carried

onboard the satellites can be used to make measurements of the biogeo-
physical parameters of the Earth. Some of the examples are: atmospheric
water vapor content, stratospheric ozone, land and sea surface temperature,
sea water chlorophyll concentration, forest biomass, sea surface wind field,
tropospheric aerosol, etc. Specific satellite missions have been launched to
continuously monitor the global variations of these environmental param-
eters that may show the causes or the effects of global climate change and
the impacts of human activities on the environment.
Geographical information system (GIS): Different forms of imagery such

as optical and radar images provide complementary information about the
landcover. More detailed information can be derived by combining several
different types of images. For example, radar images can form one of the
layers in combination with the visible and near-infrared layers when per-
forming classification. The thematic information derived from the remote
sensing images is often combined with other auxiliary data to form the basis
for a geographic information system (GIS). A GIS is a database of different
layers, where each layer contains information about a specific aspect of the
same area which is used for analysis by the resource scientists.
6.13 SOFTWARE FOR OCEAN COLOR DATA

■■ ODESA provides users with a complete Level 2 processing environ-
ment for the MERIS instrument: It includes MEGS 8.1 and associated
auxiliary data files (ADF) used for the MERIS 3rd reprocessing in line
with the current version of the IPF (6.0). Within this environment, users
have several possibilities:
• Access to MERIS data from remote processing facility
• Download MERIS level 2 processor and its operational environment

• Download the ODESA analysis tools

• Access to the MERMAID algorithm validation facilities
• Access to the ODESA and MERIS forum
■■ BEAM Software: The Basic ERS and Envisat (A) ATSR and MERIS
Toolbox (BEAM) is a collection of executable tools and an application
programming interface (API) which has been developed to facilitate
the utilization, viewing, and processing of ESA MERIS, (A)ATSR, and
ASAR data. It can be downloaded free of charge.
■■ SeaDAS (SeaWiFS Data Analysis System) is a comprehensive image
analysis package developed by NASA’s Ocean Biology Processing Group
(OBPG) for the processing, display, analysis, and quality control of all
SeaWiFS data products. It is freely available for download.
■■ WASI (Water Color Simulator) is a tool for the simulation of optical
properties and light field parameters of deep and shallow waters and for
data analysis of instruments disposed above the water surface and sub-
merged in the water. Examples of supported measurements are down-
welling irradiance, upwelling radiance, irradiance reflectance, remote
sensing reflectance, attenuation, and absorption. Data analysis is done
by inverse modeling. The provided database, which covers the spectral
range from 350 to 1000 nm in 1 nm intervals, can be exchanged easily to
represent the studied area. The module WASI-2D extends the function-
ality towards image processing of atmospherically corrected data from
airborne sensors and satellite instruments. WASI is free of charge.
■■ SeaBatch: If you work with ocean color data and utilize SeaDAS (see
above), you likely need a way to batch process multiple files. SeaBatch
can help. SeaBatch is a group of UNIX shell scripts that batch process
ocean color data derived from NASA’s MODIS (Aqua and Terra) and
SeaWiFS sensors. SeaBatch is a powerful tool that will greatly assist you
with your research. It is free, as are SeaDAS and Unix. If using runtime
SeaDAS, an IDL license is not required. With SeaBatch you can:
• Process MODIS Level-0 files (utilize high-resolution bands)
• Process Level-1 files to Level-2
• Spatially bin Level-2 files (.5, 1, 2, 4, 9, and 36 km)
• Temporally bin Level-2 files (day, 7 day, 8 day, and month)
• Output Level-3 files as ascii, flat, hdf, png, etc.

■■ Borstad Associates Satellite Image Toolbox. Free online tools and reas-
sembled datasets to help generate and test ideas and to facilitate use of
remotely sensed imagery in support of oceanographic and limnological
research. Most of the datasets focus on the Canadian West Coast, but
a very useful “temporal profiler” is available for the entire North West
Hemisphere.
■■ ArcGIS and satellite data. Importing satellite data into ArcGIS just got
easier. There is now an ArcGIS extension that allows users to browse
THREDDS catalogs and connect directly to OPeNDAP servers to
access large amounts of scientific data and ingest the data into ArcGIS
desktop 9.3. This extension, called the environmental data connector
(EDC), uses a Java-based browser and leverages existing components
from Unidata and NOAA/PMEL libraries so that users can filter large
amounts of data in space and time. The user has a choice of import-
ing the data into ArcGIS in either raster or feature format. The time
stamped data can then be animated using a TimeSlider extension which
is built into the EDC. A stand-alone version is also available, which pro-
vides a GUI to browse THREDDS catalogs or OPeNDAP directories,
to subset the selected data in space and time, and to download the data
as a netcdf file.
■■ Software for Graphics and Data Analysis
■■ Software for the calculation of surface solar irradiance and PAR, using
SeaWiFS data, written by Robert Frouin and John McPherson.
■■ WIM (Windows Image Manager) is a general-purpose image display
and analysis program for various satellite images, including those from
ocean color sensors (http://wimsoft.com). This is commercial software,
but it is available for free evaluation. A major addition to the tools is the
WIM Automation Module (WAM), which allows automating repetitive
tasks by writing simple programs using WIM functions e.g., calculating
primary production according to the Behrenfeld Falkowski model.
■■ ACRI-ST of France has developed several tools for the commissioning
phase of the ENVISAT MERIS and GOMOS instruments. Details are
available at http://www.acri-st.fr/tools/
■■ Additional useful links for analyzing satellite data can be found on the
data processing and analysis webpage of the Marine Environmental
Protection of the Northwest Pacific Region website.

Software for Ocean-color Algorithms

■■ Inversion of IOP based on Rrs and Remotely Retrieved Kd
■■ Over Constrained Linear Matrix Inversion
■■ Quasi-Analytical Algorithm
■■ Garver, Siegel, Maritorena Model (GSM-01) The updated IDL code files
for this model can be downloaded from http://www.icess.ucsb.edu/OCisD/
■■ PML algorithm is an IOP algorithm
The PML IOP model is an analytical approach for determining the

spectral inherent optical properties of the ocean which uses spectral slopes,
derived from field measurements, at the central wavelengths of 490 and
510 nm (or 531 for MODIS). Once the absorption and backscatter are
known at these wavelengths, based on the assertion of Morel (1980), then
the absorption and backscatter across the spectrum can be determined if
you assume a spectral shape for backscatter. Once the primary inherent
optical properties of total absorption and backscatter have been deter-
mined the biogeochemical parameters can be determined using standard
relationships and slopes for CDOM and phytoplankton.
Remote Sensing Software

Among the leading remote sensing software programs, the following
names can be given:
ENVI http://www.envi-sw.com/
PCI http://www.pcigeomatics.com/
ERDAS http://www.erdas.com/
There are also some low-cost remote sensing-GIS raster softwares:
IDRISI http://www.clarklabs.org/
ILWIS http://www.itc.nl/ilwis/
And, there are some remote sensing-GIS raster freewares (downloadable):
GRASS http://www.baylor.edu/~grass/
SPRING http://sputnik.dpi.inpe.br/spring/english/home.html

PIT http://priede.bf.lu.lv/GIS/Descriptions/Remote_Sensing/An_
Online_Handbook/Appendix/nicktutor_A.html
Other remote sensing links:
SPOT IMAGE http://www.spotimage.fr/
Airborne Laser Mapping http://www.airbornelasermapping.com/

ALMNews.html
Canada Center for Remote Sensing http://www.ccrs.nrcan.gc.ca
Landsat 7 http://landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/
Center for the Study of Earth from Space http://cires.colorado.

edu/cses/
Table of Fundamental Physical Constants http://www.fpl.

uni-stuttgart.de/fpl/physchem/const.html
European Space Agency http://earth.esa.int/
TOPEX/Poseidon http://topex-www.jpl.nasa.gov/
IKONOS http://www.spaceimaging.com/
RADARSAT http://www.rsi.ca/
1. What is an image?
2. Give an example of an analog image.
3. Define “digital image.”
4. What is a pixel?
5. What do you mean by “intensity value”?
6. What is the address of a pixel?
7. is the strong absorber of red visible wavelength.
8. The IR region is used for monitoring animal distribution
studies and soil moisture conditions.

9. How is the formation of a multi-layer image achieved?

10. A spectral response pattern is sometimes also called .
11. , and are the primary colors.
12. color is the result of mixing a red and a green.
13. Define “multi-spectral image.”
14. What is a “superspectral image”?
15. refers to the size of the smallest object that can be re-
solved on the ground.
16. is the measure of the ground area viewed by a single
detector element at a given instant in time.
17. What is the difference between a high resolution and low resolution
image?
18. Define “radiometric resolution.”
19. What is a microwave radiometer?
20. What is a radar altimeter?
21. is used to measure wind speed and direction over the
ocean surface.
22. Define “digital image processing.”
23. Define “image restoration.”
24. What is image enhancement?
25. What is image classification?
26. What is image transformation?
27. correction corrects for uneven sensor response over the
whole image.
28. correction corrects for geometric distortion due to
Earth’s rotation.
29. Image restoration can be broken down into the two subareas of
and .

1. In the context of the ocean, explain the EM spectrum.

2. Write about push-broom scanners.
3. Write a short note on spectral response patterns.
4. What is multi-spectral remote sensing?
5. Explain hyperspectral remote sensing.
6. Explain spatial resolution and pixel size.
7. Write about spatial resolution and radiometric resolution.
8. Write about data volume in the context of ocean image processing.
9. Write about infrared remote sensing.
10. Write about microwave remote sensing.
1. Give an explanation of the variety of platforms available for the capture

of remotely sensed data.
2. Write in detail about the four basic operations in digital image
processing.
3. Write about image preprocessing in detail.
4. Write about image enhancement.
5. In detail, explain about image classification.
6. Explain in detail about image transformation.
WEB LINKS
http://www.crisp.nus.edu.sg/~research/tutorial/image.htm
http://www.ioccg.org/data/software.html

CHAPTER
7
OCEAN ENERGY
T
his chapter discusses ocean energy as renewable source of energy,
wave energy, wave energy technologies, tidal power, ocean thermal
energy conversion, ocean current energy, offshore wind energy, off-
shore wind energy technology, offshore solar energy, offshore solar energy
technology, and concentrating solar power technology.
7.1 OCEAN ENERGY AS A RENEWABLE SOURCE OF ENERGY

To replace fossil fuels and nuclear energy, a renewable energy source
must meet four basic criteria.
1. Near limitless supply of energy: Energy that will not run out in the next
1,000 years and comes from a source that has existed for the last 1,000 years.
2. A constant even supply of energy: No periods of nonproduction, no
spikes in production, no movement in energy location.
3. High energy density: Energy can be collected at one location with realis-
tic commitment of technology and resources.
4. Survivability: Energy supply and collection is not disrupted by storms,
natural disaster, war, etc.
Ocean current energy is the only form of renewable nonpolluting energy

that meets all these requirements and it is the only energy source with the
potential to replace fossil fuel and nuclear energy. Ocean energy is a term
used to describe all forms of renewable energy derived from the sea. The

ocean can produce two types of energy: thermal energy from the sun’s heat,
and mechanical energy from tides and waves. Oceans cover more than 70%
of Earth’s surface, making them the world’s largest solar collectors. The sun’s
heat warms the surface water much more than the deep ocean water, and this
temperature difference creates thermal energy. Just a small portion of the
heat trapped in the ocean could power the world. Ocean thermal energy is
used for many applications, including electricity generation. There are three
types of electricity conversion systems: closed cycle, open cycle, and hybrid.
Closed cycle systems: These use the ocean’s warm surface water to vapor-
ize a working fluid with a low boiling point, such as ammonia. The vapor
expands and turns a turbine. The turbine then activates a generator to pro-
duce electricity, as shown in Figure 7.1.
■■ Pump warm surface sea water through a heat exchanger to vaporize a
low boiling point fluid (such as ammonia) that then turns a generator
■■ Cold deep sea water pumped through a second exchanger condenses
the vapor back to liquid
3 Electricity
Generator
Turbine
Warm surface
seawater
2 Evaporator
P Condenses
Pump
Working
1
fluid 4
Pump P
P
5 Pump
Cold seawater
FIGURE 7.1 Closed cycle OTEC.

Ocean Energy • 253
Open cycle systems: Open cycle systems boil the sea water by operat-
ing at low pressures. This produces steam that passes through a turbine/
generator.
■■ Boil warm surface sea water to create steam that turns a low-pressure
turbine
■■ Steam is turned back to liquid by exposure to cold temperatures from
deep-ocean water
Hybrid systems: Hybrid systems combine both closed cycle and open
cycle systems.
■■ Combine elements of open and closed cycle OTEC systems
■■ Warm sea water is flash-evaporated into steam (open cycle)
■■ Steam vaporizes a low-boiling-point fluid (closed cycle) that turns a
turbine
A byproduct of open or hybrid cycle OTEC plants is the production of

fresh water from sea water, known as desalinization.
Ocean mechanical energy is quite different from ocean thermal
energy. Even though the sun affects all ocean activity, tides are driven pri-
marily by the gravitational pull of the Moon, and waves are driven primar-
ily by the winds. Thus, tides and waves are intermittent sources of energy,
while ocean thermal energy is fairly constant. Also, unlike thermal energy,
the electricity conversion of both tidal and wave energy usually involves
mechanical devices. A barrage (dam) is typically used to convert tidal
energy into electricity by forcing the water through turbines, activating
a generator. For wave energy conversion, there are three basic systems:
channel systems that funnel the waves into reservoirs; float systems that
drive hydraulic pumps; and oscillating water column systems that use the
waves to compress air within a container. The mechanical power created
from these systems either directly activates a generator or is transfered to
a working fluid, water, or air, which then drives a turbine/generator. The
world’s ocean may eventually provide us with energy to power our homes
and businesses. Generating technologies for deriving electrical power
from the ocean include tidal power, wave power, ocean thermal energy
conversion, ocean currents, ocean winds and salinity gradients. Of these,
the three most well-developed technologies are tidal power, wave power,
and ocean thermal energy conversion.

7.2 WAVE ENERGY

Ocean wave energy is captured directly from surface waves or from pres-
sure fluctuations below the surface. Waves are caused by the wind blowing
over the surface of the ocean. In many areas of the world, the wind blows with
enough consistency and force to
provide continuous waves along
Air Back in Air Out
the shoreline. Ocean waves con-
tain tremendous energy poten-
tial. Wave power devices extract
Turbine energy from the surface motion
Generator
of ocean waves or from pres-
sure fluctuations below the sur-
face. Kinetic energy (movement)
exists in the moving waves of the
Wave ocean. That energy can be used
direction to power a turbine. In Figure 7.2,
the wave rises into a chamber.
The rising water forces the air
FIGURE 7.2 Wave energy.
out of the chamber. The moving
air spins a turbine which can turn a generator. When the wave goes down, air
flows through the turbine and back into the chamber through doors that are
normally closed. This is only one type of wave energy system. Others use the
up-and-down motion of the wave to power a piston that moves up and down
inside a cylinder. That piston can also turn a generator. Most wave energy
systems are very small. But, they can be used to power a warning buoy or a
small light house.
Wave energy conversion takes advantage of the ocean waves caused
primarily by interaction of winds with the ocean surface. Wave energy is
an irregular and oscillating low frequency energy source that must be con-
verted to a 50 Hertz frequency before it can be added to the electric util-
ity grid. Some systems extract energy from surface waves. Others extract
energy from pressure fluctuations below the water surface or from the full
wave. Some systems are fixed in position and let waves pass by them, while
others follow the waves and move with them. Some systems concentrate and
focus waves, which increases their height and their potential for conversion
to electrical energy. A wave energy converter may be placed in the ocean in
various possible situations and locations. It may be floating or submerged
completely in the sea offshore or it may be located on the shore or on the

sea bed in relatively shallow water. A converter on the sea bed may be com-
pletely submerged, it may extend above the sea surface, or it may be a con-
verter system placed on an offshore platform. Apart from wave-powered
navigation buoys, however, most of the prototypes have been placed at
or near the shore. The visual impact of a wave energy conversion facility
depends on the type of device as well as its distance from shore. In general,
a floating buoy system or an offshore platform placed many kilometers from
land is not likely to have much visual impact (nor will a submerged system).
Onshore facilities and offshore platforms in shallow water could, however,
change the visual landscape from one of natural scenery to industry. Many
research and development goals remain to be accomplished, including cost
reduction, efficiency and reliability improvements, identification of suitable
sites, interconnection with the utility grid, and better understanding of the
impacts of the technology on marine life and the shoreline. Also essential is
a demonstration of the ability of the equipment to survive the salinity and
pressure environments of the ocean as well as weather effects over the life
of the facility.
Some of the issues that may be associated with permitting an ocean
wave energy conversion facility include:
■■ Disturbance or destruction of marine life (including changes in the

distribution and types of marine life near the shore)
■■ Possible threat to navigation from collisions due to the low profile of the
wave energy devices above the water, making them undetectable either
by direct sighting or by radar [Figure 7.3]. Also possible is the interfer-
ence of mooring and anchorage lines with commercial and sport fishing.
■■ Degradation of scenic oceanfront views from wave energy devices
located near or on the shore, and from onshore overhead electric
transmission lines.
Ocean waves are caused by the wind as it blows across the water. Waves
are a powerful source of energy. The problem is that it is not easy to har-
ness this energy and convert it into electricity in large amounts. Thus, wave
power stations are rare. Waves passing across the top of the unit make a
piston move, which pumps sea water to drive generators on land. They are
also involved with wind power and biofuel. Renewable energy resources
are ones that won’t run out. Wave power is renewable. Wave energy is gen-
erated by converting the energy of ocean waves (swells) into other forms

FIGURE 7.3 Ocean wave energy conversion unit.
of energy (currently only elec-

Air is forced back & tricity). There are many differ-
forth through turbine ent technologies that are being
developed and tested to convert
the energy in waves into electric-
Incoming waves
Turbine & ity, as shown in Figure 7.4. Wave
generator power varies considerably in dif-
Waves make ferent parts of the world, and
water rise & whereas wind resource poten-
fall in chamber tial is typically given in gigawatts
(GW), wave and tidal resource
potential is typically given in
FIGURE 7.4 Waves to electricity conversion
terawatt-hours/year (TWh/yr).
Advantages:
■■ The energy is free—no fuel needed, no waste produced
■■ Inexpensive to operate and maintain
■■ Can produce a great deal of energy

Disadvantages:
■■ Depends on the waves—sometimes you’ll get loads of energy, some-
times almost nothing
■■ Needs a suitable site, where waves are consistently strong
■■ Some designs are noisy, but then again, so are waves, so any noise is
unlikely to be a problem
■■ Must be able to withstand very rough weather
7.2.1. Ocean Wave Energy Technologies

Wave technologies have been designed to be installed in nearshore,
offshore, and far offshore locations. While wave energy technologies are
intended to be installed at or near the water’s surface, there can be major
differences in their technical concept and design. For example, they may
differ in their orientation to the waves or in the way they convert energy
from the waves. Although wave power technologies are continuing to
develop, there are four basic applications that may be suitable for deploy-
ment on the outer continental shelf (OCS): point absorbers, attenuators,
overtopping devices, and terminators.
Terminators: Terminator devices extend perpendicular to the direc-

tion of the wave and capture or reflect the power of the wave. These
devices are typically onshore or near shore, as seen in Figure 7.5;

however, floating versions have been designed for offshore applica-

tions. The oscillating water column is a form of terminator in which wa-
ter enters through a subsurface opening into a chamber, trapping air
FIGURE 7.5 Water column terminator and shore-based terminator.

above. The wave action causes the captured water column to move up
and down like a piston, forcing the air though an opening connected to
a turbine to generate power. These devices generally have power rat-
ings of 500 kW to 2 MW, depending on the wave climate and the device
dimensions.
Attenuators: Attenuators are long multi-segment floating structures

oriented parallel to the direction of the waves, as seen in Figure 7.6.
They ride the waves like a ship, extracting energy by using restraints
at the bow of the device and along its length. The differing height of
waves along the length of the device causes flexing where the segments
connect. The segments are connected to hydraulic pumps or other con-
verters to generate power as the waves move across. A transformer in
the nose of the unit steps up the power-to-line voltage for transmission
to shore. Power is fed down an umbilical cable to a junction box in the
seabed, connecting it and other machines via a common subsea cable
to shore.
FIGURE 7.6 An array of attenuator wave energy devices.
Point absorber: A point absorber is a floating structure with com-

ponents that move relative to each other due to wave action (e.g., a
floating buoy inside a fixed cylinder) as in Figure 7.7. Point absorb-
ers often look like floating oceanographic buoys. They utilize the rise
and fall of the wave height at a single point for energy conversion. The
relative up-and-down bobbing motion caused by passing waves is used
to drive electromechanical or hydraulic energy converters to generate
power.

FIGURE 7.7 Power buoy point absorber wave generation system.
Overtopping devices: Overtopping devices have reservoirs that are filled

by incoming waves, causing a slight buildup of water pressure like a dam, as
in Figure 7.8. The water is then released, and gravity causes it to flow back
into the ocean. The energy of the falling water is used to turn hydroturbines
to generate power. Specially built floating platforms can also create electric-
ity by funneling waves through internal turbines and then back into the sea.
FIGURE 7.8 Wave dragon overtopping device.

7.3 TIDAL POWER

Another form of ocean energy is called tidal energy. When tides come
into the shore, they can be trapped in reservoirs behind dams. Then when
the tide drops, the water behind the dam can be let out just like in a regu-
lar hydroelectric power plant. Tidal energy has been used since about the
11th century, when small dams were built along ocean estuaries and small
streams. The tidal water behind these dams was used to turn water wheels
to mill grains. For tidal energy to work well, you need large increases in
tides. An increase of at least 16 ft in height between low tide to high tide is
needed. There are only a few places where this tide change occurs around
the earth. Some power plants are already operating using this idea. Tidal
power or current power systems capture the energy of ocean currents
below the wave surface and convert them into electricity. Typically, these
systems rely on underwater turbines, either horizontal or vertical, which
rotate in either the ocean current or changing tide (either one way or bidi-
rectionally), almost like an underwater windmill. These technologies can be
sized or adapted for ocean or for use in lakes or nonimpounded river sites.
7.3.1 Tidal Barrage Operation

Tidal barrages work rather like hydroelectric schemes, except that the
dam is much bigger. A huge dam called a barrage is built across a river
estuary. When the tide goes in and out, the water flows through tunnels
in the dam. The ebb and flow of the tides can be used to turn a turbine,
or push air through a pipe, which then turns a turbine. Large lock gates,
like the ones used on canals, allow ships to pass. A major drawback of tidal
power stations is that they can only generate when
the tide is flowing in or out—in other words, only
Tide Coming in for 10 hours each day. However, tides are totally
predictable, so we can plan to have other power
Sea stations generating at those times when the tidal
Estuary
station is out of action. Tidal energy is generated
Turbine & from tidal movements. Tides contain both poten-
generator
Tide Going out tial energy, related to the vertical fluctuations in sea
level, and kinetic energy, related to the horizontal
Sea Estuary
motion of the water. It can be harnessed using tech-
nologies using energy from the rise and fall of the
tides or by technologies using energy from tidal or
FIGURE 7.9 Tidal energy. marine currents, as seen in Figure 7.9.

7.4 OCEAN THERMAL ENERGY CONVERSION (OTEC)

The temperature of water can be used to create energy. This ocean energy
idea uses temperature differences in the ocean. It’s warmer on the surface
because sunlight warms the water. But below the surface, the ocean gets very
cold. That’s why scuba divers wear wet suits when they dive down deep. Their
wet suits trap their body heat to keep them warm. Power plants can be built
that use this difference in temperature to make energy. A difference of at
least 38° Fahrenheit is needed between the warmer surface water and the
colder deep ocean water. This type of energy source is called ocean thermal
energy conversion (OTEC); its plants may be land-based, floating, or grazing.
Renewable ocean energy can help diversify our energy portfolio and improve
our environment. With the proper support, these resources will become a
robust part of a reliable, affordable, clean electric supply infrastructure.
7.5 OCEAN TURBINE OPERATION

The turbine is composed of three sets of blades, as in Figure 7.10. The
blades close when they are moving in the same direction as the flow of
water, creating an obstacle that the water has to push out of its path of flow.
When water pushes on the closed blades it causes the main shaft and gen-
erator to rotate. This rotational energy is collected in the form of electricity
from the generator. When the blades are moving in the opposite direction
as the flow of water, they open, creating minimal drag in the oncoming flow
of water. This design creates very high surface area and drag on the power
stroke side of the turbine while creating very low surface area and drag on
the returning side. This design has proven to be the most efficient for col-
lecting energy from ocean currents.
Benefits of ocean turbines:

■■ Energy output of 13.5 MW/hour
■■ 100% reliable energy—not dependent upon wind or sun, ocean currents
are always flowing
■■ Doesn’t add heat to environment
■■ No emissions
■■ Water safe materials and paints
■■ Antifouling, anticorrosive, won’t rust, won’t grow sea life

Tidal Turbine
Sea Level
Current
Seabed
FIGURE 7.10 Ocean turbine operation.
■■ Can’t see it, hear it, or smell it

■■ Huge survivability in storms (unlike other free energy devices)
■■ Can provide energy and clean water to hurricane/tsunami victims
■■ Components in the utility scale turbines are noncorrosive, nontoxic met-
als and high performance composite fiber
■■ Design of turbine has large acoustic signature so marine animals can
echolocate it, moves slowly enough for them to move around it, will not
harm marine life

■■ Less susceptible target for terrorism

■■ Doesn’t take up high value land; places that need power have high popu-
lation density, usually can’t support large wind turbines or solar projects
because the demand is too high for the available area for those projects
7.6 OCEAN CURRENT ENERGY

The relatively constant flow of ocean currents carries large amounts of
water across the Earth’s oceans. Technologies are being developed so that
energy that can be extracted from ocean currents and converted to usable
power. Ocean waters are constantly on the move. Ocean currents flow in
complex patterns affected by wind, water salinity, temperature, topography
of the ocean floor, and the Earth’s rotation, as shown in Figure 7.11. Most
ocean currents are driven by wind and the solar heating of surface waters
near the equator, while some currents result from density and salinity varia-
tions of the water column. Ocean currents are relatively constant and flow
in one direction, in contrast to tidal currents along the shore. While ocean
currents move slowly relative to typical wind speeds, they carry a great deal
of energy because of the density of water. Water is more than 800 times
denser than air, so for the same surface area, water moving 12 mph exerts
the same amount of force as a constant 110 mph wind. Because of this
physical property, ocean currents contain an enormous amount of energy
that can be captured and converted to a usable form.
90°N
60°N
30°N
0°
30°S
60°S
90°S
45°E 90°E 135°E 180° 135°W 90°W 45°W 0°
FIGURE 7.11 Ocean current surface.

7.7 OFFSHORE WIND ENERGY

Wind energy has been utilized by humans for more than 2,000 years.
For example, windmills were often used by farmers and ranchers for pump-
ing water or grinding grain. In modern times, wind energy is mainly used
to generate electricity, primarily through wind turbines. All wind turbines
operate in the same basic manner. As the wind blows, it flows over the airfoil-
shaped turbine blades, causing them to spin. The blades are connected to a
drive shaft that turns an electric generator to produce electricity. The newest
wind turbines are highly technologically advanced and include many engi-
neering and mechanical innovations to help maximize efficiency and increase
the production of electricity. Offshore winds tend to blow harder and more
uniformly than on land. The potential energy produced from wind is directly
proportional to the cube of the wind speed. Thus, increased wind speeds of
only a few miles per hour can produce a significantly larger amount of elec-
tricity. For instance, a turbine at a site with an average wind speed of 16 mph
would produce 50% more electricity than at a site with the same turbine and
average wind speeds of 14 mph. This is one reason that developers are inter-
ested in pursuing offshore wind energy resources. Commercial-scale off-
shore wind facilities are similar to onshore wind facilities. The wind turbine
generators used in offshore environments include modifications to prevent
corrosion, and their foundations must be designed to withstand the harsh
environment of the ocean, including storm waves, hurricane-force winds, and
even ice flows. New technologies, such as innovative foundations and floating
wind turbines that will transition wind power development into the harsher
conditions associated with deeper waters, are shown in the Figure 7.12.
7.7.1 Offshore Wind Energy Technology

The engineering and design of offshore wind facilities depends on site-
specific conditions, particularly water depth, geology of the seabed, and wave
loading. In shallow areas, mono piles are the preferable foundation type.
A steel pile is driven into the seabed, supporting the tower and nacelle. The
nacelle is a shell that encloses the gearbox, generator, and blade hub (generally
a three-bladed rotor connected through the drive train to the generator) and
the remaining electronic components, as in Figure 7.13. Once the turbine is
operational, wind sensors connected to a yaw drive system turn the nacelle to
face into the wind, thereby maximizing the amount of electricity produced.
Today’s offshore turbines have technical modifications and substantial
system upgrades for adaptation to the marine environment. These modifi-
cations include strengthening the tower to cope with loading forces from

Land based
Shallow water
<30 meters Transitional water
30 to 60 meters
Deep water
>60 meters
Proven Technology Demonstration
FIGURE 7.12 Progression of expected wind turbine evolution to deeper water.
Pitch
Low-speed
shaft
Rotor
Gear box
Generator
Anomometer
Wind
direction Controller
Brake
Yaw drive
Wind vane
Yaw motor High-speed Nacelle

shaft
Blades Tower
FIGURE 7.13 Schematic of wind turbine nacelle.

waves or ice flows, pressurizing nacelles to keep corrosive sea spray from
critical electrical components, and adding brightly colored access platforms
for navigation safety and maintenance access. Offshore turbines are typi-
cally equipped with extensive corrosion protection, internal climate control
systems, high-grade exterior paint, and built-in service cranes. To minimize
the expense of everyday servicing, offshore turbines may have automatic
greasing systems to lubricate bearings and blades as well as heating and
cooling systems to maintain gear oil temperature within a specified range.
Lightning protection systems help minimize the risk of damage from
lightning strikes that occur frequently in some offshore locations. There are
also navigation and aviation warning lights. Turbines and towers are typi-
cally painted light grey or off-white to help them blend into the sky, reducing
visual impacts from the shore. The lower section of the support towers may be
painted bright colors to increase navigational safety for passing vessels. To take
advantage of the steadier winds, offshore turbines are also bigger than onshore
turbines and have an increased generation capacity. Offshore turbines gener-
ally have nameplate capacities between 2 MW and 5 MW, with tower heights
greater than 200 ft and rotor diameters of 250–430 ft. The maximum height
of the structure, at the very tips of the blades, can easily approach 500 ft, and
turbines even larger than 5 MW are being designed. While the tower, turbine,
and blades of offshore turbines are generally similar to onshore turbines, the
substructure and foundation systems differ considerably.
Monopiles with diameters of up to 20 ft are typically used in water
depths ranging from 15–100 ft. The piles are driven into the seabed at
depths of 80–100 ft below the mud
line, ensuring the structure is sta-
ble. A transition piece protrudes
above the waterline, which provides
a level flange to fasten the tower. In
even shallower environments with
firm seabed substrates, gravity-
based systems can be used, which
avoids the need to use a large pile
driving hammer. Tripods and jack-
ets foundations have been deployed
in areas where the water depth
starts to exceed the practical limit
FIGURE 7.14 Offshore wind facility.
for monopiles.

7.7.2 Semi-Submersible Offshore Wind Turbine

Offshore wind turbines have a considerably larger power output than
their land-based counterparts. Previously, offshore turbines were restricted
to shallow waters; however, they are now mounted on semi-submersible
structures, allowing access to even better wind patterns further from the
shore. Offshore wind turbines as shown in Figure 7.14 have a much higher
capacity than the conventional turbines employed in land wind farms,
mainly due to the enhanced wind patterns experienced offshore. Offshore
turbines previously were mounted on structures fixed to the seabed, which
restricted them to relatively shallow water at a maximum depth of 150 ft.
However, offshore wind turbines can be mounted on floating structures,
allowing them to operate in deeper waters further out to sea. This considers
renewable energy from offshore wind turbines and from turbines mounted
on a floating structure.
7.7.3 Offshore Floating Structures for Mounting Wind Turbines

Over the last 40 years or so, the offshore oil and gas industry has
designed and developed various floating structures as in Figure 7.15 to
support hydrocarbon production platforms. Most of these designs are
TLP Semi-Sub Spar
Floating structures Floating structures

> 50m, 5-10MW >120m, 5-10MW
FIGURE 7.15 Floating structures.

suitable as support structures for offshore wind turbines; the more popu-
lar types are:
Semi-submersibles: These structures comprise hulls fabricated from

large horizontal pontoons onto which vertical steel columns are welded,
as in Figure 7.16. The columns and horizontal pontoons are intercon-
nected and braced by a lattice of tubular steel supports. The structures
Winch controlling
mooring device
(only one shown for
clarity)
Wind turbine
nacelle
Wind turbine
tower Wind turbine
power output
cable
Buried sub-sea power

Semi-submersible cable to HVDC substation
anchor chains in
catenary mode
FIGURE 7.16 Semi-submersible.

are held to the seabed by anchors, whose chains are maintained in a

catenary mooring mode by winches situated on the main deck. Various
structures have been examined for potential use as floating supports for
offshore wind turbines, including a multi-wind turbine support. However,
this type of semi-submersible would require automatic weathervaning,
controlled by satellite navigation that would turn the structure into the
wind without interfering with the mooring system. Semi-submersibles
can be self-propelled by their own marine diesel engines; the nonpro-
pulsion type is towed to the required location. The offshore oil and gas
industry has used semi-submersible floating structures for many years
both as drilling rigs and production platforms, operating in depths of
water of up to 6,000 ft.
Tension leg platform (TLP): This is a floating platform fixed by high-

tensile solid steel round tie rods, attached to a specially designed template
piled and grouted onto the subsea bedrock. The tie rods are kept in tension
by overhead winches located under the main deck. TLPs can operate in
depths of 6,000 ft.
Spar floating structure: The spar is just a large floating round hull that can
be fabricated from steel or concrete. It has several sections built inside the
hull which serve as ballast and oil storage tanks, being tethered to the sea-
bed with conventional chains and winches. Spars can also operate in water
depths of 6,000 ft. The Petronius Spar hydrocarbons production platform,
weighing 45,000 tons, is currently operating at a depth of 1,750 ft in the
Gulf of Mexico.
Offshore semi-submersible wind turbines in production: Hywind
Statoil was the first company to produce electricity from a wind tur-
bine mounted on a floating structure. In this case the structure was a
steel fabricated spar type which was fabricated and towed in the hori-
zontal position to an inshore assembly fiord. Here it was ballasted with
sea water and brought to the vertical position, and further permanently
ballasted with concrete. The tower was fitted onto the top of the spar,
followed by the nacelle and rotor, and then the structure was towed to
the offshore location where it was further ballasted and moored to the
seabed. The wind turbine has a capacity of 2.6 MW, and there are plans
to add more floating turbines, eventually constructing an offshore float-
ing wind farm.

7.7.4 Transmitting Power Ashore through Subsea Cables

It is proposed to transmit power ashore through conventional sub-
sea cabling, but also utilizing an innovative process known as high voltage
direct current (HVDC). The units will be mounted on conventional bot-
tom fixed structures such as steel jackets or monopods. The AC current
produced by the wind turbine is converted to DC current before being
transmitted ashore. This has several advantages over transmitting high volt-
age AC current:
■■ Less power loss giving greater efficiency
■■ Better control of distribution, less effects of land network faults
■■ Instant determination of power being generated and distributed ashore
Transport of wind-generated energy: All the power generated by wind

turbines needs to be transmitted to shore and connected to the power grid.
Each turbine is connected to an electric service platform (ESP) by a power
cable. The ESP is typically located somewhere within the turbine array, and
it serves as a common electrical collection point for all the wind turbines and
as a substation. In addition, ESPs can be outfitted to function as a central
service facility and may include a helicopter landing pad, communications
station, crew quarters, and emergency backup equipment. After collecting
the power from the wind turbines, high voltage cables running from the
ESP transmit the power to an onshore substation, where the power is inte-
grated into the grid. The cables used for these projects are typically buried
beneath the seabed, where they are safe from damage caused by anchors or
fishing gear and to reduce their exposure to the marine environment. These
types of cables are expensive and are a major capital cost to the developer.
The amount of cable used depends on many factors, including how far off-
shore the project is located, the spacing between turbines, the presence of
obstacles that require cables to be routed in certain directions, and other
considerations.
7.8 OFFSHORE SOLAR ENERGY

Solar energy technologies [Figure 7.17] potentially suitable for
use in ocean environments include concentrating solar power technol-
ogy and photonic technology. Every minute the Sun bathes the Earth

in as much energy as the world consumes

in an entire year. Since oceans cover more
than 70% of the Earth’s surface, they receive
an enormous amount of solar energy. Deep
ocean currents, waves, and winds all are a
result of the Sun’s radiant energy and dif-
ferential heating of the Earth’s surface and
oceans.
7.8.1 Solar Energy Technologies

FIGURE 7.17 Solar energy. Solar radiation can be converted directly
to usable energy through a variety of tech-
nologies. While there are no commercial solar energy facilities operating
offshore at this time, solar energy technologies potentially suitable for
use in offshore ocean environments include concentrating solar power
(CSP) technology and photonic technology. CSP is a thermal solar tech-
nology that concentrates the Sun’s rays to heat fluids or solids, and the
heat is used to drive steam turbines or other devices to generate power.
Photonic technologies convert the Sun’s radiant energy directly to elec-
tricity or other useful forms of energy. Selection of the appropriate solar
technology for a given situation depends in part on the intended use of
the energy to be generated. CSP technologies might be more appro-
priate for generating and delivering electricity to shore, while photonic
technology might be more appropriate for generation of electricity to be
used on-site (such as on offshore platforms) and for supplying energy for
activities such as hydrogen production or desalinization.
Concentrating solar power (CSP) technology: CSP plants generate

electric power by using mirrors to concentrate (focus) the Sun’s energy
and convert it into high-temperature heat. That heat is then channeled
through a conventional generator. The plants consist of two parts: one
that collects solar energy and converts it to heat, and another that con-
verts the heat energy to electricity. This approach requires large areas for
solar radiation collection to produce electricity at commercial scale. CSP
utilizes three technological approaches: trough systems, power tower sys-
tems, and dish/engine systems.
Trough systems: Trough systems use large, U-shaped (parabolic) reflectors

(focusing mirrors) that have oil-filled pipes running along their center, or

focal point, as shown in Figure 7.18.

The mirrored reflectors focus sunlight
onto the pipes and heat the oil inside
to temperatures as high as 750°F. The
hot oil is used to boil water, which
produces steam to run conventional
steam turbines and generators.
Power tower systems: Power tower

systems, also called central receiv-
ers, use many large, flat heliostats
FIGURE 7.18 Trough system. (mirrors) to track the Sun and focus
its rays onto a receiver. As shown in
Figure 7.19, the receiver sits on top of a tall tower in which concentrated
sunlight heats a fluid, such as molten salt, to temperatures as high as
1,050°F. The hot fluid can be used to boil water, which produces steam
to run conventional steam turbines and generators. Or the thermal
energy can be effectively stored for hours, if desired, to allow for elec-
tricity production during periods of peak demand, even when the Sun is
not shining.
FIGURE 7.19 Solar power tower—mirrors are concentrating sunlight

at the top of tower.
Dish/engine systems: Dish/engine systems use mirrored dishes (about 10

times larger than a backyard satellite dish) to focus and concentrate sun-
light onto a receiver, as shown in Figure 7.20. The receiver is mounted at

the focal point of the dish. To capture the maximum amount of solar energy,
the dish assembly tracks the sun across the sky. The receiver is integrated
into a high efficiency “external” combustion engine. The engine has thin
tubes containing hydrogen or helium gas that run along the outside of the
engine’s four piston cylinders and open into the cylinders. As concentrated
sunlight falls on the receiver, it heats the gas in the tubes to very high tem-
peratures, which causes hot gas to expand inside the cylinders. The expand-
ing gas drives the pistons. The pistons turn a crankshaft, which drives an
electric generator. The receiver, engine, and generator comprise a single,
integrated assembly mounted at the focus of the mirrored dish.
Solar photonic technology: Solar photonic technology absorbs solar photons

(particles of light that act as individual units of energy), and converts the en-
ergy to electricity (as in a photovoltaic [PV] cell) or stores part of the energy in
a chemical reaction (as in the conversion of water to hydrogen and oxygen). PV
technology converts sunlight directly to electricity. Concentrated PV (CPV)
systems, which must track the Sun to keep the light focused on the PV cells,
use various methods to concentrate sunlight such as mirrors or lenses. The
primary advantages of CPV systems are high efficiency, low system cost, and
low capital investment to facilitate rapid scale-up; reliability, however, is an
important technical challenge for this emerging technological approach.
Receiver and
generator
Concentrator
The sun’s energy is

concentrated on a
receiver and generator
located at the focal point
of the parabolically
shaped dish.
FIGURE 7.20 Solar dish/engine system.

7.8.2 Challenges in Ocean Power Technologies

Currently, most ocean power technologies are not economically com-
petitive with conventional fossil fuel power. They tend to have low operating
costs but high construction costs with a long payback period. Careful site
selection is also extremely important to keep the environmental impacts of
ocean power technologies to a minimum. Protecting shorefronts, keeping
sea life migration patterns and habitat intact, and preventing alterations in
ocean temperature or sedimentation processes must all be considered. In
addition, water and geographic conditions must be right for the technolo-
gies to work.
1. Define “ocean energy.”

2. What are the two different types of energy produced from the ocean?
3. What are the three types of electricity conversion for ocean thermal
energy?
4. What is desalinization?
5. How is ocean wave energy captured?
6. Define “wave energy.”
7. What are the advantages of wave energy?
8. What are the disadvantages of wave energy?
1. What are the basic criteria for a renewable energy source?

2. Write about closed cycle systems of electricity generation.
3. Write briefly about ocean mechanical energy.
4. What are the methods used to convert wave energy into electricity?
5. What is a terminator device?
6. Explain an attenuator.

7. What is a point absorber?

8. What are overtopping devices?
9. Explain briefly tidal energy.
10. Write about ocean thermal energy conversion.
11. Explain the operation of ocean turbines.
12. What are the benefits of ocean turbines?
13. Write in short about ocean current energy.
14. Write in short about offshore wind turbines.
1. Write in detail about wave energy to electricity conversion.

2. Explain in detail the different wave energy technologies.
3. Explain offshore wind energy and its technologies.
4. Explain offshore solar energy and its technologies.
WEB LINKS
http://www.energy-without-carbon.org/OceanThermal
http://www.darvill.clara.net/altenerg/wave.htm
http://www.boem.gov/

CHAPTER
8
MARINE ELECTRONICS
T
his chapter discusses the role of electronics in the marine generator
set, marine instruments, wireless control stations, navigation equip-
ment, autopilot system, satellite phones, firefighting equipment,
bubbler gauges, navigation instruments, AIS operation, electrical propul-
sion, and gas indicators.
8.1 THE ROLE OF ELECTRONICS IN THE MARINE

GENERATOR SET
Top of form
The engine of a ship/boat/vessel has an electronic control system. The
control system consists of the following components:
■■ Electronic control module (ECM)
■■ Software (flash file)
■■ Wiring
■■ Sensors
■■ Actuators
The electronic system of the vessel consists of the following components:

electronic control module (ECM), hydraulic electronic unit injectors (HEUI),

injection actuation pressure control valve (IAPCV), wiring harness, switches,

and sensors. The ECM receives information from the sensors and the switches
on the engine. The ECM processes the information that is collected to make
decisions on control of the engine. By altering the fuel delivery of the injec-
tors, the ECM controls the speed and power produced by the engine. The
ECM consists of two main components: the control computer (hardware) and
personality module (software). The control computer comprises the micro-
processor and the electronic circuitry. The personality module contains the
software for the control computer. The software contains operating maps that
define the engine’s horsepower, torque curves, and engine speed. The elec-
tronic control circuit diagram for the engine with a control panel is shown in
Figure 8.1.
ELECTRONIC CONTROL MODULE

(ECM)
J2 J1
OEM installed componenets

Fuel injectors
Key switch
Speed control input
Diagnostics connector
Glowplug relay Glow plugs

Coolant level sensor (optional)
Alternator charging
Starter motor relay
HP fuel pump Suction control Fuel lift pump
valve Stop button
Secondary fuel filter pressure sensor
Injection disable
Run/stop parity relay
Fuel temperature
sensor Fuel rail
pressure sensor
Intake manifold
Primary pressure sensor
speed/Timing sensor
Engine oil
Secondary pressure sensor
speed/Timing sensor
Sea water pressure
Intake manifold air sensor (optional)
temperature sensor
coolant
temperature sensor
Exhaust gas Fuel leakage
temperature sensor(optional)
sensor (optional)
FIGURE 8.1 Electronic control system for engine.

Marine Electronics • 279
The engine consists of the following parts:
1. air cleaner,
2. air inlet temperature sensor,
3. exhaust gas temperature sensor,
4. turbocharger,
5. air-to-air after-cooler,
6. engine,
7. coolant temperature sensor,
8. primary speed/timing sensor,
9. fuel injectors,
10. return fuel cooler,
11. seawater pressure sensor,
12. return fuel pressure relief valve,
13. secondary speed/timing sensor,
14. high pressure fuel pump/transfer pump/fuel temperature sensor,
15. fuel rail pressure sensor,
16. prefilter oil pressure sensor,
17. postfilter oil pressure sensor,
18. coolant pressure sensor,
19. oil temperature sensor,
20. fuel leakage detection sensor,
21. ECM,
22. electric fuel lift pump,
23. postprimary fuel filter pressure sensor,
24. preprimary fuel filter pressure sensor,
25. primary fuel filter,
26. intake manifold pressure sensor,

27. intake manifold air temperature sensor,

28. transfer pump inlet regulator,
29. secondary fuel filter,
30. fuel tank,
31. postsecondary fuel filter pressure sensor,
32. presecondary fuel filter pressure sensor,
33. GPS (global positioning system).
8.1.1 Engine Governor
The ECM governs the engine. The ECM determines the timing, the
injection pressure, and the amount of fuel that is delivered to each cylinder.
These factors are based on the actual conditions and on the desired con-
ditions at any given time during starting and operation. The governor uses
the throttle signal to determine the desired engine speed. The governor com-
pares the desired engine speed to the actual engine speed. The actual engine
speed is determined through interpretation of the signals that are received by
the ECM from the engine speed/timing sensors. If the desired engine speed
is greater than the actual engine speed, the governor injects more fuel to
increase engine speed, as illustrated in Figure 8.2.
Fuel
injector
Throttle (Required action)
input signal
(Desired engine RPM)
Primary and secontary

speed/timing sensors
(Actual engine RPM)
FIGURE 8.2 Engine control.

8.1.2 Timing Considerations

Once the governor has determined the amount of fuel that is required,
it must determine the timing of the fuel injection based on input from the
following components:
■■ Coolant temperature sensor
■■ Intake manifold air temperature sensor
■■ Intake manifold pressure sensor
The ECM adjusts timing for optimum engine performance and for
economic fuel usage. Actual timing and desired timing cannot be viewed
with the electronic service tool. The ECM determines the location of the
top center of the number one cylinder from signals that are provided by
the engine speed/timing sensors, determines when injection should occur
relative to this position, and then provides the signal to the injector at
the desired time. The ECM sends a high-voltage signal to the injector
solenoids to energize them. By controlling the timing and the duration
of the high-voltage signal, the ECM can control the following aspects of
injection:
■■ Injection timing
■■ Fuel delivery
The flash file inside the ECM establishes certain limits on the
amount of fuel that can be injected. The fuel limit is a limit that is
based on the intake manifold pressure and is used to control the air/fuel
ratio for control of emissions. When the ECM senses a higher intake
manifold pressure, the ECM increases the fuel limit. A higher intake
manifold pressure indicates that there is more air in the cylinder. When
the ECM increases the fuel limit, the ECM allows more fuel into the
cylinder. The rated fuel limit is a limit based on the power rating of the
engine and on the engine rpm. The rated fuel limit is like the rack stops
and the torque spring on a mechanically governed engine. It provides
the power curves and torque curves for a specific engine family and a
specific engine rating. All these limits are determined at the factory
and cannot be changed.
ECM lifetime totals: The ECM maintains total data of the engine for
the parameters such as: total operating hours, engine lifetime hours,
total idle time, total idle fuel, total fuel, total max fuel, and engine starts.

Injection actuation
pressure sensor Engine oil and
Signal coolant temperature
to injection sensors

Injection Electronic
actuation pressure actuation governor
control valve control Derates
12
11
Signal – Fuel FRC Tor que Engine
RPM Mops Mops control Throttle
to fuel –– injection Throttle position sensor logic
control TC logic
injectors –
2
1
Atmospheric and turbocharger

outlet pressure sensor
TC of cylinder reference
Engine speed (rpm)

Spees/Timing
Engine ring
Speed/Timing
signal
TC reference Signal to spill
valve saleniod
Speed/
Timing Spill valve
ring travel
Engine Injection
speed/Timing pressure curve
sensors
FIGURE 8.3 Diagram of electronic governor.
11/09/17 3:45 PM
The total operating hours are the operating hours of the engine. The
operating hours do not include the time when the ECM is powered but
the engine is not running. Engine lifetime hours is the number of hours
when electrical power has been applied to the engine. These hours will
include the time when the ECM is powered but the engine is not run-
ning. Total idle time and total idle fuel can include operating time when
the engine is not operating under a load. Fuel information can be dis-
played in liters. Total fuel is the total amount of fuel that is consumed
by the engine during operation. Total max fuel is the maximum amount
of fuel that could have been consumed by the engine during operation.
Engine starts is the total number of times the engine has been started.
Figure 8.4 is a visual representation of typical electronic engine system
components, which vary by engine. The ECM governs the engine speed
by controlling the amount of fuel that is delivered by the injectors. The
desired engine speed is determined by input from the throttle switch.
Actual engine speed is measured by the engine speed/timing sensors.
The ECM changes the amount of fuel that is injected until the actual
engine speed matches the desired engine speed as in Figure 8.3. Bottom
of Form
8.1.3 Fuel Injection

Top of Form
The ECM controls the timing, duration, and pressure of the fuel that
is injected. The block diagram of the fuel system is shown in Figure 8.5.
The ECM controls the timing and the duration by varying the signals to
the injectors. The injectors will inject fuel only if the injector solenoid is
energized by a 105-volt signal from the ECM. By controlling the timing and
the duration of the 105-volt signal, the ECM can control the timing of the
injection and control the amount of fuel that is injected. The ECM modu-
lates the injection pressure by varying the signal to the injection actuation
pressure control valve (IAPCV). The IAPCV controls the pressure of the
high-pressure oil that pressurizes the fuel in the injectors. By controlling
the signal to the IAPCV, the ECM controls the pressure of the fuel that is
injected into the engine.
The ECM limits engine power and modifies injection pressure
and injection timing during cold mode operation. Cold mode operation

ECM
Monitoring Systems
Engine
vision display
Marine
power display
Marine analog
power display
Electronic controlled
EUI-Timing Engine
HEUI-Timing monitoring system
• Pressure
• Duration
Customer
Speed/Timing sensor connector
Service tool
Timing calibration sensor connector
Injection actuation Throttle position

pressure control valve (HEUI°)
Injection actuation pressure Throttle position
sensor (HEUI)
Pressure sensor: engine oil, High / Low pressure
boost, turbo outlet, fuel or temperature
turbo inlet, crankcase Maintenance
Temperature sensor: engine coolant, Lamps
fuel, engine oil, inlet air, aftercooler Warning
Coolant level sensor Diagnostic
Transmission oil pressure sensor

Maintenance
Transmission oil temperature sensor clear
Trolling mode
Switches
Slow vessel
mode
Engine
syschronization
FIGURE 8.4 Visual representation of electronic engine system components.

has the following benefits: increased startability, reduced warm-up

period, and reduced white smoke. Cold mode is active if the engine
oil temperature falls below a predetermined value and other condi-
tions are met and remains active until the engine has warmed or until a
time limit has been exceeded. The personality module inside the ECM
sets certain limits on the amount of fuel that can be injected. The FRC
limit is a limit that is based on the boost pressure, which is calculated
as the difference in pressure between atmospheric pressure and turbo-
charger outlet pressure. The FRC limit controls the air/fuel ratio for con-
trol of emissions. When the ECM senses a higher boost pressure, the
ECM increases the FRC limit. A higher boost pressure indicates that
there is more air in the cylinder. When the ECM increases the FRC
limit, the ECM allows more fuel into the cylinder. The rated fuel posi-
tion is a limit that is based on the power rating of the engine, similar to
the rack stops and the torque spring on a mechanically governed engine.
It determines maximum power and torque values for a specific engine
family and a specific rating and is programmed in the personality module
at the factory.
To lubrication
system Engine oil Engine oil
temperature pressure
sensor sensor
Cold
start oil
reserver High pressure oil manifold
Cooldown
High
circuit
Fuel Temperature Injection actuation
pressure sensor pressure sensor
oil pump
High pressure oil manifold
Engine
oil fiter Injection
actuation ECM
pressure
Engine oil control valve
cooler
Fuel
transfer pump Secondary Hydraulic electronic
fuel filter unit injectors (HEUI) Pressure
Lubrication
oil pump Primary regulating
fuel filter valve
water separator
Oil Fuel
sump tank
FIGURE 8.5 Block diagram of fuel system.

8.2 MARINE INSTRUMENTS

The following are some of the marine instruments that operate with
electronics.
■■ Engine monitoring tachometers provide a warning light display notifying
the operator of a potential engine error.
■■ Depth sounders are available with dual air and water temperature dis-
plays along with transducer configurations.
■■ Digital gateway systems monitor engines. With push of a button the
operator can tell the status of the health of the engine including diagnos-
tic messages, fault alerts and parameter information.
■■ GPS speedometer gathers GPS information from an internal GPS
antenna. No external antenna required. Course over ground (COG)
and actual heading (compass heading over ground) are displayed on the
digital LCD. Speed data is shown by an analog pointer. This pointer is
driven by a digital stepper motor for increased accuracy and minimized
pointer bounce during vessel operation.
■■ Marine electronic navigation instruments provide functions such as
depth, boat speed, wind speed, wind direction, true wind, motor, engine
monitoring, and more.
The development of computer-based technologies has provided a fer-

tile ground for the expansion of marine instrumentation. With the tech-
nological development of high resolution, antiglare, liquid crystal displays
(LCD), the incorporation of these screens into marine instrumentation was
an obvious development. The new user consoles are much larger and able
to display a wide variety of information simultaneously and incorporate
touch screen technology. This makes the operation of the onboard systems
more intuitive and facilitates such common computer features as drag-
and-drop. The chart plotter in Figure 8.6 provides considerable detail and
can be zoomed in or out. Note the GPS, navigation, and weather informa-
tion displayed at the top. The display in Figure 8.7 integrates twin engine
and fuel statistics with navigation, weather details. The graph on the right-
hand side of Figure 8.7 provides a graphical representation of the water
depth and temperature.
One of the very latest developments in touch screen technology utilizes
invisible infrared beams, making it unnecessary to even touch the screen

FIGURE 8.6 Chartplotter. FIGURE 8.7 Display board.
to operate it. The operator’s finger need only come into close proximity
to the screen surface to activate the required function. The user can inte-
grate data from many sources and display it all on one screen. For example,
instrumentation read-outs, such as wind data and vessel speed, navigation
information including electronic charts, GPS, radar, plus video input from
different cameras around the vessel, access to onboard computers, Inter-
net browsing, and DVD output can all be integrated into a single display.
From a navigation point of view, some exciting developments have been
made possible with the integration of large volumes of data and the use of
multi-input, large-format LCD screens. It is now common for these screens
to overlay data from several sources onto the one image to provide a more
complete picture. Some of these include:
■■ Radar imagery superimposed onto the electronic chart.
■■ The integration of electronic charts with GPS, as well as data from in-
struments such as wind, depth sounder and the ship’s log (vessel speed).
■■ Photographic images of land topography and buildings, etc., superim-
posed onto the electronic chart to give a better representation of what
the captain is seeing immediately in front of him. This is particularly
useful in conditions of limited visibility or when entering a port for the
first time. The system can even pan around as well as look well ahead to
tell the captain what is coming.
■■ Topographical images of the sea floor immediately in front of the vessel,
again with the ability to pan around and look well ahead. This could be
particularly useful when navigating in dangerous waters, such as around
coral reefs.

Complete integration: The interconnection and complete integration of

one or more computers directly into the instrumentation system provides
many advantages, such as the ability to download weather charts (such as
synoptic charts, wind maps, or wave charts) from the Internet and super-
impose them onto the electronic chart to give more detailed information.
Computers can also be used for improving navigation, monitoring onboard
systems, and a host of other applications. Navigation programs can be run
on the PC and the resultant data (waypoints, etc.) uploaded directly to the
chart plotter, while also storing the data on the PC’s hard disk for later
reuse. The integration of marine radios with computer advances increases
both knowledge and safety which is shown in Figure 8.8.
FIGURE 8.8 Integration of marine radios with computer.
Autopilots have also profited significantly from the development of

multi-input data streams. The integration of a rate gyro with a flux gate
compass has provided an autopilot with superior behavior characteristics
resulting in performance similar to that of a human helmsman. The rate
gyro measures and adjusts for the yaw of the vessel in a heavy seaway. This
makes the vessel more comfortable for the occupants as well as reducing
the wear and tear on the steering systems. Integration of marine radios with
the GPS and other instruments provides position and barometric data and
time, all of which is very useful during an emergency. The next and perhaps
the last area to be integrated into the operator’s console is engine manage-
ment data. These systems provide a wide range of data on the operation of
the engine(s) and fuel system. With the integration of systems, it is now pos-
sible to input data from one user console and then move to another console
(e.g., from the main helm station to the fly bridge) and continue to operate

the vessel whilst being able to view the same data. This feature can be very
useful when operating the vessel in confined spaces or when entering an
unfamiliar port.
8.2.1 Wireless Control Stations

The wireless environment is one of the newest technologies to find
immediate application afloat. Wireless hand controls for the autopilot
and engine controls allow the skipper to stand on the deck and bring the
vessel alongside the pier; a useful feature especially when docking a ves-
sel in a confined area or in trying weather conditions. It is now possible
to have integrated data at various control stations wirelessly, as in Figure
8.9. GPS technology has recently seen further improvements. There are
three new features being utilized in the more sophisticated GPS systems:
wide area augmentation system (WAAS); the European geostationary
navigation overlay service (EGNOS) and multifunction transport satel-
lite (MTSAT). WAAS covers the Americas; EGNOS covers Europe, and
MTSAT covers the Asia Pacific region. They all provide increased posi-
tional accuracy and a much wider area of coverage compared to the exist-
ing land-based DGPS transmitters. There is also less interference due to
weather and onboard electrical activity. The differential signals are sent
on the same frequency as the standard GPS signal, thus negating the
need for a separate receiver. Automated identification system (AIS) is a
system required by all vessels over 300 gross tones. However, AIS receiv-
ers are finding their way aboard small craft to warn of an approaching
ship. AIS transceivers transmit data
such as the boat’s unique ID num-
ber, position, course, and speed to
all vessels nearby as well as to the
VTS stations. Principally, the sys-
tem integrates a VHF transceiver to
send and receive data and the GPS
to provide the vessel’s data.
Man-overboard alert systems are
being integrated into vessel electron-
ics, too. Each member of the crew
wears a small personal transmitter
that maintains a constant link to the
vessel. Should a person fall over-
FIGURE 8.9 Wireless control stations. board, the system detects the event

and sounds an alert, also logging the GPS position on a monitor or chart
plotter. The logged position is displayed with the track back to the person
in the water. Some systems have incorporated the ability for the electronic
system to self-diagnose problems, alert the user to the problem, and pro-
vide some possible solutions. Some systems also incorporated Internet links
into their engine electronics to facilitate remote diagnosis.
8.2.2 Salt Assault

The biggest enemy of all marine electronics is moisture, especially
salt-laden moisture. Very few instruments can resist moisture ingress
when the temperature varies greatly over an extended period, as happens
on deck throughout the year in the temperate latitudes. During the sum-
mer months, the atmosphere inside the instrument is heated by the blaz-
ing sun and thus expands. This increases the atmospheric pressure inside
the instrument and eventually forces out some of the enclosed gases.
When the temperature drops during the winter months or while sailing
in cold conditions, the temperature of the atmosphere inside the instru-
ment drops. This causes a corresponding drop in pressure. After this has
occurred a few times, the relative pressure inside the instrument is less
than the outside ambient pressure. The resultant pressure differential
causes a partial vacuum that draws in air from the surrounding atmo-
sphere. The salt-laden moisture in the air can then corrode the internal
workings of the instrument.
It is difficult to build instruments that are completely resistant to
these harsh conditions, although some instruments are completely sealed.
Instruments such as speed logs and depth sounders can often be cali-
brated. Instruments such as radar and autopilots require adjustment by a
technician. A nautical chart is one of the most fundamentals tools avail-
able to the mariner. It is a map that depicts the configuration of the
shoreline and seafloor. It provides water depths, locations of dangers to
navigation, location and characteristics of aids to navigation, anchorages,
and other features. Today’s massive ships push the depth limit of many
ports and harbors. Tools such as nautical charts, accurate positioning ser-
vices, and ocean and weather observations play a key role in ensuring that
shipments move swiftly and safely along our marine highways. The large-
format monitor uses the latest infrared touch screen technology, as shown
in Figure 8.10. It is not necessary to touch the screen, thus keeping the
screen surface clean.

FIGURE 8.10 Infrared touchscreen.
8.2.3 Producing Nautical Charts

Mariners have special maps called as nautical charts. Much like road
maps, nautical charts provide basic navigation information, such as water
depths and the locations of hazards. These tools are used by mariners plan
efficient routes and avoid dangerous or ecologically sensitive areas.
Information in the nautical chart:

■■ Depths reduced to chart datum: A sounding like 35 indicates 3½ meters of
water under lowest astronomical tide (when the chart datum is “L.A.T.”).
An underlined sounding like 04 indicates a height of 40 cm above L.A.T.
Depths are given from 0.1 to 20.9 in meters and decimeters, and from
21 to 31 in meters and half meters. Greater depths are rounded down to
the nearest safest meter (for example, 32.7 meters is rounded down to
32 meters). The geographical position of a sounding is the center of the
depth figure.

■■ Isobaths: Lines connecting positions with the same depth: depth

contours.
■■ Heights reduced to chart datum: Heights of, for instance, lighthouses,
mountains, and cliffs are more often reduced to another datum such as
mean high water (M.H.W.) or mean high water spring.
■■ Tidal information: Details of both the vertical and the horizontal move-
ment of the water are often included in the chart.
■■ Lighthouses, buoys, and marks: Lights, lateral, and cardinal marks.
■■ Seabed qualities: Pebbles, seaweed, rocks, wrecks, pipelines, sand, and
other seabed characteristics for anchoring.
■■ Magnetic variation: The angle between the true North and the magnetic
North varies in place and time. The local variation is indicated in the
compass card.
■■ Landmarks: Conspicuous positions on the shore: Churches, radio masts,
mountain tops, etc. that can be used for compass bearings and other
means of navigation.
8.3 MARINE NAVIGATION EQUIPMENT

Navigation equipment such as GPS, speed log, echo-sounder, AIS,
autopilot, gyrocompass, radar, ECDIS, and more are shown in Figure 8.11.
Navigation software provides the visual information.
Hydrographical charts are used for navigation and position fixing. The
charts should be kept up to date as per notice to mariner, issued at regular
intervals. Gnomonic charts are used for Great Circle sailing. An electronic
chart display and information system (ECDIS) meets the SOLAS require-
ments [Figure 8.12]. Other systems may be used as supplementary aids,
along with paper charts.
8.3.1 GPS-Based Instrument Recovery Stray Line Buoys

Stray line instrument recovery buoys contain a GPS receiver and a radio
modem that allows the buoy to report its position when it reaches the sur-
face. The stray line buoy is based on a 10-in glass instrument housing with
a depth rating of 6,700 mts. Contained within this are a GPS receiver, radio
modem, PIC microprocessor, LED strobe light, solar panels, batteries, and
the supporting electronics. Upon rising to the surface, the buoy assumes

Antenna Antenna
ECDIS
X-Band radar Monitor
S-Band radar
ECDIS
GPS DGPS
control unit PC
Gyro compass
NMEA 0183
Nav data
connection box 220V AC
Power supply Power supply

Speed log
Repeator
Nav-data DGPS GPS
Echo distribution
Anemometer sounder
FIGURE 8.11 Marine navigation equipment.
FIGURE 8.12 Navigation instruments.

its normal noninverted position

and a mercury tilt switch pow-
ers up the system. A delay circuit
is included to prevent the system
turning off again on rough seas.
The microprocessor then initial-
izes both radios, transmits the
buoy identification code plus an
“ON SURFACE” message, and
attempts to obtain a valid GPS
location. At periodic intervals (user
configurable, typically 30 seconds)
the buoy transmits its identifi-
FIGURE 8.13 GPS stray line buoys. cation and location or, if a valid
GPS location is not available, the
message “WAITING FOR GPS”.
After a defined amount of time
(user defined typically 3 hours) it
may be assumed that the instru-
4 kHz ment has not been recovered. At
Sediment
echo sounder
this time the buoy enters a power-
4° saving mode where it goes to
sleep, waking every hour on the
hour and transmitting its location
for a few minutes before going
to sleep again. The buoy contains
solar panels that provide enough
power to keep the buoy running in
this low-power mode indefinitely,
as shown in Figure 8.13.
7% of
water depth Echo-sounder: The echo-sound-
Penetration er is used to keep continuous
Sea floor 100 - 200 m
watch on water depth in coastal
waters [Figure 8.14]. An alarm
may be set per the ship’s require-
ments to warn of shallow waters.
Depths recorded should be com-
FIGURE 8.14 Echo-sounder. pared with those shown on the

charts, giving allowance for the ship’s draft and tidal effects. A hand lead
is provided on the ship for taking soundings manually in shallow waters.
8.3.2 Weather Monitoring Systems

The world’s oceans are divided in sixteen areas (NAVAREA) for dissemi-
nation of navigational and metrological warnings. Warnings are broadcast
on radio as per list of radio signals. Weather facsimile recorders receive data
from the weather satellite and display the latest weather maps, ice charts,
and other forecasts. This helps in modifying the ship’s routes as the voyage
proceeds to minimize the effects of bad weather, as shown in Figure 8.15.
Tropical storm
High tide + surge + waves

High tide + surge
High tide
Elevations not affected
Ship island
Kilometers
0 1 2
N Miles
0 1 2
FIGURE 8.15 Weather monitoring systems.
8.3.3 Routing and Reporting

In coastal waters, ships must use government-approved routing sys-
tems. Governments have established vessel traffic systems (VTS) designed
to contribute to safety of life, efficiency of navigation, and protection of the
marine environment and adjacent areas. VTS is mandatory within territo-
rial waters only. Automatic identification systems (AIS) transmit/receive
information on ships, names, positions, courses, speeds, destinations, car-
gos, etc. by digital radio technology for the ships in objective area. They
should be in operation at all times. They are useful in collision preven-
tion, search and rescue, or operation of VTS. This equipment is normally
placed on the bridge, and there are some further controls provided in UMS
(unmanned machinery space) ships, as the machinery and boiler controls
can also be controlled from the bridge.

8.4 INTEGRATED SAILBOAT INSTRUMENTS

A typical basic integrated sailboat instrument system for offshore cruis-
ing is shown in Figure 8.16, the primary components being:
■■ Depth instrument, receiving its input from a thru-hull transducer
■■ Speed instrument, receiving its input from a thru-hull paddlewheel log
unit
■■ Wind instrument, receiving its input from a masthead anemometer
■■ GPS unit, or a Chart plotter
■■ Heading sensor, essentially a gyro-controlled fluxgate compass which
may or may not have a display unit
■■ Autopilot
Masthead anemometer
Chart plotter
Wind
Autopilot
Central
processor
GPS
Speed/Depth
12V
Log impellor
Depth thru-hull
FIGURE 8.16 Sailboat instrument system.
The magnetic compass remains an independent cockpit instru-

ment, having been made redundant in the integrated system by data
provided by the heading sensor. For a number of years, all marine VHF
radios and top-end single side band (SSB) radios have digital selective

calling (DSC) functionality built in, but the latest innovation is to incorpo-
rate automatic identification system (AIS) technology too. By connecting
an AIS-enabled VHF to the chart plotter, full AIS data can be displayed
on screen. DSC is just one of the subsystems of the global marine distress
and safety system (GMDSS), others of which include satellite communica-
tion, the maritime safety information (MSI) system, the electronic position
indicating radio beacon (EPIRB) system, and the search and rescue tran-
sponder (SART) system.
8.5 AUTOPILOT SYSTEM

Figure 8.17 is a block diagram of the major components of an auto-
pilot system. The compass indicates the direction in which the boat is
pointed, often referred to as the actual heading. Depending on the type
of boat and installed equipment, the compass may be a magnetic compass,
an electronic fluxgate compass, a gyroscopic compass, or a GPS compass.
The actual heading is fed electronically from the compass to the proces-
sor (SPU), which is the “brains” of the autopilot. The SPU contains the
microcontroller(s) and other electronic hardware and the sophisticated
control software necessary to steer the boat on any desired heading. The
control head, normally located in the wheelhouse, is the interface between
Control head Navigation devices

Displays status and heading [optional]
information from the SPU, supply navigation
Rudder follower unit (RFU)
and allows the operator to information to the SPU
[Mechanically connected to
input steering commands & in nmea 0183 format
rudder] Measures rudder
operating parameters
position and sends it to
the SPU
Processor (SPU)
Calculates the rudder Streering system (actuator)
Compass
posistion needed to steer [Hydraulic ram or electric motor
Reads the vessel’s
the vessel on the desired which is mechanically connected
actual heading and
heading, and controls the to the rudder]
sends it to the SPU
streering system moves the rudder in response to
accordingly control signals from the SPU
FIGURE 8.17 Basic autopilot system.

Signal processor unit
Battery Solenoid Rotary Rudder 45 deg. Gate Vector Computer Main Aux
steering rudder angle gate compass GPS control control
follower indicators compass compass head head
Recorder
Reversing Linear Rate GPS
Transducer Hand held
motor rudder stabilizer receiver controller
follower chart
Magnetic plotter
Cable
Heavy compass Fixed
drive
duty sensor controller
rudder
Cable follower
boxes
Drive
interface
FIGURE 8.18 System block diagram of advanced autopilot system.
11/09/17 3:45 PM
the boat’s operator and the autopilot. The control head displays information
about what the autopilot is doing, and it has various controls (buttons and/
or knobs) that allow commands to be sent to the autopilot. The final part of
the picture is the steering system. For the autopilot to steer the boat, there
must be a steering system capable of moving the rudder independently
of the ship’s helm. This might be a hydraulic ram that is connected to the
rudder post or tiller quadrant, or an electric motor connected to the steer-
ing cables. But no matter what type of steering system the boat uses, elec-
tronic signals from the SPU tell the system to move the rudder, how far and
in which direction. The autopilot may also have a rudder follower unit (also
called a rudder feedback unit; RFU), a device that tells the SPU what posi-
tion the rudder is in at any given time. Advanced autopilot systems, their
functions, and their relationships to each other are shown in Figure 8.18,
showing the interconnections between the elements of the system: the sig-
nal processor unit (SPU), the main control head, a compass or other head-
ing sensor, solenoid(s), reversing motor or cable drive (which moves the
rudder), the rudder follower unit, optional auxiliary control head(s) and
remote controls, various optional accessories, external equipment, and
other navigation equipment.
8.6 SATELLITE PHONES AND THEIR USE ON SHIP

Continuous contact with the shore is important to prevent accidents
and emergency situations. Satellite phones are the only mode of communi-
cation. Communicating with people when on land is not a difficult task. The
service is easy, fast, and reliable. Cell phones have stipulated towers to send
and receive signals up to an approximate range of 1–5 miles. Satellite phone
is the answer for a “No tower” communication system, directly connecting
to the satellite without the use of any mediator. A satellite phone, like any
other cell phone, uses radio waves for the transfer of signals. There are
many satellite phone service providers but the quality of service depends on
the type of satellite they use. The two main types of satellites are:
■■ Low earth orbit satellites (LEO)
■■ Geosynchronous satellites
The height of an LEO satellite orbiting the Eearth varies greatly. Some
satellites are polar, which means they reach both the poles of the Earth while
orbiting. Satellites that are not polar do not reach the Antarctic and the

Arctic regions. The quality of service a satellite phone provides depends on

the height of its orbit: satellites at lower heights have lesser coverage area as
compared to the higher ones. LEO satellite phones rarely face delay in con-
nection but have lesser mobility due to smaller coverage area [Figure 8.19].
About 1,000km
Medium
earth orbit
about 10,000km
Low earth orbit
About 40,000km
Highly elliptic orbit
FIGURE 8.19 Satellite orbit and satellite phone.
Geosynchronous satellites are located at higher orbits, at an approxi-

mate height of 22,300 miles above the Earth’s surface. These satellites
move at the same rate as that of the Earth. As they are located at higher
orbits, they have a very large coverage area. One satellite can cover around
one-third of the Earth’s surface, as shown in Figure 8.20. Phones using
these satellites generally have long antennas facing the direction of the sat-
ellite and often face delay in connection. A clear and unobstructed sky is a
must. There are also Iridium phones that use nondirectional antennas. This
means that the phones antenna needn’t be pointing in a specific direction.
When a crew member makes a call from a satellite phone, the signal goes
directly to the satellite of that service provider. The call is processed by
the satellite and is then sent to the Earth through a gateway. The gateway
directs the call through the regular landline or the local cell phone service

providers. If a person from the ship wants to make a call to another satellite
phone, the signal is sent to the satellite and is relayed to the receiver phone
without the help of any gateway. Thus there is no intermediary in a satellite
to satellite phone. The only issue regarding the usage of a satellite phone is
that they have long antennas. The antennas should face the satellite when-
ever the call is being made. A satellite call will face interruption and delay
if the call is made from inside of a building or the sky is not unobstructed.
As satellite phones do not use any land infrastructure and provide uninter-
rupted service, the call charges are very high compared to that of a normal
cell phone. The handsets also are large and heavy.
Satellite B
Satellite C over the
over the Indian Ocean
Pacific Ocean
satellite’s
orbital direction
22,300 mile’s
(35,800 km)
Arthur C clarke’s above the equator
three satellites Satellite A
in geostationary orbit, as over the
proposed in 1845. Atlantic Ocean
FIGURE 8.20 GEO to cover Earth.
Applications of satellite phones: A satellite phone is a boon for a ship and

its crew members. It’s the only and the most effective source of communi-
cation on ship. Satellite phones have made a lifesaving difference during
emergencies. Weather conditions are often unpredictable at sea and satel-
lite phones are used to caution a ship in case of storm, rogue waves, or any
sudden change in the weather condition. Satellite phones are used for busi-
ness purposes to remain in contact with clients at the next port of call and
provide a data line to send and receive business information and transactional
documents. In natural disasters, such as hurricanes, floods, or earthquakes,
land-based cellular towers are often destroyed, cutting off communication
with the affected areas. It is during such conditions that satellite telephony
becomes the only mode of communication for calling help.

8.7 FIREFIGHTING EQUIPMENT

The engine room employs fire detection systems which have a master
control panel on the bridge, with auxiliary panels in the engine control
room and the fire control station. The system consists of different types
of fire detectors [Figure 8.21], located at various places according to the
risk of the type of fire. There are three phenomena associated with a fire:
flames, smoke, and heat, which are detected by infrared flame detectors,
smoke detectors, and heat detectors in the engine room. In workshops,
where welding is always going on and smoke and naked flame are always
present, there would be only a heat detector, or none at all as it is a certi-
fied hot work area. In the engine control room smoke detectors are used.
Near boilers and incinerators where abnormal conditions can produce a
naked flame, an infrared flame and an ionization type smoke detector are
used. The flame detectors are used
near fuel handling units like purifi-
ers, hot filters, refiners, condition-
ers. Upon the detection of a fire, an
audible alarm is sounded through-
out the ship, with the control panel
and alarm systems showing the loca-
tion of the fire. If two types of fire
detectors, i.e., flame and smoke,
are simultaneously triggered, they
would activate the hyper mist system
FIGURE 8.21 Fire detector. in that zone automatically.
8.8 SHIPBOARD LEVEL SENSORS

Ships have various tanks as a part of their structure, and measuring
the contents of a tank is a quite a job. The usage may vary from ballast to
sludge retention. All these tanks store certain liquids whose level (quan-
tity) has to be measured and checked on a daily basis. Failure to do so will
result in huge devastation, ranging from a pollution incident to stability
problems.
Most tanks have high- and low-level float indicators provided on the
tank walls. When the liquid level in the tank reaches maximum, the float is
lifted by the rising liquid surface. The opposite end of the float device has a

magnet which flips another magnet in the fixed body. The magnet’s flipping
action makes or breaks the circuit which causes an alarm. They also have a
provision for testing the alarm manually.
Permanent magnets
(same polarity)
Stainless steel float
Vent
Process plug
connection
Tank Indicator
Float
Float
chamber
Indicator
tube
Scale
Drain
flange
FIGURE 8.22 Floats to measure tank levels.

8.8.1 Pressure-Based Level Measurement

The head of available liquid in the tank is used and the head is con-
verted into level measurement. As the level inside the tank varies, the head
of liquid and thus the pressure varies accordingly, and this is used as refer-
ence for indicating the level in the tank. For sensing the pressure variation
inside the tank, a slack diaphragm pressure-sensing device is used. One
end of the diaphragm is connected to the open end of the tank, where
atmospheric pressure acts on it. The other end is connected to the safe,
bottom-most portion of the tank, enabling the liquid in the tank to exert a
corresponding head on the diaphragm. The diaphragm responds to the dif-
ference in pressure, which moves a needle calibrated to indicate the level
inside the tank.
8.8.2 Bubbler Gauge

One of the famous types of bubbler gauge found in most remote read-
ing gauges is shown in Figure 8.23. This type is used usually for highly
viscous oils in fuel oil tanks and the cargo tanks of product carriers, etc.
Compressed air is admitted at the top of a small-diameter tube fixed verti-
cally inside the tank. The base of the tube is left open to the tank’s bottom
surface. When compressed air is admitted from the tube top, it bubbles
out from the bottom and thus reaches the liquid surface. The air pressure
Basic bubbler with dip tube
Control unit
Approx max liquid level
Liquid level A
Liquid level B
Dip Tube
Liquid level C
Minimum measurable
liquid level
FIGURE 8.23 Bubbler gauge.

is dependent on the hydrostatic head of liquid present in the tank. This air
pressure is measured and calibrated to indicate the tank level continuously.
A three-way valve may also be provided to bypass the compressed air from
the restrictor, thus allowing blowing off the tube inside the tank to avoid
any deposits.
8.8.3 Ultrasonic/Microwave Level Sensor

These devices [Figure 8.24] use ultrasonic waves or microwaves to
determine the ullage level of the liquid in the tank. The waves hit the sur-
face of the liquid inside the tank and bounce back to the transmitter itself.
The time taken to receive the signal back is calculated and the ullage of the
tank is determined. The main advantage of this type is there are no moving
parts; it is mainly used for LNG/LPG tankers where manual sounding is
not possible.
Quick
push-button
calibration
All PVC
construction
Up to 60 feet
FIGURE 8.24 Ultrasonic level sensor.

8.8.4 Capacitive Level Sensor

A capacitor has two plates, separated by a dielectric medium. For mea-
suring tank levels, the capacitance probe acts as a single plate and the tank
side wall acts as the second plate. As the liquid level inside the tank varies,
the potential between the tank wall and the probe varies accordingly. This
causes a change in the current in the circuit and thus it is calibrated for
indicating the tank level.
8.9 SHIP’S BRIDGE

A ship has to navigate around the clock through different waters,
at times with restrictions, in changing weather and sea conditions. Com-
munication must be maintained during routine voyages, in restricted
waters, in emergencies, and for rescue operations. Various equipment,
instruments, and appliances are provided for performing these functions.
The ship’s bridge serves as a controlling and commanding station for the
entire ship. One can control all the machinery, boiler, and ship’s naviga-
tion from the bridge [Figure 8.25]. This provides a common platform
for the ship’s alarming and controlling station for onboard machinery.
Electrical and electronic equipment is installed so that the electromag-
netic interference does not affect proper functioning of navigation sys-
tems and equipment. Safety of navigation depends on proper, efficient,
and timely use of these aids. All these aids must be checked from time
to time for their performance and accuracy. Errors and deviations must
be logged. The common activities carried out on bridge can be broadly
grouped as:
■■ Lookout and avoidance of collision
■■ Control of ship’s speed and direction
■■ Navigation and position fixing
■■ Monitoring weather and sea condition
■■ Communication, both external and internal
Binoculars are used for long-distance viewing in daytime when

the weather is clear. At night or when visibility is restricted, radar

should be used for lookout. Range scale should be selected accord-

ing to the traffic density, ship’s speed, and distance from the coast.
The heading marker should be checked against the compass heading
and the ship’s fore and aft line. Ships of 10,000 GT and above should
have two radars, including one operating on X band, 9 GHz frequency.
They should have automatic radar plotting aid (ARPA). Smaller ships
are fitted with automatic tracking aid (ATA) or electronics plotting aids
(EPA). Alarms should also be fitted for the failure of these lights on the
bridge panel.
FIGURE 8.25 Ship’s bridge.
8.9.1 Controlling Ship’s Speed and Direction from Bridge

Ship’s speed: Every ship should have an indicator for the propeller speed
and direction of rotation on the bridge. If the propeller is of controllable
pitch, there should be indication of pitch also. In the integrated bridge sys-
tem (IBS), various operations such as passage execution, communications,
machinery control, and safety and security are centrally monitored. En-
gines can be stopped in an emergency. Overriding provisions are made in
the case of the main engine. The speed log shows the ship’s speed in knots,
and the distance indicator records distance covered in nautical miles. A
calibration chart is provided; these readings should be verified by plotting
the ship’s position on the charts.
Direction controls: The ship’s direction is set with the standard magnetic
compass, steering magnetic compass, or gyrocompass. There should be
communication between the standard magnetic compass and the steering

position. An efficient periscope with sufficient magnification and adjust-

ability is provided for comfortable viewing of the standard compass by the
helmsman.
Maneuvering displays on bridge control screen: Maneuvering charac-

teristics are displayed on the bridge. These include propeller RPM and
ship’s speed in knots corresponding to full, half, slow, and dead slow ahead
positions on the telegraph. Astern power as percentage of ahead power,
time change over from full head to full astern, distance to stop from full
ahead, time to stop, turning circle at full speed, at maximum rudder angle,
in loaded and ballast conditions time to steer from hard port to hard star-
board and minimum speed to maintain course are also displayed. Both
main and auxiliary steering systems must be tried out. Failure alarm and
auto start systems should be located on the bridge. Charts showing proce-
dure to change over to emergency steering should be displayed near the
steering control.
Alarms fitted in bridge: Alarms are provided for failure of main propul-
sion, machinery, and steering systems. These and the alarms for navigation
light failure, off course, radar warning, etc., must be acknowledged by the
officer on watch within 30 seconds, or the alarm is sounded in cabins, of-
fice, and mess for back-up assistance.
8.10 TRACKING SHIPS USING AIS

Keeping track of ships sailing at sea has become an important aspect
of maritime navigation. The automatic identification system (AIS) is a
device which not only helps in tracking ships at sea, but also helps in
avoiding accidents and traffic congestion. Increasing ship traffic at sea
has led to several problems both near the ports and on high seas. Many
accidents and collisions of ships in the past have been a result of lack
of information of the nearby ship and erroneous instructions from port
authorities. These incidents have been the main reason for the invention
and usage of ship tracking devices. Moreover, many ship owners also
need to keep a track of the cargo they are transporting. Ship tracking
devices help in serving these needs also. The automatic identification
system is one such versatile ship tracking device. An automatic identifi-
cation system, as the name suggests, automatically helps procure detailed

information about any ship at sea. A fully automatic system, AIS provides
all the information regarding a particular ship to nearby ships and also to
the coastal authorities.
8.10.1 AIS Operation

The automatic identification system (AIS) runs on the basic prin-
ciple of transferring data electronically over a radiowave frequency.
An AIS device consists of very high frequency (VHF) transmitters and
receivers. The transmitter and receiver are attached to the ship’s dis-
play and sensors systems through a communication link. To receive exact
information about other ships and to send its own, the AIS also has a
global positioning system (GPS) connected to a satellite. The GPS can
be an internally attached device or a separately fitted system. AIS is
also connected to all the other systems of the ship, and that is how it
receives the ship’s details and sends them across to other ships. AIS is
also known as the most important and safest navigation system onboard a
ship because it runs automatically and continuously, sending and receiv-
ing information regardless of the ship’s position with respect to the shore.
Moreover, though only one channel is required to transfer the details,
AIS has a secondary channel to prevent any kind of interference or loss
of information.
As each ship has its own AIS system, there are high chances of an
increase in traffic and congestion in the channels; however, this never hap-
pens. AIS has an automatic system that resolves the contention between
itself and other stations despite rise in load. This is possible because each
station has its own transmission slot. AIS is so designed that transmis-
sion slots are automatically assigned to a particular station on the basis of
the traffic history of the station. Each of the slots is of 26.6 milliseconds,
which means that each station can transmit information during that much
time before the chance goes to the next station. For this, there are in total
2,250 slots. The information sent from a station in a time slot serves as a
reference for the next information, which gets stored in some other ran-
domly organized slot. The information received and transmitted through
these slots is immediately transferred to any vehicle that comes in the
same radio range. Thus the 2,250 slots together serve as a common net-
work for providing information of all the ships coming under a particular
frequency channel.

8.10.2 Information Transfer

AIS transfers every detail regarding a particular ship. It procures details
such as a ship’s name, speed, position, direction, rate of turn, destination,
etc. It also gets physical dimensions of the ship, such as length, breadth,
tonnage, beam, and draft. All these items of information are directly sent to
the display system of the ship, where every detail is continuously displayed
in real time. All these details are extremely helpful in avoiding ship colli-
sions, reducing and monitoring traffic, assisting in navigation, search and
rescue operations, and in investigation and research. Thus, AIS helps not
only in tracking the ships but also in avoiding many unfavorable situations,
as shown in Figure 8.26.
AIS
Station
Static
Information AIS
Network
Dynamic
Information AIS
Station
AIS
Network
V.T.S.
Voyage Information
Information
VTS Center
FIGURE 8.26 AIS information.
8.11 ELECTRICAL PROPULSION SYSTEM

Recent trends and developments in power electronics have paved way
for more advanced and modern trends in electrical propulsion. LNG, with
a boiling point of minus 161.5 degrees Celsius at atmospheric pressure, is

highly volatile and thus demands a containment system that can maintain
a temperature near or below its boiling point. However intact the contain-
ment system may be, a certain percentage of vapors (boil-off) accumulate,
tending to increase the tank pressure. If this increase is not relieved, it will
have a huge impact on insulation walls and membranes. To solve this prob-
lem, the boil-off is piped into the engine room. LNG carriers have a natural
advantage in using boil-off gas for propulsion.
8.11.1 Boil-Off for Propulsion

The boil-off piped into engine room is used as fuel in the boilers, and
the high-pressure steam produced is used for propulsion in steam turbines.
More recent methods use boil-off in diesel engines.
■■ Using boil-off gas for power generation (generator engines) and
having an electrical motor for propulsion in dual fuel diesel electric
propulsion (DFDE) and tri-fuel diesel electric propulsion (TFDE)
ships
■■ Using boil-off gas for the main propulsion engine itself; these are normal
two-stroke, cross-head propulsion engines
It is widely known that steam turbines have very low thermal efficiency,
and because of this the marine world has started to prefer diesel engines.
With new technologies, it is currently possible to burn natural gas in the
engines.
Figure 8.27 shows a typical platform layout of a TFDE-electrically
propelled vessel. When the main propulsion diesel engine is replaced by
two electrical motors, so much space is saved in the engine room that the
entire bottom platform looks empty. The weight of the motor is less com-
pared to the diesel engine, and thus more cargo can be carried. Since the
main propulsion diesel engine requires more auxiliaries for its operation,
the entire plant must be huge and complex. With electrical propulsion,
the auxiliaries are just some thyristors and exciter control panels that
occupy much less space and hardly require any maintenance.
8.11.2 TFDE Propulsion Layout

The name TFDE originates mainly due to the power generation engines
being able to use three different types of fuel, thus the name “tri-fuel diesel
electric propulsion.” With respect to propulsion, the most modern trend is
to have electrical motors instead of diesel engines. Power generated in the

ECR
HV mimic
Engine 440V
Control engine console engine room
Room switchboard
PMS auxiliaries
DECK 4
d.c. transformer filter

converter colis room
transformer propulsion
computer
converter 6.6 kV (HV)
local control
position switchboard
converter
propulsion
transformer computer
converter d.c.
colis transformer filter
room
DECK 3
diesel – gen sets

PEM1
G1
G2
propulsion electric
motors
G3
G4
PEM2
DECK 2
FIGURE 8.27 TFDE-electrically propelled vessel.
alternators is in the range of 10 to 20 megawatts, which then feeds the main

propulsion motors. Figure 8.28 specifies various propulsion motor options
with fixed and controllable pitch propellers.
Electric propulsion offers advantages like layout flexibility, low run-
ning cost and maintenance, better efficiency, and good maneuverability.
A typical electrical propulsion system has four generators, each generat-
ing 8–12 mW of power at 6,600 or 11,000 Volts, 60 Hz. This is fed to the
main bus bar, from where the propulsion motors are fed. There are two
propulsion motors coupled with a reduction gear, driving the propeller as
in Figure 8.29.

all
fixed speed
prime–movers
driving
G G G G G
a.c.
generators
at 60 Hz
a.c.–d.c–a.c. a.c. – a.c. a.c.– d.c.–a.c. a.c.–d.c–a.c.

a.c.– d.c.
synchro cyclo PWM synchro
converter
converter converter converter converter
0–60 Hz 0–20 Hz 0–60 Hz 0–600 V 0–60 Hz
synchronous synchronous induction d.c. synchronous
M M M M M
FPP FPP FPP FPP CPP
FIGURE 8.28 Electrical propulsion options.
G G MAIN GENERATORS G G
6.6 kV 60 Hz MAIN SWBD
M M M M
Harmonic Harmonic
Filter Filter
AUX.
GEN.
M M
G
440 V 60 Hz ECR SWBD.
G EMERG.
GRN.
220 V 60 Hz ECR SUB 440 V 50Hz EMERGENCY SWBD.
FIGURE 8.29 Power distribution.

Each propulsion motor is connected from the bus bar through propul-
sion transformers. The motor has two stator windings for redundancy rea-
sons, as in Figure 8.30. When one stator winding fails, the motor can still
run at 50% redundancy.
6.6 kV 60 Hz MAIN SWBD
PROPULSION
POWER SUPPLIES
transformers
6.6/3 kV
Harmonic synchroconverter Harmonic

Filter controllers Filter
field controllers
rotary transformers
M and diodes M
0 − 145 0 − 145
rev/min rev/min
2 × 12 MW, 3kV
synchronous motors
FIGURE 8.30 Propulsion motor supply.
Even though the generated voltage is 6.6 kV, the motors run on
3,000 Volts or less. This is because of the limitation in the thyristor fir-
ing circuits. The motors can even run as low as one or two revolutions,
which offer better control for maneuvering. The number of generators
connected to the bus bar depends on the load on the electrical motor. The
main propulsion electric motors can be started in many ways. The most
common two types are
1. Starting normally as induction motor, then making it a synchronous

motor
2. Pony motor driving the motor, making it a synchronous motor
On all ships that have electrical motors for propulsion, kVAr load is
more important that the conventional kW load. When the propulsion motor
starts, the kVAr load is more than the kW load. As the motor picks up speed,
gradually kW load increases as the kVAr starts to stabilize.

8.12 GAS DETECTION METERS FOR SHIPS

Various gas meters used onboard ships measure the hydrocarbon con-
tent, explosion hazard risk, and also the oxygen analyzers. Under the follow-
ing circumstances the cargo tank or any enclosed space onboard the ship
must be evaluated to ensure that the space is gas free and has ample oxygen
for personnel to work there if required. Tank evaluation is done to ensure
that the atmosphere inside the tank is safe enough for personnel to make
an entry. There is different equipment available on board for the evaluation
of tank atmosphere. Some of them are: combustible gas indicators or explo-
simeters, tank scope or noncombustible gas indicators, multi-gas analyzers,
and oxygen analyzers.
8.12.1 Combustible Gas Indicators or Explosimeters

An explosimeter is a device used to detect the amount of combustible
gases present in a sample of a given atmosphere. This gives a reading in
terms of percentage of the LFL (lower flammable limit). “Resistance pro-
portional to heat” is the working principle. The equipment consists of a
Wheatstone bridge in which one of the resistances is variable. The circuit is
Filter and flash back

arrestor filament Sample
chamber
Sample tube
Hand Pump
Battery
HC level Indicator
On – Off switch
FIGURE 8.31 Combustible gas indicator.

It consists of four resistances in which one varies according to the

amount of the gas present. A hand pump is used to draw the gas or the
atmosphere containing the gas inside the device. A filter and flash back
arrestor is used to filter the gas and acts as a flame arrestor. The device is
switched on. As the hand pump is operated to suck a sample of gas from
the cargo tank, simultaneously the filament gets heated. Any combustibles
in the sample will land on the filament in the sample chamber. The com-
bustibles will burn as the filament is already hot, causing an increase in
resistance which disturbs the Wheatstone bridge. The reading can be read
from the indicator. The instrument gives the reading in percentage of the
lower flammable limit or lower explosive limit, which is 1%. This type of gas
meter can only be used if the gas content is very low—i.e., this instrument
should not be used if the atmosphere contains:
■■ H/C + inert gas—then the gas will not burn as there is no oxygen
■■ H/C + oxy-acetylene—then the burning will be too violent
■■ H/C + oxy-hydrogen—same as above
■■ Lead petroleum vapors—lead oxide deposits on the filament cause a
reduction in sensitivity
8.12.2 Tankscope or Noncombustible Gas Indicator

A tankscope is a device used for measurement of hydrocarbon gas con-
tent in a sample of given atmosphere. This instrument is meant for mea-
suring the hydrocarbon vapor in inert atmospheres. This instrument is not
as sensitive as the explosimeter. The reading is only in percentage of the
volume of the hydrocarbon vapor and hence used only during the gassing
up operations and during inerting. This is purely meant for measuring the
volume of the hydrocarbon vapors present inside any enclosed space, and
hence it is not meant for measuring during a man entry. It works on the
same principle as that of an explosimeter except that the gas does not burn
inside the sample chamber; there is an alteration in the temperature of the
heated filament which enhances the change in resistance. It is always advis-
able to flush the sample tube with fresh air after every use.
8.12.3 Multi-Gas Analyzers

Multi-gas analyzers are used to detect only targeted gases and vapors
[Figure 8.32]. It is specific to that type of gas only, so care must be taken
to ensure that correct tubes are used for the particular type of gas. The

multi-gas analyzer consists of a portable bellows pump and detector tubes.

The detector tube is like a vial filled with reagent that will react with the
specific chemical. Both the ends of the tube are closed. To use it, we have
to break the two ends of the tube and insert it into the pump according to
the directions on the tube. Now start pumping three to four times (or as
specified by the manufacturer) to suck in the gas from the atmosphere. If
the atmosphere contains that gas or vapor, the color of the tube changes.
The length of the color change can be read from the tube and compared
to obtain the level of that gas or vapor. Some of the gases include carbon
monoxide, chlorine, hydrogen sulphide, organic arsenic compounds, arsine,
and phosphoric acid esters. An extension hose is provided to measure the
concentration of vapor present at a different height. The oxygen analyzer
is a device used to measure the concentration of oxygen in a given atmo-
sphere. This device plays a vital role.
Tubes
Hand
operated
pump
FIGURE 8.32 Multi-gas analyzers.
1. Define “nautical chart.”

2. A phone is an answer for a no-tower communication
system.
3. Geosynchronous satellites are located at orbits of an approximate
height of miles above the Earth’s surface.
4. phones use nondirectional antennas.
5. How many GEO satellites are needed to cover Earth?
6. The echo-sounder is used for .

7. What is the use of AIS?

8. What information is transferred by AIS?
9. What is the use of a tank scope device?
10. What is an oxygen analyzer?
1. What are the roles of ECM in engine?

2. Write about fuel injection to the engine.
3. In short, explain wireless control stations.
4. List the information provided in a nautical chart.
5. Write about the marine navigation system.
6. What are the primary components of integrated sailboat instruments?
Explain.
7. Write a note on echo-sounders.
8. Write a note on weather monitoring systems.
9. What is a bubbler gauge? Explain.
10. Explain the function of ultrasonic-microwave level sensor.
11. How do you measure a liquid level using the capacitive level sensor?
12. Write about the noncombustible gas indicator.
1. Explain the role of electronics in a marine generator set.

2. Explain marine instruments in detail.
3. Write in detail about marine navigation equipment and instruments.
4. What are the components of an autopilot system? Explain the compo-
nents’ operation.
5. In detail, explain the operation of satellite phones.

6. Explain shipboard level sensors.

7. Write about the ship’s bridge in detail.
8. Write in depth about the operation of AIS and its information.
9. Explain the modern electrical propulsion system for LNG tankers in
detail.
10. Explain gas detection meters for ships.
WEB LINKS
http://www.nautilo.fr/help
http://www.sailboat-cruising.com/sailboat-instruments.html

CHAPTER
9
OCEANOGRAPHIC
INSTRUMENTS
T
his chapter deals with instruments and their measured param-
eters, oceanographic instrumentation, Argo robots, measurements
of hydrographic properties, measurement of dynamic properties,
BIOMAPER, and many others.
9.1 INSTRUMENTS AND THEIR MEASURED PARAMETERS

Oceanographic instruments measure or sample physical, chemical, and
biological quantities in the water column. There is often more than one
way to measure a quantity (i.e., temperature, currents) and there are many
quantities to measure, hence there are many instruments. The following is
the list of quantities commonly measured these include: depth (meters),
temperature (degree Celsius), salinity (practical salinity units of chlorine,
sodium, sulfate, magnesium and potassium) oxygen, phosphate, nitrate,
silicate, pH, density (kilos per cubic meter), water clarity (Forel scale to
measure color), sound or ambient noise (Hertz), Sound Speed, biolumi-
nescence, seabed sediment, current, and waves. Some physical properties
of seawater are conservative (i.e., temperature and salinity); this means
that away from the surface the only way they can change is by mixing. All
the above quantities are normally accompanied by a measurement of date,
time, and position, i.e., latitude and longitude. Measurement of time and
position are made with a global positioning system (GPS) and are relative
to GMT time. Accuracy is of the order of +/- 10-15m.

9.1.1 Depth VELOCIMETER

In the measure-
ment of depth in
relation to the instru-
ment or the sea-floor,
it is fundamental to Measures depth, temperature & sound velocity
through a sonic frequency system.
reference the loca-
tion of the measure- Trans Reflector
ment. The simplest
way to measure the Reflector Receiving
trans
depth of the mea-
surement is to mark FIGURE 9.1 Velocimeter, sonic frequency system
the wire or rope to
which the instrument is attached and measure the length used. The more
accurate way is to measure the water pressure at the instrument level and
convert this to a depth. The simplest way to measure sea bed depth is to
lower a weight with a wire or rope and measure the length used till the
weight has reached the bottom. Yet another is to use an echo-sounder and
time how long takes for the sound pulse to echo back, as in Figure 9.1.
Sonar (sound navigation and ranging) and SOFAR (sound fixing and rang-
ing) use sound for measurement. Conductivity, temperature, and depth
(CTD) instruments use a strain gauge pressure transducer to sense depth.
9.1.2 Temperature
There are several ways of measuring temperature, the simplest being a
mercury in glass or stem thermometer. A stem thermometer is commonly
used to measure sea surface temperature by placing it in a bucket of sea-
water. A protected reversing thermometer is special kind of stem thermom-
eter which measures subsurface temperature. “Protected” means that the
thermometer is isolated from water pressure. The reversing thermometer
is attached to a water sampling bottle. When the sampling bottle is closed,
the thermometer is inverted and, as a result of its construction, the mercury
“breaks” at a particular point and runs down the other end of the capillary to
record the temperature at the depth of the reversal. After the thermometer
has been reversed, it becomes almost insensitive to subsequent changes of
temperature and it is read when it is bought back on deck. After corrections
for scale errors and for the small change in reading due to any difference
between the in-situ temperature and that on the deck, the reversing ther-
mometer is accurate to about +/- 0.02 C in routine use.

Oceanographic Instruments • 323
An unprotected reversing thermometer is exposed to water pres-

sure. The water pressure compresses the glass in the bulb and causes the
thermometer to indicate a higher temperature than the protected ther-
mometer. The difference between the two thermometers is a measure
of the compression of the glass, which depends on a known compress-
ibility and upon pressure, i.e., depth. A protected/unprotected revers-
ing thermometer pair is used to measure both temperature and depth.
The depth is then used to reference the depth at which the water bottle
sample was taken. Depth measured in this way is accurate to +/- 0.5% of
depth or +/- 5 meters, whichever is greater.
Another widely used temperature sensor is the thermistor. The therm-
istor is usually a small piece of electrically conductive material such as a
resistor. The thermistor relies upon measuring electrical resistance, which
is directly or inversely proportional to temperature. Thermistors are used on
CTD (conductivity, temperature and depth) and XBT (expendable bathy-
thermograph) instruments. The CTD instrument is composed of a rosette
with weights, 12–24 Nisking water bottles [see Figure 9.13], reversing pro-
tected and unprotected thermometers, and other instruments such as a flu-
orimeter and a transmissometer. The water samples are used for collection
and for calibration and chemical/nutrient analysis. The instrument provides
real-time sections or profiles of temperature, salinity, density, g eostrophic
currents, and dissolved oxygen. The temperature/salinity diagrams are used
for water mass identification. The XBT is composed of a torpedo-shaped
probe that contains a thermistor and a very fine coiled copper wire which
is unreeled from both the probe
Contacts
and the canister, from which it
is deployed as shown in Figure Canister wire
spool
9.2. It is launched from the ship,
being either hand-held, deck-
mounted or hull-mounted. The Release pin
depth is calculated from the Canister
elapsed time and the expected
fall rate (~6.5 m/s) and comes
in four types (T4 ~460m, T7
~760 m, T10 ~200m, TDeep End cap
~760). This instrument provides Probe Probe wire
spool
a large body of data (global data-
set) over many seasons/years for
Thermistor
statistical evaluation of climatic FIGURE 9.2 Expendable bathythermograph (XBT)

changes. Thermistor chains, consisting of a cable with a number of thermis-

tor elements at intervals, are sometimes moored along with current meters
to record temperature at a number of depths. A data logger samples each
thermistor at regular intervals and records temperatures as a function
of time.
A seasor is an instrument that looks like a small airplane, which is low-
ered in the water and moored by the ship at a known depth or at the sur-
face. With the aid of a conducting cable, the data is real-time monitored
and produces typical sections such as virtual CTD profiles. Sea surface
temperature may be inferred by measuring the infrared radiation emitted
by the sea surface. This method is used by airborne platforms such as satel-
lites. Use of satellites or other remote-sensing methods permits rapid mea-
surement over a wide area.
9.1.3 Salinity
Salinity is a measure of the quantity of salt in a volume of sea water
in practical salinity units (psu). In very approximate terms, a salinity of
35 psu means there are 35 grams of salt in a kilogram of water. Salinity is
an important quantity to measure as salinity in conjunction with tempera-
ture and depth/pressure enables calculation of the density of the seawater
and sound speed. Salinity in combination with temperature also allows the
oceanographer to label water masses in the ocean, study their movement,
and hence infer ocean currents. Salinity is obtained by first measuring the
electrical conductivity of the seawater at a known temperature and pres-
sure. Using an internationally standard formula, the conductivity is then
converted to salinity. Salinity may be measured from a water bottle sample
on the ship using a laboratory salinometer or in situ using a conductiv-
ity sensor such as on a CTD. The salinometer measures a conductivity
ratio using a conductance cell and conductance bridge which is balanced
manually. The ratio measured is between a standard sample of sea water at
35.000 psu and the sample. Salinity is then obtained from the conductiv-
ity ratio and temperature using standard tables or formulas. CTDs com-
monly use a 4-electrode cell through which water flows as the cell is moved
through the water column. The cell measures conductivity which is then
converted to salinity.
9.1.4 Oxygen, Phosphate, Silicate, Nitrate, pH

Oxygen content of sea water is commonly measured in conjunction
with CTD measurements or water bottle sampling. CTD units sometimes
have an oxygen sensor attached enabling an in-situ measurement of oxygen,

but these measurements produce noisy results which need to be filtered.

Oxygen content from water samples is determined by chemical titration.
The titration method is often more reliable than using an in-situ sensor,
which may suffer from drift or calibration problems. Phosphate, silicate,
and nitrate are determined by chemical means from water samples. Other
chemical parameters such as pH may be determined from water samples.
9.1.5 Water Clarity

Water clarity may be taken as a measure of the degree of transmission
of visible light through the sea so they are taken whenever possible during
daylight hours. The more turbid the water, the less light is transmitted.
Water clarity has always been measured to estimate the silt run-off from
rivers, monitoring pollution streams as monitoring algae growth. The sim-
plest device for measuring water clarity is the Secchi disc, which consists
of a white place 30 cm in diameter which is lowered into the water (a lead
weight is suspended under the disc to ensure that it will sink rapidly and
vertically) and the depth at which it is lost to sight is noted. The greater the
depth at which the disc is no longer visible, the clearer the water. During
the procedure, the color of the disc is classified with the Florel Ule scale.
The Secchi disc is only a semiquantitative device, but being simple and low
cost, it is often used.
A more quantitative device is the transmissometer, which measures
the attenuation of a beam of light of known wavelength over a fixed path
length. The transmissometer uses a light source and a photoelectric cell and
measures the beam attenuation coefficient C over a direct path from the
source to the photocell. The beam attenuation coefficient is a function of
the shapes and amount of particulate material in the water.
Another instrument is the nephelometer, which measures light scattered
through an angle rather than from a direct path from the light source to the
photocell. Nephelometer measurements have a more direct relationship
with the quantity of suspended solids in the water than a transmissometer.
It is thus used when one wants determine sediment concentrations in the
water, i.e., in grams/volume units, The nephelometer is useful in muddy,
highly turbid water such as near coastal estuaries, rivers, and near sea bot-
tom (nepheloid layer).
9.1.6 Sound
Sound is measured in the sea to support many applications, most nota-
bly naval sonar operations, geophysical studies, and studying sounds emit-
ted by marine life. The basic instrument used to measure sound is the

hydrophone. A hydrophone is a transducer which converts sound energy

(pressure) into electrical energy (current). Some substances such as quartz
or certain ceramics, when placed under pressure, acquire an electrical
charge or voltage across the crystal surface. This behavior is called piezo-
electricity. Thus, the hydrophone consists of sensor made of a crystalline
or ceramic substance. The basic unit of sound measurement is the decibel,
which is measure of the pressure exerted by the sound wave or measure of
the sound intensity. The other important quantity is the frequency of the
wave measured in Hertz.
Sound in the sea may be thought of as consisting of many superimposed
waves at varying levels of intensity and frequency resulting in a complex
wave arriving at the sensor. Using mathematical techniques, the complex
wave is decomposed into waves of discrete frequency and intensity. The
result of this analysis is a graph of intensity (decibels) versus frequency
(Hertz) called a spectrum. The sound or background noise is frequently
referred to as ambient noise. Many hydrophones consist of more than one
sensor element, or an array. The advantages of an array over a single hydro-
phone are several. First the array is more sensitive, since lots of elements
will generate more voltage (if connected in series) or more current (if con-
nected in parallel) than a single element exposed to the same sound field.
Second, the array possesses directional properties that enable it to discrimi-
nate from sounds arriving from different directions. Third, the array has an
improved signal to noise ratio since it discriminates against isotropic noise
in favor of a signal arriving in the direction that an element of the array is
pointing. Sonar domes fixed to the hull of naval vessels have a cylindrical
array. A recent development is the towed array, a flexible line of hydro-
phone elements towed from a ship. Another type of hydrophone is used on
a sonobuoy, which is dropped from an airborne platform to record ambi-
ent noise and locate ships or submarines. Sonobuoy is compact expendable
device containing a small radio transmitter for relaying signals picked up by
the hydrophone.
Sound speed: Sound speed is a measure of how quickly sound propagates

through the ocean. Sound speed is needed for measuring the water depth
with echo-sounders since the water depth is calculated by multiplying the
mean sound speed in the water column by half the time that it takes for the
sound to echo back from the sea bed. The basic means of measuring sound
speed is to measure the time it takes for a pulse of sound to travel a known
distance. The sensor consists of a sound source, a metal reflector, and a

receiver. The sensor may be attached to a probe which is lowered into the
water or on an expendable instrument such as the expendable sound veloc-
ity (XSV) probe. The XSV works on simple principle to the XBT. Sound
speed may be calculated from a well-known relation among sound speed,
temperature, salinity, and depth. In the absence of direct sound speed mea-
surements, sound speed can be estimated quite accurately provided tem-
perature, salinity, and depth are known.
9.1.7 Currents
Measurement of ocean current is fundamental to a general under-
standing of the ocean. Ocean currents transport heat and effect climate and
weather. Currents transport marine life and sediments. Currents also effect
the passage of ships and the oceanographic instruments themselves. Cur-
rent is a vector quantity having both a direction and a speed. Therefore, a
current instrument must measure both direction and speed.
There are different basic ways of measuring a current:
1. The oldest method of tracing a current is a drift bottle or card. These

floating items are designed so that their movement is determined only
by surface currents and contain a request to the finder to notify the time
and place of recovery.
2. A moored current meter in the sea produces measurements of speed and
direction at fixed time intervals.
3. A current meter attached to a moving platform such as a ship measures
the relative current. The absolute current is then determined by such
vector subtracting the motion of the ships over the ground, determined
by navigation. This method is used with the acoustic Doppler current
profiler (ADCP). An ADCP may also be moored at a fixed location on
the sea-bed.
4. A drifting buoy measures current through observation of the motion,
i.e., the change of position at fixed time intervals, of an object flowing or
floating with the current.
5. A dynamic method recognizes that the surface of the sea is not level
but has hills and valleys. Therefore, contour maps may be drawn of its
surface showing these elevations and depressions. Given that in the
Southern Hemisphere ocean currents flow in an anticlockwise direction
around areas of high sea level, a map of sea flow of an area can be drawn

from a knowledge of the topography of the surface. These contours

are not visible by the naked eye but are correlated to the density of the
water, the water below a hill being of lower density than that below a
valley. The density of the water, instead of being directly measured, is
computed from the temperature and the salinity of the ocean water.
Owing to turbulence, current is a quantity that often fluctuates over

short periods of time, and averaging or smoothing is usually required to
present the data in useful form. This process of averaging is termed vector
averaging. Current meters which use vector averaging sample the current
at short intervals, say once every 2 seconds, and then compute the average
over a longer interval, say 10 minutes. The resulting output of the meter is
a time series of current at the averaging interval. There are four common
techniques of current measurement:
1. Propellor-type meters count (meter) the rotation of a rotor or propeller

placed in the current. Direction is sensed by a vane which is orientated
parallel to the current. The orientation of the vane is then referenced
against a magnetic compass. An example of such a current meter is the
Aanderaa model, which incorporates other in-situ sensors such as water
temperature and water pressure that allow recording of other data in
conjunction with current.
2. Electromagnetic current meters use the principle that a voltage will
be induced by a conductor which moves across a magnetic field. The
conductor in this case is seawater, which readily conducts a current
due to salt ions. Electromagnetic current meters consist of pairs of
electrodes, an internally generated magnetic field, and a flux gate
compass. Water flows through the magnetic field, thereby produc-
ing a voltage which is proportional to the current speed. The current
amplitude is measured along the axis of each electrode as well as the
compass output. Relative current direction, corrected with compass
data and current amplitude, is computed internally. The results are
then stored in two absolute current vector components (North and
East). The components are then vector averaged over a user pro-
grammed averaging interval.
3. Acoustic current meters utilize the Doppler effect—the change
in frequency of sound reflected by a stationary object relative to
the frequency at which it is moving. The acoustic Doppler current
profiler (ADCP) emits a beam of sound of known frequency which

reflects off small particles moving with the water. The beam re-
flected to the receiver will have a change in frequency proportional
to the speed of the particles and thus the current speed. One sound
beam will give the component of current in the direction of the
beam. However, three orthogonal components are needed to get the
true current vector so the ADCP utilizes more than one beam. Four
beams are typically used to obtain a redundant velocity measure-
ment for data checking and improved instrument reliability. ADCPs
measure water speed at multiple water depths or range cells along the
path of the acoustic beams. This is achieved by periodically transmit-
ting short pulses (typically 1–50 milliseconds) of sound, then making
multiple measurements of the frequency of the echoes at discrete
time intervals after the initial sound pulse. A depth profile of the cur-
rent is assembled after some averaging processes. On a moving plat-
form such as a ship, the motion of the ship must be subtracted from
the ADCP relative current to get the true current. Usually the motion
of ship is determined by using GPS navigation, which offers the best
means of accurately determining the ship’s motion at frequent inter-
vals. The result of ADCP data processing
is a time series of current versus depth
Satellite profile along the track of ship. In the case
real time
transmission of moored ADCP, it is a time series at a
fixed point.
4. Drifting buoys float on the ocean surface
to follow the current. The buoy usually
Temperature includes a drogue, which is device such
sensors as a parachute or sheet to drag the buoy
with current. The drouge is attached to
the buoy below the water, as shown in
Figure 9.3. Some method is needed of
about 20 m
current tracking the buoy’s position. Position
tracking may be done using:
• Visual sighting with a bearing compass
Drifting • Attaching a metal target/reflector to the

drogue buoy so it can traced by radar
• Using a radio transmitter and tracking
the buoy location with a radio receiver
FIGURE 9.3 Drifting buoys. such as satellite

Drifting buoys may have other sensors attached, such as thermistors

which measure sea surface temperature, a pressure gauge to measure air
pressure, and an anemometer which measures wind speed and direction.
Another type of Lagrangian device is a spherical free falling acoustic device
with a skirt that reduces turbulence as it falls. This device, with the help of
a triangular configuration of transponders on the seabed, can be located
with high precision while sinking and drifting with the currents. This device
produces a profile with real current components with depth and after each
profile, so after it has reached the seabed, it reaches the surface again, wait-
ing for collection. Other means of tracing 3-D movements of water are
acquired with the aid of tracers such as dye and pollutants.
9.1.8 Waves and Tides

The most common instrument used for measuring waves is a waverider
buoy: a buoy which follows the movements of the water surface. The wave
height is measured with an accelerometer, which measures the vertical
acceleration of the water. The acceleration is integrated to produce a time
series of displacement of the sea surface, i.e., a time series of wave height.
The buoy is typically attached to a flexible mooring line, which in turn is
attached to a heavy weight on the sea bed. The wave height signal is usu-
ally transmitted by radio signal to a ship or shore station from an antenna
attached to the buoy. Tides are most commonly measured with a tide gauge.
9.1.9 Seabed Sampling

Seabed information is very useful to estimate anchorage safety loca-
tions, offshore engineering (such as sitting of platforms, beacons, and sea
walls), mineral exploration, fishing, mine warfare, submarine operations,
and sonar acoustic performance. The classification of the bottom type relies
on a geological/scientific classification, hydrographic classification (descrip-
tion of the most predominant components, the grain size grading), and the
nature of the sea floor (washed materials, erosion, biological sediments).
Seabed sampling can be obtained by means of lead lines, grabs, snappers
and scoops, corers, dredges, divers, and remotely operated vehicles and
submersibles. Leadlines are weights armed with a sticky substance to which
particles adhere and on which heavier objects leave an impression. The
advantage of the leadline is that it is cheap and simple to operate. The dis-
advantages are that the heavier materials might not be detected, only the
very top surface layer is sampled and the latter is disturbed when collected.
Grabs, snappers, and scoops are used for collecting medium-size samples

from the surface and immediate subsurface layer of the sea floor. They usu-
ally comprise a bucket or scoop which is activated on hitting the sea floor.
Some are spring loaded; others close when they are raised off the seabed.
The disadvantages of the grabs are that they are not suitable for collecting
soft or liquid mud, as the sample is often washed out of the bucket before
it reaches the surface.
The Shipek grab consists of two concentric half cylinders that on strik-
ing the sea floor rotate through 180°. During this rotation, the bucket
scoops a sample from the seabed and then remains closed while the grab is
hauled to the surface. This type of grab is most effective on unconsolidated
sediments, but the impact of the grab on the consolidated and compacted
seabed can make it bounce and cause only a superficial grab. Corers are
used to obtain an undisturbed vertical sample of the sea floor. They com-
prise a tube- or box-shaped cutting mechanism similar to an apple corer or
pastry cutter. They are driven into the seafloor and when withdrawn retain
the undisturbed sample of the sediment layers by the means of different
methods such as vacuum suction and shutters. Corers can be drawn in the
seafloor by means of their own weight, explosives, pneumatics, or mechani-
cal vibration. Cores contain liners which allow the sample to be removed
and stored with the minimum disturbance.
Dredges are designed to drag along the sea floor collecting loose mate-
rials and sediments. They often incorporate a filter which allows smaller
sediments to pass through. Samples are obviously disturbed but do reflect
the seabed materials over a reasonable large area. Divers inspection allows
a positive identification of the shallow sea floor. Large as well as small fea-
tures can be identified.
9.1.10 Bioluminescence
Bioluminescence is the emission of light by living organisms. The
process is such that light is radiated but very little heat is emitted.
The process is an animal production and approximately 240 groups of
organisms have been identified as bioluminescent, such as dinoflagel-
lates, jellyfishes, copepods, euphausiids, squids, and some fish. Biolu-
minescence is the result of a substance such as luciferin being oxidized
in the presence of a catalytic enzyme, the luciferase. Bioluminescence is
triggered by unexplained internal actions or external actions such as sur-
face and internal waves; ship, fish, and whale movements; and upwelling.
Bioluminescence can be measured and collected visually and recorded

in coded form from standard tables. Data collected includes information

about stimulus (causes such as light, wave action, rain or fish), color, kind
(continuous, patches, bands, blobs, shapes), duration (seconds or continu-
ous), and extent (size of patches or continuous) of the bioluminescence.
Various mesh nets with preset depth catchers catch larger plankton, while
the smallest plankton type must be centrifugated because it is too small
for the smallest mesh.
9.2 OCEANOGRAPHIC INSTRUMENTATION

The following table summarizes the range of instrumentation used at
sea and its content.
Range of Instrumentation Used at Sea.
Research need Available equipment / instrumentation

Provision of observing plat- • Research vessels
form • Moorings
• Satellites
• Submersibles
• Towed vehicles
• Floats and drifter
Measurement of hydrographic • Reversing thermometers
properties • Water bottles
(temperature, salinity, oxygen, • CTDs
nutrients, tracers) • Multiple water sample devices
• Thermosalinographs
• Remote sensors
Measurement of dynamic • current meters
properties • wave measurements
(currents, waves, sea level, • tide gauges
mixing processes) • remote sensors
• shear probes
Platforms: All measurements at sea require a reasonably stable platform

to carry the necessary instrumentation. The platform can be at the sea
surface, at the sea floor, in the ocean interior, or in space. The choice of
platform depends on its capabilities to collect the required information in
space and time.

9.2.1 Research Vessels

Research vessels must be seaworthy and capable of riding out bad
weather. The weather conditions in the investigation area thus define the
minimum size for the vessel. Additional requirements, such as the handling
of heavy equipment at sea, can increase the minimum size. Typical ocean
going research vessels are 50–80 meters long, have a total displacement
of 1,000–2,000 tonnes, and provide accommodation for 10–20 scientists
[Figure 9.4]. The minimum laboratory requirements consist of a wet labo-
ratory for the handling of water samples, a computer laboratory for data
processing, an electronics laboratory for the preparation of instruments,
and a chemical laboratory for water sample analysis. Larger research ves-
sels designed for multi-disciplinary research have additional biological,
geophysical, and geological laboratories. Figure 9.4 shows a typical deck
arrangement on a medium sized research vessel.
4 2 3
working deck laboratories accommodation mess/recreation pantryl galley
FIGURE 9.4 Research vessels and deck arrangement.
9.2.2 Moorings
Moorings are appropriate platforms wherever measurements are
required at one location over an extended period. Their design depends
on water depth and the type of instrumentation for which the mooring
is deployed, but the basic elements of an oceanographic mooring are an
anchor, a mooring line (wire or rope), and one or more buoyancy elements
which hold the mooring upright and preferably as close to vertical as pos-
sible. Subsurface moorings are used in deep water in situations where infor-
mation about the surface layer is not essential to the experiment. The main
buoyancy at the top of the mooring line is placed some 20–50 meters below
the ocean surface. This has the advantage that the mooring is not exposed to
the action of surface waves and is not at risk of being damaged by ship traffic
or stolen. Figure 9.5 shows a typical deep sea mooring. The main buoyancy
is at the top of the mooring line. To protect the mooring against fish bites,
wire is used for the upper 1,000 meters or so of the mooring line, while rope
is used below. At the bottom of a deep-sea mooring, just above the anchor, is
a remotely controllable release. It can be activated through a coded acoustic

Distance from
the surface Ratio beacon on float
5m
ADCP 300 m
344 m Foam float
19 m wire 30" diameter
RCM 320 m 5m CTD
355 m
276 m wire
Acoustic current meter
RCM 600 m 150 m
397 m wire Two glass floats

17" diameter
RCM 1000 m 550 m 41 m
497 m rope CTD

63 m
RCM 1500 m
Two glass floats
997 m rope 17" diameter
130 m
RCM 2500 m
750 m Foam float
897 m rope 30" diameter
10 m
CTD
RCM 3500 m 758 m
Acoustic current meter
7m
492 m rope
765 m Two acoustic
ACR 3995 m 5m releasers
4 m chain 1500 lb anchor
1000 kg Distance between
mooring elements
FIGURE 9.5 Moorings.
signal from the ship when it is time to recover the mooring. Triggering the
release brings the mooring to the surface. The anchor, usually a concrete
block or a clump of disused railway wheels, is left at the ocean floor.
An experiment that includes the surface layer or the collection of mete-
orological data requires a surface mooring. The main buoyancy for such
a mooring takes the shape of a substantial buoy that floats at the surface
and can carry meteorological instrumentation as in Figure 9.6. In the deep
ocean, surface moorings are mostly taut moorings. They use only rope for
the mooring line and make it a few percent shorter than the water depth.

atmospheric sensors
wind vane rain gauge
pick-up line and CTD at 0.5 m depth

floats
5 m chain CTD at 5 m depth
50 m
200 m wire
anchor 600 kg
FIGURE 9.6 Surface mooring.
This stretches the rope and keeps

surface main buoyancy it under tension to keep the moor-
marker ing close to vertical.
2 - 3h Moorings on the Continen-
h
current
meter tal Shelf, where the water depth
does not exceed 200 meters, do
2 - 3h not require acoustic releases if
anchor anchor a U-type mooring is used. A U-type
mooring consists of a surface or
FIGURE 9.7 U-type mooring. subsurface mooring to carry the
instrumentation, a ground line of
roughly twice the water depth, and a second mooring with a small marker
buoy, as in Figure 9.7. When the time comes to bring the mooring in, the
marker buoy is recovered first, followed by the two anchors, and finally the
mooring itself. U-type moorings are usually slack moorings; the mooring line
is longer than the water depth, and the mooring swings with the current.
9.2.3 Moored Profiler

A moored profiler makes repeated measurements of ocean currents and
water properties up and down through almost the entire water column, even

in very deep water. The basic instruments it carries are a CTD for tempera-
ture and salinity and an ACM (acoustic current meter) to measure currents,
but other instruments can be added, including bio- optical and chemical
sensors. As interest in global climate change grows, so does our need for long
records of ocean variability. Data collected over seasons and years are critical
for developing ocean atmosphere models and learning about air sea interac-
tions. Moored profilers were conceived as a cost-effective way to conduct
long-term ocean sampling.
The moored profiler is attached to a subsurface mooring cable that can
run from a depth of 50 meters (165 ft) down to the sea floor at 5,000 meters
(3 miles) or more. The profiler uses a battery-powered traction motor to
climb up and down the mooring. Its sensors document water and current
properties as the profiler climbs or descends. The profiler has enough bat-
tery power to travel a total of about one million meters per deployment.
(Deployments often last a year at a time.) An onboard microprocessor can
be programmed to conduct complex sampling schedules. These include
burst sampling, in which several profiles are collected in a day followed
by several days of no sampling, with the whole pattern repeated through
the deployment. Burst sampling minimizes «alias errors,» where unresolved
high frequency motions contaminate long period signals. The moored pro-
filer stores its data for the duration of its deployment. Scientists download
the data when they recover the instrument. Engineers and designers are
looking ahead to the prospect of sending data home in real time via satellite.
Advantages: Moored profilers record water conditions over immense

depths, up to 5,000 meters (3 miles). A single CTD cast to that depth from
a ship would take many hours. Moored profilers operate for up to a year
at a time, so they record daily and seasonal changes that would be simply
impossible to collect from a ship.
Limitations: Moored profilers climb up and down subsurface mooring ca-

bles, which usually are festooned with instruments measuring many aspects
of the water. The profilers need a clear run of cable, so scientists can’t place
instruments in a profiler’s path. To get around this problem, subsurface
moorings are often set out in pairs, with a moored profiler on one and other
instruments on the sister mooring. As with most subsurface instruments,
moored profilers are limited by being isolated from the surface. They must
carry their own batteries to power instruments and the motor, and the life
of the batteries limits how long the profiler can stay out. Also, the profiler

never comes to the sea surface, so it’s cut off from radio contact with satel-
lites. Researchers must wait until the deployment is over to see their data.
9.2.4 Satellites
The advent of satellite technology opened the possibility of measuring
property fields and dynamic quantities from space. The advantage of this
method is the nearly synoptic coverage of entire oceans and ease of access
to remote ocean regions. Satellites have therefore become an indispensable
tool for climate research. The major restriction of the method is that satel-
lites can only see the surface of the ocean and therefore give only limited
information about the ocean interior. Most satellites are named for the sen-
sors they carry. Strictly speaking, the satellite and its sensors are two sepa-
rate things; the satellite is a platform, the sensors are instruments.
As platforms, satellites fall into three groups. Most satellites fol-
low inclined orbits: their elliptical orbits are inclined against the equator.
The degree of inclination determines how far away from the equator the
satellite can see the Earth. Typical inclinations are close to 60º, so the satel-
lite covers the region from 60ºN to 60ºS. It covers this region frequently,
completing one orbit around the Earth in about 50 minutes. Some satellites
have an inclination of nearly or exactly 90º and can therefore see both poles;
they fly on polar orbits. The typical height of satellites on polar and on
inclined orbits is 800 km. The third and last group is the geostationary sat-
ellites. They orbit the Earth at the same speed the Earth rotates around its
axis and are therefore stationary with respect to the Earth. This situation
is only possible if the satellite is over the equator and orbits at a height of
35,800 km, much higher than all other satellites. Geostationary satellites
therefore cannot see the poles. The selection of a satellite as a platform logi-
cally includes the selection of a sensor and a suitable orbit. An ice sensor to
monitor the polar ice caps does not achieve much on a geostationary satel-
lite; a cloud imager for weather forecasting is not placed in a polar orbit.
9.2.5 Submersibles
Submersibles are not a frequently used platform in physical ocean-
ography. Three basic types can be distinguished, manned submersibles,
remotely controlled submersibles, and autonomous submersibles. Manned
submersibles are used in marine geology for the exploration of the sea floor
and occasionally in marine biology to study sea floor ecosystems. They are
not a tool for physical oceanography. Remotely controlled submersibles are

commonly used in the offshore oil and gas industry and for retrieving
flight recorders from aircraft that fell into the ocean. In science they find
similar uses to manned submersibles but are again not a tool for physical
oceanography. Autonomous submersibles are self-propelled vehicles that
can be programmed to follow a predetermined diving path. Such vehicles
have great potential for physical oceanography. Some major oceanographic
research institutions are developing vehicles to carry instrumentation such
as a CTD and survey an ocean area by regularly diving and surfacing along
a track from one side of an ocean region to the other and transmitting
the collected data via satellite when at the surface. It will be some time,
however, before these vehicles will come into regular use. Eventually,
autonomous submersibles will greatly reduce the need for research vessels
for ocean monitoring.
9.2.6 Towed Vehicles

Towed vehicles are used from research vessels to study oceanic pro-
cesses which require high spatial resolution, such as mixing in fronts and
processes in the highly variable upper ocean. Most systems consist of a
hydrodynamically shaped underwater body, an electromechanical (often
multi-conductor) towing cable, and a winch. The underwater body is fitted
with a pair of wing-shaped fins which control its flight through the water. In
addition to the sensor package (usually a CTD, sometimes additional sen-
sors for chemical measurements), it carries sensors for pressure, pitch, and
roll to monitor its behavior and control its flight. The data are sent to the
ship’s computer system via the cable. The same cable is used to send com-
mands to the underwater body to alter its wing angle.
Figure 9.8 shows a towed vehicle during deployment. A typical flight
path for this vehicle covers a depth range of about 250–500 meters, which
can be chosen to be anywhere between the surface and 800 meter depth.
The vehicle is towed at about 6–0 knots
(10–18 km/h) and traverses the 250 meter
depth range about once every 5 minutes.
When fitted with a CTD, this results in
a vertical section of temperature and
salinity with a horizontal resolution of
about 1 km. An alternative towed system
does not employ an underwater body to
carry the sensor package but has sensors
(for example, thermistors) built into the FIGURE 9.8 Towed vehicle.

towed cable at fixed intervals. Because the distance between the sensors
is fixed and the sensors remain at the same depth during the tow, these
thermistor chains do not offer the same vertical data resolution as undulat-
ing towed systems and are only rarely used now.
9.2.7 Floats and Drifters

The main characteristic of floats and drifters is that they move freely
with the ocean current, so their position at any given time can only be
controlled in a very limited way. Until a decade ago, these platforms were
mainly used in remote regions such as the Southern Ocean and in the cen-
tral parts of the large ocean basins that are rarely reached by research ves-
sels and where it is difficult and expensive to deploy a mooring. They have
now become the backbone of a new observing system that covers the entire
ocean. Strictly speaking, a float is a generic term for anything that does not
sink to the ocean floor. A drifter, on the other hand, is a platform designed
to move with the ocean current. To achieve this, it has to incorporate a floa-
tation device or float, but it is usually more than that.
Two basic types can be distinguished. Surface drifters have a float at the
surface and can therefore transmit data via satellite. If they are designed
to collect information about the ocean surface, they carry meteorologi-
cal instruments on top of the float and a temperature and occasionally a
The global lagrangian drifter

Barometer
3m
Submergence sensor
Irradiance meter
SST
Holey-stock
drogue
15 m
Temperature and conductivity sensor
FIGURE 9.9 Drifter.

salinity sensor underneath the float. To prevent them from being blown
out of the area of interest by strong winds, they are fitted with a sea anchor
at some depth, as in Figure 9.9. If they are designed to give information
on subsurface ocean properties, additional sensors are placed between
the surface float and the sea anchor. The depth range of surface drift-
ers is usually limited to less than 100 meters. Floats used for subsurface
drifters are designed to be neutrally buoyant at a selected depth. These
drifters have been used to follow ocean currents at various depths, from
a few hundred meters to below 1,000 meters depth. The first such floats
transmitted their data acoustically through the ocean to coastal receiving
stations. Sound travels well at the depth of the sound velocity minimum
(the SOFAR channel). These SOFAR floats can only be used at about
1,000 meters depth.
Modern subsurface floats remain at depth for a time, come to the
surface briefly to transmit their data to a satellite, and return to their
allocated depth. These floats can therefore be programmed for any
depth and can also obtain temperature and salinity (CTD) data dur-
ing their ascent. The most comprehensive array of such floats, known
as Argo, began in the year 2000. Argo floats measure the temperature
and salinity of the upper 2,000 meters of the ocean, as in Figure 9.10.
6-12 hours at surface

to transmit data to satellite
Descent to crusing depth

−10 cm/s (−6 hours) Salinity & temperature
profile recorded during ascent
−10 cm (−6 hours)
Crusing depth,
Drift approx 9 days 2000dp (2000m)
total cycle time 10 days
FIGURE 9.10 Operation of an Argo float in “park and profile” mode.

This will allow continuous monitoring of the climate state of the ocean,
with all data being relayed and made publicly available within hours after
collection.
Argo floats: Robots at sea: Due to the continuous increase of adverse

effects of global warming, monitoring drastic variations in the parameters of
the sea has become cumbersome. To overcome this difficulty, autonomous
Argo float robots are used. Argo floats are a special kind of autonomous
robots that remain at sea for a prolonged time, collecting and monitoring
various parameters such as temperature, salinity, velocity, and similar prop-
erties of seawater. At present there are around 3,000 Argo robots floating in
various oceans of the world. These robots make high-quality temperature
and salinity profile on the basis of data procured from the upper 2,000-meter
ice-free layer of the global ocean currents. The structure of Argo robot is
divided into three main parts.
■■ Hydraulics Satelite
antenna
■■ Microprocessors Profiling
module
■■ Data transmission system Temperature
probe
Circuit boards &
The hydraulics system satellite transmitter
controls an inflatable internal Stability disk
bladder that makes the robot Foam support
float or dive. The mecha- Gear motor
nism consists of a hydraulic Single stroke
−110 cm pump
piston which operates with
the help of a batteries and a Battery
Hydraulic pumb
small pump. The buoyancy is (piston)
controlled by the piston mov- Hydraulic fluid
ing downward and inflating
the hydraulic bladder. The Hydraulic
bladder
microprocessor controls and
administers the functions of FIGURE 9.11 Schematic of ARGO floats.
the robot. Microprocessors
are preprogrammed, which makes the system autonomous and self-reli-
ant, though it can be controlled from a remote station. The data trans-
mission system controls the communication functions with the satellite.
The whole Argo robot is approximately 25 kg in weight and 110 cm in
length, with maximum operating depth of 2,000 meters. Figure 9.11

shows the detailed cut-out diagram on a typical Argo float with the vari-
ous parts marked clearly.
Based on the operating region and profile requirement, the float
descends to the cruising depth and drifts at that level for several days. The
buoyancy is maintained at the required depth by being neutrally buoyant,
i.e., to adjust the density equal to the ambient pressure and compress-
ibility less than the seawater. Once the data is collected, the robot ascends
to the surface by pumping fluid into the external bladder, to make salinity
and temperature profiles. This completes one cycle. Floats are designed
to make 150 such cycles. All the parameters taken at various depths, such
as drift depth, vertical sampling resolution, and timing, are precisely
recorded. This data is sent to the satellite when the robot ascends to the
surface. Ships sail at sea at the mercy of the elements and hence it is very
important not only to know the immediate weather conditions but also
to study long-term climate and parameters of the oceans in detail. Argo
robots are used to study global changes in ocean parameters. This is how
we know that sea levels are rising at a rate of 3 mm/year as a result of
global warming.
The ice at the poles is also reducing, leading to extreme weather
changes. Thus, the need of Argo robots becomes more valid in order to
understand and predict changes in atmosphere and ocean parameters.
Lack of such updated environmental data will make us incapable of pre-
dicting natural calamities and disasters, leading us to become victims of
the same.
9.3 MEASUREMENTS OF HYDROGRAPHIC PROPERTIES

This section gives an overview of sensors and instrument packages for
the measurement of temperature, salinity, oxygen, nutrients, and tracers.
9.3.1 Reversing Thermometers

The earliest temperature measurements at some
depth below the surface were made by bringing
water sample up to the deck of a ship in an insu-
lated bucket and measuring the sample tempera-
ture with a mercury thermometer. Although these FIGURE 9.12 Reversing
measurements were not accurate, they gave the thermometers.

first evidence that below the top 1,000 meters, the ocean is cold even
in the tropics. They also showed that highly accurate measurements are
required to resolve the small temperature differences between differ-
ent ocean regions at those depths. The first instrument that (through
multiple sampling and averaging) achieved the required accuracy of
0.001ºC was the reversing thermometer. It consists of a mercury-filled
glass pipe with a 360º coil. The pipe is restricted to capillary width in
the coil, where it has a capillary appendix [Figure 9.12]. The instrument
is lowered to the desired depth. Mercury from a reservoir at the bot-
tom rises in proportion to the outside temperature. When the desired
depth is reached, the thermometer is turned upside down (reversed),
but the flow of mercury is now interrupted at the capillary appendix,
and only the mercury that was above the break point is collected in the
lower part of the glass pipe. This part carries a calibrated gradation that
allows the temperature to be read when the thermometer is returned to
the surface. To eliminate the effect of pressure, which compresses the
pipe and causes more mercury to rise above the break point during the
lowering of the instrument, the thermometer is enclosed in a pressure-
resistant glass housing. If such a protected reversing thermometer is used
in conjunction with an unprotected reversing thermometer (a thermom-
eter exposed to the effect of pressure), the difference between the two
temperature readings can be used to determine the pressure and thus
the depth at which the readings were taken. The reversing thermometer
is thus also an instrument to measure depth. The measurement of salinity
and oxygen, nutrients, and tracer concentrations requires the collection
of water samples from various depths. This essential task is achieved with
water bottles. When the bottle is lowered to the desired depth it is open
at both ends, so the water flows through it freely. At the depth where
the water sample is to be taken the upper end of the bottle disconnects
from the wire and the bottle is turned upside down. This closes the end
valves and traps the sample, which can then be brought to the surface.
In an oceanographic cast, several bottles are attached at intervals on a
thin wire and lowered into the sea. When the bottles have reached the
desired depth, a metal weight (messenger) is dropped down the wire to
trigger the turning mechanism of the uppermost bottle. The same mech-
anism releases a new messenger from the bottle; that messenger now
travels down the wire to release the second bottle, and so on until the
last bottle is reached.

9.3.2 CTDs
Today’s standard instrument for measuring tem-
perature, salinity, and often also oxygen content is
the CTD, which stands for conductivity, tempera-
ture, depth [Figure 9.13]. It employs the principle of
electrical measurement. A platinum thermometer
changes its electrical resistance with temperature. If
it is incorporated in an electrical oscillator, a change
in its resistance produces a change of the oscillator
frequency, which can be measured. The conductiv-
ity of seawater can be measured in a similar way as a
frequency change of a second oscillator, and a pres-
sure change produces a frequency change in a third
FIGURE 9.13 CTD
oscillator. The combined signal is sent up through
the single conductor cable on which the CTD is lowered. This produces a
continuous reading of temperature and conductivity as functions of depth
at a rate of up to 30 samples per second. Electrical circuits allow measure-
ments in quick succession but suffer from “instrumental drift”, which means
that their calibration changes with time. CTD systems therefore have to be
calibrated by comparing their readings regularly against more stable instru-
ments. They are therefore always used in conjunction with reversing ther-
mometers and a multi-sample device.
9.3.3 Multiple Water Sample Devices

Multiple water sample devices allow the use of Niskin (name of scientist
who designed bottle) water bottles on electrically conducting wire. They
have different names, such as rosette or carousel
consists of the Niskin water bottles are arranged
on a circular frame as shown in Fig.9.14, with a
CTD usually mounted underneath or in the cen-
tre. The advantage of multi sample devices over
the use of a hydrographic wire with messengers
is that the water bottles can be closed by remote
control. This means that the sample depths do not
have to be set before the bottles are lowered. As
the device is lowered and data are received from
the CTD, the operator can look for layers of par-
ticular interest and take water samples at the most
FIGURE 9.14 Multiple water interesting depth levels.
sample device

9.3.4 Thermosalinographs
The introduction of the CTD opened the possibility of taking con-
tinuous readings of temperature and salinity at the surface. Water from
the cooling water intake of the ship’s engines is pumped through a tank in
which a temperature and a conductivity sensor are installed. Such a system
is called a thermosalinograph. The schematic is shown in Figure 9.15.
9.3.5 Remote Sensors

Most oceanographic measurements from space or aircraft are based
on the use of radiometers, instruments that measure the electromagnetic
energy radiating from a surface. This radiation occurs over a wide range
IOM compatible
computer
PN90455
Interface box AC input
NMEA 0183
RS-232 navigation interface
Optional mounting kit P/N 50244 Date
I/O cable
Remote sensor cable A/O inputs
Plastic Ground
Seal
Stainless Out
steel
Fresh water in
Stainless pipe nipples included
Optional Drain
remote sensor
SBE 30
Valve Water
mani fold jacket
Seawater intake Pumb (not included)
(as close to ship’s bow as possibile)
FIGURE 9.15 Schematic of thermosalinograph’s operation.

of wavelengths, including the emission of light in the visible range, of heat

in the infrared range, and at shorter wavelengths such as radar and X rays.
Most oceanographic radiometers operate in several wavelength bands. Radi-
ometers that operate in the infrared are used to measure sea surface tem-
perature. Their resolution has steadily increased over the years; the AVHRR
(advanced very high resolution radiometer) has a resolution that comes close
to 0.2ºC. Multi-spectral radiometers measure in several wavelength bands.
By comparing the radiation signal received at different wavelengths it is pos-
sible to measure ice coverage and ice age, chlorophyll content, sediment
load, particulate matter, and other quantities of interest to marine biology.
Measurements at radar wavelengths are made by an instrument known
as SAR (synthetic aperture radar). It can be used to detect surface expres-
sions of internal waves, the effect of rainfall on surface waves, the effect of
bottom topography on currents and waves, and a range of other phenomena.
Many of these phenomena belong into the category of dynamic properties.
9.4 MEASUREMENTS OF DYNAMIC PROPERTIES

All the instruments summarized below are designed to measure move-
ment in the ocean. An elementary way of observing oceanic movement is
the use of drifters. Drifters are platforms designed to carry instruments.
But all measurements obtained from drifters are of little use unless they can
be related to positions in space. A geolocation (GPS) device which transmits
the drifter location to a satellite link is therefore an essential instrument on
any drifter, and this turns the drifter into an instrument for the measure-
ment of ocean currents. Whether it does that job well or not depends on its
design, and especially the size and shape of its sea anchor.
9.4.1 Current Meters

Ocean currents can be measured in two ways. An instrument can record
the speed and direction of the current, or it can record the east-west and
north-south components of the current. Both methods require directional
information. All current meters therefore incorporate a magnetic compass
to determine the orientation of the instrument with respect to magnetic
north. Four classes of current meters can be distinguished, based on the
method used for measuring current magnitude.
Mechanical current meters use a propeller type device, a Savonius rotor,
or a paddle-wheel rotor [Figure 9.16] to measure the current speed and a
vane to determine current direction. Propeller sensors often measure speed
correctly only if they point into the current and have to be oriented to face the

Morning line
Carter pin Transmissometer

Nylon
spacer Support Tail
Paddel pad
wheel
rotor
Fin
Metal
band Adjustable
counter-weight
Gimbal
Pressure
case
FIGURE 9.16 Mechanical current meters.
current all the time. Such instruments are therefore fitted with a large vane,
which turns the entire instrument and with it the propeller into the current.
Propellers can be designed to have a cosine response with the angle of
incidence of the flow. Two such propellers arranged at 90º will resolve current
vectors and do not require an orienting vane. The advantage of the Savonius
rotor is that its rotation rate is independent of the direction of exposure to the
current. A Savonius rotor current meter therefore does not have to face the
current in any particular way, and its vane can rotate independently and be
quite small, just large enough to follow the current direction reliably. With the
exception of the current meter that uses two propellers with cosine response
set at 90º to each other, mechanical current meters measure current speed by
counting propeller or rotor revolutions per unit time and current direction by
determining the vane orientation at fixed intervals. In other words, these cur-
rent meters combine a time integral or mean speed over a set time interval
(the number of revolutions between recordings) with an instantaneous read-
ing of current direction (the vane orientation at the time of recording). This
gives a reliable recording of the ocean current only if the current changes
slowly in time. Such mechanical current meters are therefore not suitable for
current measurement in the oceanic surface layer, where most of the oceanic
movement is due to waves. The Savonius rotor is particularly problematic in
this regard. Suppose that the current meter is in a situation where the only
water movement is from waves. The current then alternates back and forth,
but the mean current is zero. A Savonius rotor will pick up the wave current
irrespective of its direction, and the rotation count will give the impression of

a strong mean current. The paddle wheel rotor is designed to rectify this; the
paddle wheel rotates back and forth with the wave current, so that its count
represents the true mean current [Figure 9.16]. Mechanical current meters
are robust, reliable, and comparatively low in cost. They are therefore widely
used where conditions are suitable, for example at depths out of reach of
surface waves.
Electromagnetic current meters exploit the fact that an electrical con-
ductor moving through a magnetic field induces an electrical current. Sea-
water is a very good conductor and if it is moved between two electrodes,
the induced electrical current is proportional to the ocean current velocity
between the electrodes. An electromagnetic current meter has a coil to pro-
duce a magnetic field and two sets of electrodes, set at right angles to each
other, and determines the rate at which the water passes between both sets.
By combining the two components the instrument determines speed and
direction of the ocean current.
Acoustic current meters are based on the principle that sound is a
compression wave that travels with the medium. Assume an arrange-
ment with a sound transmitter between two receivers in an ocean cur-
rent. Let receiver A be located upstream from the transmitter, and let
receiver B located downstream. If a burst of sound is generated at the
transmitter, it will arrive at receiver B earlier than at receiver A, having
been carried by the ocean current. A typical acoustic current meter will
have two orthogonal sound paths of approximately 100 mm length, with
a receiver/transmitter at each end. A high-frequency sound pulse is trans-
mitted simultaneously from each transducer and the difference in arrival
time for the sound travelling in opposite directions gives the water velocity
along the path. Electromagnetic and acoustic current meters have no mov-
ing parts and can therefore take measurements at a very high sampling rate
(up to tens of readings per second). This makes them useful not only for the
measurement of ocean currents but also for wave current and turbulence
measurements.
Acoustic Doppler current profilers (ADCPs) operate on the same prin-
ciple as acoustic current meters but have transmitter and receiver in one
unit and use reflections of the sound wave from drifting particles for the
measurement. Seawater always contains a multitude of small suspended
particles and other solid matter that may not be visible to the naked eye but
reflects sound. If sound is transmitted in four inclined beams at right angles
to each other, the Doppler frequency shift of the reflected sound gives

Transmitted Recevied signal, F0

pulse, F0 Object is:
moving toward
Tp FD < F0
Moving away
FD < F0
Stationary or
moving across
FD – F0

FIGURE 9.17 ADCP.
the reflecting particle velocity along the beam. With at least three beams
inclined to the vertical, the three components of flow velocity can be deter-
mined. Different arrival times indicate sound reflected at different distances
from the transducers, so an ADCP provides information on current speed
and direction not just at one point in the ocean but for a certain depth range;
in other words, an ADCP produces a current profile over depth.
Different ADCP designs serve different purposes, as shown in Figure
9.17. Deep ocean ADCPs have a vertical resolution of typically 8 meters
(they produce one current measurement for every 8 meters of depth
increase) and a typical range of up to 400 meters. ADCPs designed for
measurements in shallow water typically have a resolution of 0.5 meters
and a range of up to 30 meters. ADCPs can be placed in moorings, installed
in ships for underway measurements, or lowered with a CTD and multi-
sample device to give a current profile over a large depth range. An acoustic
Doppler current profiler, or acoustic Doppler profiler (ADCP) is used to
measure how fast water is moving across an entire water column. An ADCP
anchored to the seafloor can measure current speed not just at the bottom,
but also at equal intervals all the way up to the surface. The instrument
can also be mounted horizontally on seawalls or bridge pilings in rivers and
canals to measure the current profile from shore to shore, and to the bot-
toms of ships to take constant current measurements as the boats move. In
very deep areas, they can be lowered on a cable from the surface.
Operation: The ADCP measures water currents with sound, using a prin-
ciple of sound waves called the Doppler effect. A sound wave has a high-
er frequency, or pitch, when it moves to you than when it moves away.

You hear the Doppler effect in action when a car speeds past with a charac-
teristic building of sound that fades when the car passes. The ADCP works
by transmitting “pings” of sound at a constant frequency into the water.
(The pings are so highly pitched that humans and even dolphins can’t hear
them.) As the sound waves travel, they ricochet off particles suspended in
the moving water, and reflect to the instrument. Due to the Doppler effect,
sound waves bounced back from a particle moving away from the profiler
have a slightly lowered frequency when they return. Particles moving to-
ward the instrument send back higher frequency waves. The difference in
frequency between the waves the profiler sends out and the waves it re-
ceives is called the Doppler shift. The instrument uses this shift to calculate
how fast the particle and the water around it are moving. Sound waves that
hit particles far from the profiler take longer to come back than waves that
strike close by. By measuring the time it takes for the waves to bounce back
and the Doppler shift, the profiler can measure current speed at many dif-
ferent depths with each series of pings.
Platform requirements: Bottom-mounted ADCPs need an anchor to keep

them on the bottom, batteries, and an internal data logger. Vessel-mounted
instruments need a vessel with power, a shipboard computer to receive the
data, and a GPS navigation system (so the ship’s own movements can be
subtracted from the current data). ADCPs have no external read-out, so the
data must be stored and manipulated on a computer. Software programs
designed to work with ADCP data are available.
Advantages:
1. In the past, measuring the current depth profile required the use of long
strings of current meters. This is no longer needed.
2. Measures small scale currents.
3. Unlike previous technology, ADCPs measure the absolute speed of the
water, not just how fast one water mass is moving in relation to another.
4. Measures a water column up to 1,000 meters long.
Disadvantages:
1. High frequency pings yield more precise data, but low frequency pings
travel farther in the water, so scientists must make a compromise be-

tween the distance that the profiler can measure and the precision of
the measurements.
2. ADCPs set to «ping» rapidly also run out of batteries rapidly.
3. If the water is very clear, as in the tropics, the pings may not hit enough
particles to produce reliable data.
4. Bubbles in turbulent water or schools of swimming marine life can
cause the instrument to miscalculate the current.
5. Users must take precautions to keep barnacles and algae from growing
on the transducers.
9.4.2 Wave Measurements

The parameters of interest in the measurement of surface waves are
wave height, wave period, and wave direction. At locations near the shore,
wave height and wave period can be measured by using the principle of
the stilling well described for tide gauges (below), with an opening wide
enough to let pass surface waves unhindered. Wave measurements on the
shelf but at some distance from the shore can be obtained from a pressure
gauge. An instrument suitable for all locations including the open ocean
is the wave rider, a small surface buoy on a mooring which follows the
wave motion. A vertical accelerometer built into the wave rider measures
the buoy’s acceleration generated by the waves. The data are either stored
internally for later retrieval or transmitted to shore. Wave riders provide
information on wave height and wave period. If they are fitted with a set of
three orthogonal accelerometers they also record wave direction.
9.4.3 Tide Gauges

Tides are waves of long wavelength and known period, so the major
properties of interest for measurement are wave height, or tidal range, and
wave-induced current. The latter is measured with current meters; any type
is suitable. Two types of tide gauges are used to measure the tidal range.
The stilling well gauge consists of a cylinder with a connection to the sea at
the bottom. This connection acts as a low-pass filter: it is so restricted that
the backward and forward motion of the water associated with wind waves
and other waves of short period cannot pass through; only the slow change
of water level associated with the tide can enter the well. This change of
water level is picked up by a float and recorded as in Figure 9.18. Stilling

FIGURE 9.18 Tide gauges.
well gauges allow the direct reading of the water level at any time but
require a somewhat laborious installation and are impracticable away from
the shore. In offshore and remote locations, it is often easier to use a pres-
sure gauge. Such an instrument is placed on the sea floor and measures the
pressure of the water column above it, which is proportional to the height
of water above it. The data are recorded internally and not accessible until
the gauge is recovered.
Tide gauges are increasingly used to monitor possible long-term
changes in sea level linked with climate variability and climate change. The
expected rate of sea level change is only a few millimeters per year at most,
so very high accuracy is required to verify such changes. Most tide gauges
are not suitable for such a task, for a number of reasons. For example, a
long-term trend in observed sea level can also be produced by a rise or fall
of the land on which the tide gauge is built. This is known as benchmark
drift. The wire in a stilling well gauge that connects the float with the
recording unit stretches and shrinks as the air temperature rises and falls.
Such effects are insignificant when the gauge is used to verify the depth
of water for shipping purposes but not when it comes to assessing trends

of millimeters per year. A new generation of tide gauges is being installed

worldwide which gives water level recordings to absolute accuracies of a
few millimeters with long-term benchmark stability. In these instruments
the float and wire arrangement of the stilling well gauge is replaced by a
laser distance measurement, and the data are transmitted via satellite to
a world sea level center which monitors the performance of every gauge
continuously.
9.4.4 Remote Sensors

Sea level can also be measured from satellites. An altimeter measures
the distance between the satellite and the sea surface. If the satellite posi-
tion is accurately known, this results in a sea level measurement. Modern
altimeters have reached an accuracy of better than 5 cm. The global cov-
erage provided by satellites allows the verification of global tide models.
When the tides are subtracted, the measurements give information about
the shape of the sea surface and, through application of the principle of geo-
strophy, the large-scale oceanic circulation.
9.4.5 Shear Probes

This extremely brief overview of oceanographic measurement tech-
niques can only cover the essentials of the most important platforms and
instruments. Special equipment exists, and new special equipment is being
designed every day, to address specific problems. The shear probe may
serve as an example. It is designed to give insight into oceanic turbulence
at the centimeter scale. Turbulence is characterized by currents which vary
over short distances and short time intervals, so an instrument designed to
measure turbulence has to be able to resolve differences in current speed
and direction over a vertical distance of not more than a meter or so. One
such shear probe is a cylindrical instrument of less than 1 meter in length
with two electromagnetic or acoustic current meters at its two ends. By
measuring current speed and direction at two points less than 1 meter apart,
it allows the determination of the current shear over that distance. To allow
a reliable measurement not influenced by the heaving motion of the ship,
the probe falls slowly and freely through the ocean. Its maximum diving
depth is programmed before the experiment, and the probe returns to the
surface when that depth is reached. It is then picked up by the ship, and the
internally recorded data are retrieved. Another type of free fall instrument
uses microstructure sensors that measure velocity fluctuations on a special
scale of about 10 mm. It uses a piezo-electric beam that generates small

voltages as the turbulent velocity varies the lift and thus the bending force
on an aerofoil as it moves through the water.
9.4.6 Ferry Box

The ferry box is an automated measuring system used for the mea-
surement of physical and biogeochemical parameters in surface waters. It
is mounted on ships of opportunity, such as ferries or container ships, on
their regular routes across the North Sea or on shore-based installations.
Water is pumped from a subsurface inlet into the measuring circuit of mul-
tiple sensors. An important feature is the regular automated cleaning and
antifouling procedure of the box. All processes can be controlled remotely
via the telemetry line from land. Data are transmitted and made available
after each transect via the Internet. Due to the automated biogeochemi-
cal instrumentation of the ferry boxes, the regular transects give detailed
insights into the processes and are a main source for data assimilation into
models. The detailed block diagram is shown in Figure 9.19.
Cleaning
GPS GSM
Tap water Pressure cleaning mobile
position
phone
Sulfuric
acid
Remote control, data-storage,

data-transfer
Filtrate UV-Nitrate outlet
Algal classes
Crossflow-filter
Debubbler
Chemical analyzers
(NO3, NH4, o-PO4, SiO2) Inlet
Turb. Salinity
Chlorophyll
PH.
O2
Removal of sediment
Automated
sampler Sensors
FIGURE 9.19 Ferry box.

9.4.7 Glider
The underwater glider, or glider in short, is an autonomous underwater
vehicle. It is buoyancy-driven and extremely energy efficient. The glider
is a relatively new measurement platform, originally developed as a low-
cost, long-endurance device for observing the oceans. Being a host for a
multitude of sensors, such as CTD, optical backscatter, and fluorescence
sensors, gliders can be programmed to follow set way points. Depending
on the sensor payload and battery type, glider missions may last from a
couple of weeks to a couple of months. During the mission, the glider pilot
can adjust sampling strategies, way points, etc. from behind his/her desk
using a satellite link to communicate with the glider. Concurrently, while
in operation, (a subset of the) data can be sent to a land-based server via
a satellite link, providing scientists with near real-time data. In contrast to
conventional underwater vehicles, the glider has no propeller. Instead, it
has a buoyancy engine, which allows the glider to control its buoyancy by
+/- 250 g. Consequently, the glider can attain a vertical motion up or down,
depending on its buoyancy. A pair of wings converts a part of the vertical
velocity into forward motion, so that the glider profiles the water column in
a sawtooth manner. Its low cruising speed of about 40 cm/s makes the glider
extremely efficient and it operates at about 1–2 Watts, giving the glider the
unique endurance.
9.5 RADAR DOPPLER CURRENT PROFILER (RDCP)

Two radar systems operating in the high frequency (HF band) and
microwaves (X band) regime are used to probe the sea surface. The X band
combines local spatial coverage with high resolution, whereas the HF band
provides broad coverage at the expense of resolution. Ground-based radars
are used to obtain synoptic maps of hydrographic parameters, particularly
waves, currents, and local water depth (bathymetry). Maps of surface cur-
rents yield ground truth for satellite remote sensing and calibration data
for hydrodynamic models. Radar remote sensing of the sea surface pro-
vides a broad variety of observations. While single radar images give a kind
of instantaneously «frozen» surface, the surface dynamics can be observed
by tracking features in subsequent radar measurements. In contrast to the
satellite systems, the incident angle of ground-based radars is only a few
degrees, and near to zero (grazing) at far ranges. In this case, the work-
ing range of the radar strongly depends on the operating frequency. Due

to their continuous measurement capabilities, the information provided by

ground-based instruments installed at the coast or on offshore platforms
does not suffer from the episodic character of the satellite or airborne radar
observations.
9.5.1 X Band Radar

Microwave (X band) radars are limited by line of sight propagation to
the horizon. Due to the large available bandwidth in the microwave fre-
quency range, the spatial resolution can be as fine as 5 meters at a 5-km
working range. By installing microwave radar on board a ship, the observa-
tion area can be extended along the ship track to a regional scale. X band
wave radar (≈ ship radar) can be used with special electronics and sophis-
ticated evaluation algorithms for the measurement of waves, currents, and
bathymetry. It uses an A/D converter, a PC, and processing software con-
nected to marine X band radar of 9.41 GHz. The system is applied from
shore and from ship stations. The bathymetric maps in Figure 9.20 show
the seafloor relief, calculated from X band radar signals, before and after
a severe storm passed. Within five days a volume of 50.000 m3sand (error
about 25%) was transported into the observation area.
9.5.2 HF Radar
Decameter wave radars, also known as high frequency (HF) radars,
make use of ground wave propagation far beyond the horizon. HF radars
provide about 1.5 km up to 200 km working range. Surface currents are hard
to measure by conventional means. The unique advantage of the HF radar
Depth (m)
12
11
10
9
8
7
6
5
Sylt
Sylt
4
3
2
Radar Radar
1
0
FIGURE 9.20 X band radar observations of bathymetry.

is the ability to map the horizontal variability of currents which is needed

for several applications. Eddy dynamics, such as propagation and decay, can
be studied, as well as the spatial variability of tidal currents. Maps of surface
currents yield ground truth for satellite remote sensing and calibration data
for hydrodynamic models.
9.6 SATELLITE REMOTE SENSING

Remote sensing is a unique
technique used to observe large
areas of ocean and land surface
simultaneously. It is possible to
measure concentrations of chlo-
rophyll, suspended matter, and
yellow substance (also referred
to as CDOM) in the visible light
spectrum. The algorithms for the
open, blue ocean are well estab-
lished, whereas for coastal regions
with highly variable waters they
are still the subject of research.
In addition, sea surface tempera-
ture (SST) data from other satel- FIGURE 9.21 Chlorophyll concentrations in the sea
lites are used. Figure 9.21 shows measured by a satellite.
the chlorophyll concentrations in
sea measured by a satellite.
9.7 UNDERWATER NODES

Within recent years, underwater nodes have gained in importance as
interfaces for underwater observing networks. They provide the necessary
infrastructure (power and data communication) to operate sensors and
complex devices at the sea bottom. The objective is to deploy autonomous
systems that are deployed in different parts of sea areas and allow a flex-
ible and modular coupling of different near-bottom measurement systems.
Thus, a network of long-term operated underwater observatories can be
established to investigate processes at the sediment water interface in a
sufficient spatial and temporal resolution independent from ship cruises.
The main challenge in developing an underwater node is to provide power

and broadband data communication to many instruments from different

users in a reliable manner: Even if an instrument produces a short circuit
by penetrating water the other instruments shall not be influenced. All data
will be transported to the user’s desk in a transparent way with 100 Mbit/s
and each user can control his/her individual instrument by Internet. The
first steps were planning and realizing an underwater sampling platform.
The newly developed sampling infrastructure was equipped with passive
as well as active samplers and the robustness of the installation under field
conditions was tested. The implementation of passive samplers started
with an optimization of the deployment strategy in terms of size and fixa-
tion of the polymer sheets. Supplementary laboratory experiments were
focused on the development of cleaning and extraction procedures for
the passive sampler material used and on the optimization of the spiking
procedure necessary to calculate the sampling rates of the passive sam-
pling devices. Active samplers were deployed and continuously sampled
for many months. Laboratory experiments were performed to establish
standard procedures for sample preparation and measurements of basic
physiological data.
9.8 ZOOPLANKTON RECORDER

Rapid mapping of plankton abundance in combination with taxonomic
and size composition will be enabled by the zooplankton recorder [Figure
9.22]. It can image minute objects of sizes below 100 μm with high resolution.
Modular components allow the use as devices towed from research vessels,
as a component of the ferry box or as a component on unmanned platforms,
e.g., piles or underwater nodes. Images of dominant plankton groups can
FIGURE 9.22 Zooplankton recorder.

be classified and objects can be assigned to their respective environmental

parameters: depth, temperature, salinity, and oxygen concentration.
9.8.1 Nucleic Acid Biosensor

The surveillance of marine phytoplankton will be greatly facilitated
with nucleic acid biosensors. The core of the biosensor is a multi-probe
chip that can be used for the simultaneous detection of a variety of algae. A
molecular probe as a detection component specifically binds to the target of
interest. In turn, an antibody enzyme complex coupled to the signal moiety
transforms this detection event into a redox reaction that can be measured
as an electrochemical signal, as shown in Figure 9.23. This technique allows
rapid detection and counting of microalgae in complex samples. The main
steps are automatically carried out in a portable device. Whereas the detec-
tion principle has already been verified, the main challenge is to construct a
device that reliably filters sea water to concentrate algae cells and “cracks”
the cells and transports the resulting fluid to the detector.
9.8.2 Sensors for pH and Alkalinity

Autonomous sensors are required for a comprehensive documentation
and characterization of the changes in the marine carbon system. To describe
the carbon system, two out of four system parameters must be determined.
Alkalinity and pH value are two of these. The pH analysis system adds an
acid base indicator dye (m-cresol purple) to a seawater sample. The indica-
tor dye has different extinction coefficients in its acid and in its base state
which can be used for spectrophotometric determination of the pH value. If
the temperature of the sample is carefully controlled, the precision reaches
Enzymatic catalysed
redox reaction
Antigen mensurable: voltage
Enzyme coupled to antibody
Detection probe
Analyte-specific
molecular probe
18S rRNA Thiol
Gold electrode
FIGURE 9.23 Principle of a nucleic acid biosensor.

±0.0007 pH units. The accuracy of the determination lies within ±0.01 pH

units compared to certified reference material. The advantage of this method
is that no drift occurs, hence no calibration of the indicator is needed in the
field. Only temperature and salinity must be known accurately. For determi-
nation of total alkalinity, a tracer monitored titration with a strong acid (HCl)
is performed. Bromocresol green is used as tracer, having similar optical
properties such as m-cresol purple. The tracer gives the ability to optically
measure the concentration of the indicator and therewith the concentration
of the acid. In addition, the pH value can be calculated during the titration
procedure which is needed for determination of the alkalinity. Application
of these sensors allows monitoring of seawater pH and alkalinity in autono-
mous underway systems in a high spatial and temporal resolution.
9.9 AIR SEA INTERACTION METEOROLOGY (ASIMET)

The ASIMET (air sea interaction meteorology) system is a set of seven
very precise sensors that measure how energy and water move between
the ocean and atmosphere, shown in Figure 9.24. Those measurements are
the raw materials for many calculations about climatic conditions. When
climatologists build models of the Earth’s climate, they can use ASIMET
measurements to check their predictions against reality. The system is used
on ships and on buoys anchored in fixed locations in the ocean. In addition
to the sensors, the system includes data recorders and a central data proces-
sor that sends information back to scientists by satellite. Climatologists are
interested in understanding the long-term weather patterns that character-
ize regions of the Earth or periods of the
Earth’s history. For example, weather
forecasts predict rainstorms, whereas
climate studies explain why monsoon
seasons happen. Meteorologists explain
how hurricanes form.
Operation: ASIMET consists of seven

modular sensors of two sets that can be
mounted on ocean buoys or ships. Un-
derstanding Earth’s climate boils down
to understanding how the Sun’s energy
moves heat and water around the planet
FIGURE 9.24 Air-Sea Interaction Meteorology. and between ocean, atmosphere, and

land. For oceanographers to balance the checkbook, they need to follow at

least three types of exchange, or flux, between air and sea:
1. Heat flux, the movement of energy by two kinds of radiation, shortwave

(light), and longwave (heat); plus direct contact between ocean and air
(sensible heat); and evaporation or condensation (latent heat)
2. Water flux, the balance between evaporation from the sea surface and
precipitation back into the ocean
3. Momentum flux, the transfer of energy from the wind physically push-
ing against the water
Each must be calculated using precise values for several variables (about
a dozen total variables for all three fluxes). The ASIMET system provides
those variables at the necessary precision using seven sensors: 1) barometric
pressure, 2) relative humidity and air temperature, 3) sea surface tempera-
ture and salinity, 4) long-wave radiation, 5) short-wave radiation, 6) wind
speed and direction, and 7) precipitation. The seven sensors are individually
housed in weatherproof titanium canisters, so they all look fairly similar. The
canisters are about 56 cm (22 in) tall and 9 cm (3.5 in) across. Only one sen-
sor (sea surface temperature and salinity) goes in the water; the other six are
mounted atop a buoy or high on a ship’s bow mast. ASIMET deployments
carry two full systems of sensors, data handlers, satellite antennas, and bat-
teries. The duplication ensures there is a backup if one sensor goes wrong
and helps with calibrating the data as it comes in. The sensors record data
once per minute onto a central data logger. Through the course of their
deployment, they also send hourly averages back to researchers via satellites.
Advantages:
1. Reliability: Each deployment uses two sets of sensors that are calibrated
both before and after their year at sea. In addition to transmitting home
hourly averages, the system collects all the data for the year on flash
memory cards. These precautions mean that there are very few gaps in
the data record.
2. Mobility: The sensors are modular, making them versatile enough to
work on a variety of buoys and ships. If a sensor malfunctions, techni-
cians can replace it without having to dismantle the entire ASIMET
system. Individual sensors can be used separately on research projects
that don’t require the full ASIMET system.

Limitations: Most of the ASIMET system’s limitations are imposed by the

demanding ocean environment. This is particularly true on buoys, where
systems must work perfectly for a year amid crashing waves, crusty salt spray,
and seabird poop. ASIMET systems work well in the tropics and subtropics; at
higher latitudes the instruments are prone to error from low sun angles, severe
weather, and low temperatures. Radiation sensors work best when the Sun
is directly overhead. During rough seas, that’s only part of the time. Motion
sensors on the buoy help track how it rides the swells, but corrections are
complicated. Measuring wind direction is also complicated by the way the
buoy swings to follow the wind. In light winds, temperature readings can be
inflated, and this can bias humidity readings. Fixing these issues, or correcting
for them, keeps ASIMET engineers busy between deployments. At present,
the ASIMET system does not measure carbon dioxide, a key ingredient in
greenhouse warming. Sensors are under development and may be in use on
ASIMET systems in the next three to five years.
9.10 BIOMAPER
BIOMAPER is a set of sensors on a long aluminum frame. A research
vessel tows the instrument through the water on a specialized tow cable
that sends power to the sensors and brings data back to the ship. People
use BIOMAPER to learn about phytoplankton and zooplankton over areas
that are too large to study with the traditional net and microscope method
[Figure 9.25]. Whereas nets can sample areas up to about 5 meters (16 ft)
on a side, BIOMAPER can record data from 500 meters (1,640 ft) or more
of the water column at a time. The instrument’s standard suites of sen-
sors were chosen for studying plankton: a five-frequency sonar system,
a video plankton recorder, and an environmental sensor system (ESS). The
ESS measures water temperature, salinity, oxygen, chlorophyll, and light
levels. BIOMAPER is about 3.8 meters (12.5 ft) long, 85 cm (2.8 ft) tall and
55 cm (1.8 ft) wide. It weighs 907 kg (1 ton) in air, or 544 kg (1,200 pounds)
in water.
BIOMAPER can be towed at speeds up to 18 km per hour (10 knots).
When in “tow-yo” mode as shown in Figure 9.26, the top speed is 11 km
per hour (6 knots) and the instrument can climb or fall at up to 10 meters
(33 feet) per minute. The sensors produce a combined 1 GB of data per
hour. BIOMAPER can operate indefinitely as long as there is power, data
storage space, and a team of scientists to watch over the instrument panels.
The standard sensor package requires 500 Watts of power, and the tow

FIGURE 9.25 BIOMAPER for studying huge plankton bloom swirls.
Two
cable
Environmental
sensors
Acoustic
transducers
VPR
Bio-optical
Fiber optics sensors
telemetry
housing
Shock
Welded mounts
aluminum
frame Digital
echo sounder
FIGURE 9.26 BIOMAPER sensor placement.
cable can deliver up to 2 kilowatts. BIOMAPER is usually towed to within

2 meters (6.6 ft) of the surface (allowing light sensors to take reference
readings) and can then descend to about 500 meters (1,640 ft). At normal
settings, the range of the sonar extends about 250 meters (820 ft) above and
below BIOMAPER’s body. In BIOMAPER, the black apparatus above the

nose is a video plankton recorder. Sonar units mounted in the body mea-
sure particle size up and down the water column.
BIOMAPER records plankton over large areas by combining the
strengths of sonar and video imaging. The sonar data pinpoints small
objects in 1-meter increments through several hundred meters of the water
column at a time. As a check, the video plankton recorder mounted on
the nose images a few centimeters of water at a time. Its detailed images
allow scientists to identify the plankton with certainty. Meanwhile, the ESS
collects physical data about the ocean water, helping scientists understand
relationships between water conditions and ocean life. As BIOMAPER
tows through the water, five sonar units transmit sound waves upwards at
43, 120, 200, 420 and 1,000 kHz. Another five units transmit downward at
the same frequencies. The different frequencies bounce off objects of dif-
ferent sizes. By timing the echoes the instrument calculates how large and
how far away particles are. There is a lower limit to the size of particles that
sonar can detect. For studying extremely small phytoplankton, biologists
use other optical instruments fastened to bays in the aft of the instrument.
Advantages: The range of the sonar on BIOMAPER lets scientists see

much more of the water column than they could with other methods. The
sonar can capture some larger creatures (from several-centimeter krill to
large fish) that can out-swim standard net tows. By making long tows at
speeds of 6 to 10 knots, the instrument can cover regions approaching the
size of the Gulf of Maine. Broad scale sonar data verified by small scale
video «ground-truthing» and combined with physical ocean measurements
help to paint a complete picture of life in the water column.
Limitations: BIOMAPER’s arsenal of sensors does present a few practical

limitations. Operators must be familiar with the details of all the instru-
ments so they can diagnose and fix malfunctions or poor connections. And
before each tow, each sensor must be individually calibrated to make sure
it’s reporting accurately. The 10 sonar units, the video plankton recorder,
the instruments that make up the ESS, and any additional instruments gen-
erate lots of data—about 1 GB per hour. Analyzing and comparing read-
outs among sensors takes a lot of time and computing power. The sonar
units have a blind spot that extends 6 meters (21 ft) on either side of the
BIOMAPER body (this is one reason for using a tow-yo survey pattern).
This means that the video plankton recorder and the sonar are never sam-
pling exactly the same water at the same time.

9.11 GRAVITY CORER

The gravity corer allows researchers to sample and study sediment lay-
ers at the bottom of lakes or oceans. It got its name because gravity carries it
to the bottom of the water body. Recovering sediment cores allows scientists
to see the presence or absence of specific fossils in the mud that may indi-
cate climate patterns in the past, such as during the ice ages. Scientists can
use this information to improve understanding of the climate system and
predict patterns and events in the future. Cores capture a time capsule that,
in some cases, can span the past hundreds of thousands and even millions
of years. Because sedimentation rates in some areas are quite slow, even a
smaller corer a few meters in length may represent thousands of years of
particles. These particles are a historical record of condition in the water
column and in the atmosphere and can be used to reconstruct past condi-
tions on Earth. To operate the gravity corer, users need a boat with a winch
powerful enough to lower and raise the corer [Figure 9.27]—it can be heavy,
U-Bolt tube
8 × 1/2 13 × 1" ss
bolt
Fins
Plunger tube assembly

8 × 1/2 13 × 1" ss
stud bolt
Weigth securing ring
Weigth tube
4 × 50 lb weight
PVC core tube 8 × 1/2 13 × 1" ss bolt

Core catcher
(madonna bra)
3/16 28 × 1/2"
Cutter bit pan head screw
FIGURE 9.27 Schematic drawing of a gravity corer.

with have hundreds to thousands of pounds of lead weights attached. Users

also need enough wire rope to reach the bottom of the water body.
Advantages: It is simple, robust, and relatively reliable. There is little

cost associated with it, it is extremely easy to use, and requires little
maintenance.
Disadvantages: It can be heavy and awkward to deploy and recover. Long

cores must be lifted to a horizontal position and maneuvered over the rail
to bring aboard the vessel.
9.11.1 Hydraulically Damped Gravity Corer

The hydraulically damped gravity corer, like other corers and grab sam-
plers, is used to sample sediments from the ocean floor. The unique aspect of
this instrument is that it penetrates the sediment slowly to minimize distur-
bance of the water/sediment interface. The rate of penetration into the sedi-
ment is controlled by a water-filled piston that empties at a selectable rate.
This feature allows collection without the bow wave that may occur when
samplers approach the bottom swiftly. Cores up to 60 cm long are recovered
in muddy sediments. Cores up to about 30 cm are collected in sand.
Operation: The hydraulically damped gravity corer consists of a four-

legged frame with a central sliding shaft that holds a heavy weight stand
and a clear polycarbonate cylindrical core barrel. The apparatus is con-
structed of aluminum, plastic, and stainless steel to minimize heavy-metal
contamination of sediments. The key feature that differentiates this corer is
the hydraulic damping mechanism, consisting of a water-filled piston that
empties at a selectable rate as the corer penetrates the mud. When the
corer contacts the ocean floor and releases tension on the winch wire, the
water-filled piston connected to the sliding shaft controls the speed that
the core barrel enters the sediment. Typically, the core barrel takes 10–15
seconds to fill completely with sediment. As the core tube enters the sedi-
ment, a mechanical switch changes the sampling rate of a sonar transducer
(optical sensor), providing a confirming signal on the ship’s depth recorder.
When this signal is received, the instrument is winched out of the sedi-
ment. A check valve seals the top of the core barrel. When the bottom of
the core tube clears the water/sediment interface, a spring-loaded paddle
slides against and seals the cutting edge of the core tube. Both sediment
and ambient overlying water are captured by seals at the top and bottom of
the core tube at pullout.

The core quality and sedimentary features can be observed by visual

inspection through the clear core barrel. The core is then removed from the
frame, capped and taped at both ends, then stored under refrigeration. To
preserve the water/sediment interface, the core should always be secured in
a vertical position. Overlying water is left to completely fill the head space
above the water sediment for transport and storage. The cylinder can be
safely transported by ship or car without resuspension or other disturbance.
Advantages:
■■ Samples both sediments and overlying water
■■ Minimal disturbance to water/sediment interface
■■ Can be used to sample metals and other inorganic material
■■ etal barrels can be used for organic geochemistry studies compro-
M
mised by the use of plastic
Disadvantages:
■■ Small sampling area and volume
■■ Not designed to sample living organisms
■■ More complex to operate
9.12 MARINE MAGNETOMETER

A magnetometer is a scientific instrument used to measure magnetic
field strength. On land, magnetometers can be used to find iron ore depos-
its for mining. Under the sea, marine geophysicists, ocean engineers, and
nautical archeologists use marine magnetometers to detect variations in the
total magnetic field of the underlying seafloor. Usually, the increased mag-
netization is caused by the presence of ferrous (unoxidized) iron on the
seafloor, whether from a shipwrecked boat made of steel or a volcanic rock
containing grains of magnetite, a highly magnetic mineral. After correc-
tions are made to measurements of the total magnetic field, scientists can
use magnetic data to estimate the age and thickness of volcanic lava flows
at mid-ocean ridges and ocean island hot spots; to locate pipelines, under-
sea cables, and bridge foundations; and to identify important archeological
sites.

Operation: Marine magnetometers are gener-

ally “fish-type” instruments (so called because they
are sleek and only a few meters in length [Figure
9.28]). They are towed at least two-and-a-half ship
lengths behind the ship, so that the ship’s magnetic
field does not interfere with magnetic measure-
ments. Marine magnetometers can be scalar, mea-
FIGURE 9.28 Marine magne-
tometers. suring the total strength of the magnetic field; or
vector, resolving the magnetic field into the vectors
of strength, inclination (the angle at which magnetic field lines intersect
the surface of the earth, 0° at the equator and 90° at magnetic poles), and
declination (the angle the magnetic field makes with geographic north).
Marine magnetometers contain a chamber filled with a liquid that is rich
in hydrogen atoms, like kerosene or methanol. Electrons dissolved in the
liquid are excited by a radio frequency (RF) power source and pass on their
energy to the hydrogen atoms’ nuclei (protons), altering their spin states.
The transfer of energy from electrons to the protons in the hydrogen atoms
is called the Overhauser effect (after American physicist Albert Overhauser,
who discovered it in the early 1950s) and the magnetometers that use the
effect are called Overhauser magnetometers. Once the protons are spin-
ning, the RF power is removed and the protons spiral back to their original
alignment with the total geomagnetic field. The frequency of their spiral-
ing, or “precession,” is measured with a coil and is dependent on a known
constant, the gyromagnetic ratio, and the total geomagnetic field. Thus, if
the frequency is measured, and the constant is known, the total geomag-
netic field can be calculated.
Advantages: Overhauser magnetometers are vastly more energy effi-

cient than their predecessors, proton precession magnetometers, which
relied on excitement of protons by a direct current (DC) source. Over-
hauser magnetometers also have faster cycling rates (up to five magnetic
measurements taken each second) and higher sensitivities than the older
proton precession magnetometers. The power-saving improvement is very
important, because Overhauser magnetometers can be mounted on re-
motely operated vehicles that have limited battery power, thereby improv-
ing the spatial coverage of magnetic mapping surveys. The design of most
marine magnetometers makes them light weight, so they are quite simple
to load onto the ship and deploy. Surface-towed magnetometers can cover
larger areas and are relatively inexpensive. Deep-towed magnetometers

can cover detailed areas of the seafloor and have higher sensitivities than
surface towed magnetometers.
Disadvantages: Surface-towed magnetometers have lower sensitivities

than near-bottom magnetometers. Near-bottom magnetometers are more
expensive and cover smaller areas than surface-towed magnetometers.
9.13 OCEAN-BOTTOM SEISMOMETER

Seismometers measure movement in the Earth’s crust. About 90% of
all natural earthquakes occur underwater, where great pressure and cold
make measurements difficult. The ocean-bottom seismometer (OBS) was
developed for this task. Scientists use seismometer data to calculate the
energy released by earthquakes, like the massive one in December 2004
that caused the Indian Ocean tsunami. By using sensitive seismometers to
study small earthquakes, researchers are working to predict large earth-
quakes or volcanic eruptions. Other scientists use seismometers to peer
inside the Earth itself. The waves that earthquakes generate get deformed
or slowed down as they pass through different materials inside the Earth.
Seismometers equipped with precise clocks record the shape and speed of
these waves when they arrive. After an earthquake, data from many wide-
spread seismometers help geologists to calculate the structure of Earth’s
mantle and crust.
Operation: Seismometers work using the principle of inertia. The seis-

mometer body rests securely on the sea floor. Inside, a heavy mass hangs
on a spring between two magnets. When the Earth moves, so do the seis-
mometers and its magnets, but the mass briefly stays where it is. As the
mass oscillates through the magnetic field it produces an electrical current
which the instrument measures. The seismometer itself is a small metal cyl-
inder; the rest of the footlocker-sized OBS consists of equipment to run the
seismometer (a data logger and batteries), weight to sink it to the sea floor,
a remote controlled acoustic release and flotation to bring the instrument
back to the surface.
Two types of OBS: The ground motion caused by earthquakes can be

extremely small (less than a millimeter) or large (several meters). Small
motions have high frequencies, so monitoring them requires measur-
ing movement many times per second and produces huge amounts of

data. Large motions are much rarer, so instruments need to record data
less frequently, to save memory space and battery power for longer
deployments. Because of this variability, engineers have designed two
basic kinds of seismometers: short-period OBS and long-period OBS.
Short-period OBSs record high frequency motions (up to hundreds of
times per second). They can record small, short period earthquakes and
are also useful for studying the outer tens of kilometers of the seafloor.
Long-period OBSs record a much broader range of motions, with fre-
quencies of about 10 per second to once or twice a minute. They are
used for recording mid-sized earthquakes and seismic activity far from
the instrument.
Advantages: Very stable clocks make comparable the readings from many
far-flung seismometers. (Without reliable time-stamps, data from different
machines would be unusable.) Development of these clocks was a crucial
advance for seismologists studying the Earth’s interior. After recovering an
ocean-bottom seismometer, scientists can offload the instrument’s data by
plugging in a data cable. This feature saves the task of gingerly disassem-
bling the instrument’s protective casing while aboard a rolling ship. The
ability to connect a seismometer to a mooring or observatory makes the
instrument’s data instantly available. This is a huge advantage for geologists
scrambling to respond to a major earthquake.
Limitations: Ocean-bottom seismometers are hard to install with pinpoint

accuracy (usually they are lowered into place through thousands of meters
of water). They can wind up sitting on a cushion of sediment rather than
on bedrock. That soft layer can dampen the very tremors the instrument is
trying to measure.
Short-period seismometers have short battery lives, so large numbers
of them must be set out repeatedly during 30-day cruises. These instru-
ments are designed to be small and light to make deployment and recov-
ery easier.
Seismometers record so much data that storing it requires writing to a
disk drive (up to 27 GB), which presents another drain on battery power.
The seismometer’s data logger and batteries must be protected from
the pressures of the deep sea. Engineers house them inside thick glass
spheres. To cushion the glass, the spheres then go inside yellow fiberglass
“hardhats.” A long-term ocean-bottom seismometer designed to work for
more than a year is shown in Figure 9.29. The four yellow hardhats protect

Broadband
seismic sensor
Differential
pressure gauge
Batteries & Electronics
Corrodible line
FIGURE 9.29 Seismometer data logger and long-term OBS.
equipment from the high pressure at depth. A pressure gauge measures

earthquake waves in the water. The seismometer is housed in a metal
sphere that drops gently into place after the entire instrument has been
installed on the sea floor.
9.14 SUBMERSIBLE INCUBATION DEVICE

The submersible incubation device (SID) is a robotic mini laboratory
that permits researchers at sea to automatically collect and process samples
of seawater of precise volume at specified depth to study organisms that
live in the water column, on the seafloor, or in hydrothermal vent fluid.
Variations of the original SID have been optimized to sample, incubate, and
preserve organisms that at precise locations or conditions within the sea-
floor environment. The original SID was designed to measure a key aspect
of ocean ecosystems: how fast single-celled photosynthetic organisms at the
heart of the food web convert carbon dioxide into organic carbon. At the
time, the standard shipboard method to do that required deploying sample
bottles late at night, retrieving them to the sea surface by dawn, incubating
the phytoplankton all day under conditions that allowed them to proceed
normally with photosynthesis, and then, for hours after dark, preparing the
samples for analysis. The objective of SID (and every variant thereafter)
was to automate sample collection and processing to give researchers a
glimpse into critical microbial functions beneath the surface without expos-
ing collected or processed samples to surface conditions.

Deep-SID: This early variant of the

original SID was specifically de-
signed to collect and incubate unfil-
tered seawater samples in depths up
to 1,000 meters below the surface.
MS-SID: Microbial sampler (MS)

SID was designed to not only collect
and incubate samples from the deep
ocean, but also to filter and preserve
organisms so they could be exam-
FIGURE 9.30 MS-SID. ined more closely upon retrieval
and so that researchers could extract
RNA from samples. MS-SID can process volumes five times larger than
the first SIDs, vastly improving the odds of detecting sparse organisms and
their subtle chemical reactions. It can sample a 6-ft thick zone more than
two miles below the sea surface, and it can communicate with the surface
in real time, permitting scientists to adjust sampling and/or processing pro-
tocols based on data from the instrument. MS-SID during recovery in the
Mediterranean showing collection
chambers filled with yellow preser-
vative is shown in Figure 9.30.
Vent-SID: Vent-SID is a variant of

the MS-SID that incubates sam-
ples of hydrothermal vent fluid at
temperatures up to 60°C (140°F).
Like MS-SID, it will also filter and
preserve organisms in situ for later
study and can process large vol-
umes at depth with real-time com-
munication and control of sampling
and processing protocols. First de-
ployment of Vent-SID is scheduled
for November 2014 at 9N on the
East Pacific Rise. Vent-SID under-
going testing at WHOI prior to its
first deployment in November 2014
at 9N on the East Pacific Rise is
FIGURE 9.31 Vent-SID. shown in Figure 9.31.

9.15 DEEP OCEAN TSUNAMI DETECTION BUOY

Deep ocean tsunami detection buoys are one of two types of instrument
used by the Bureau of Meteorology to confirm the existence of tsunami
waves generated by undersea earthquakes. These buoys observe and record
changes in sea level out in the deep ocean. This enhances the capability for
early detection and real-time reporting of tsunamis before they reach land,
which is shown in Figure 9.32.
FIGURE 9.32 The surface component of an operational deep ocean tsunami

detection buoy.
Operation: A typical tsunami buoy system comprises two components: the

pressure sensor anchored to the sea floor and the surface buoy. The sen-
sor on the sea floor measures the change in height of the water column
above by measuring associated changes in the water pressure. This water
column height is communicated to the surface buoy by acoustic telemetry
and then relayed via satellite to the tsunami warning center. The system has
two modes: standard and event. The system generally operates in standard
mode, where it routinely collects sea level information and reports via sat-
ellite at relatively low frequency transmission intervals (i.e., every 15 min-
utes). This helps to conserve battery life and hence extend the deployment
life. The tsunami buoy is triggered into event mode when the pressure sen-
sor first detects the faster-moving seismic wave moving through the sea
floor. It then commences reporting sea level information at one-minute

intervals to enable rapid verification of the possible existence of a tsunami.

The system returns to standard mode after four hours if no further seismic
events are detected.
Determination of location for deployment of tsunami buoys: The best

location for deployment of a tsunami buoy is determined by careful consid-
eration of several factors. The tsunami buoy needs to be far enough away
from any potential earthquake epicenter to ensure there is no interference
between the earthquake signal at the buoy and the sea level signal from the
tsunami. On the other hand, the tsunami buoy needs to be close enough
to the epicenter to enable timely detection of any tsunami and maximize
the lead time of tsunami forecasts for coastal areas. In a ddition, tsunami
buoys must ideally be placed in water deeper than 3,000 meters to ensure
the observed signal is not contaminated by other types of waves that have
shallower effects (e.g., surface wind waves). International maritime bound-
aries must also be considered when deploying tsunami buoy systems.
Deep-ocean tsunami detection buoy technology was initially d eveloped
in the United States by the Pacific Marine Environmental L aboratory
(PMEL) of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric A dministration
(NOAA) as DART (Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of T sunami)
buoys [see Figure 3.5]. The latest DART II systems contain two indepen-
dent and redundant communications systems as back-up. These systems
are capable of measuring sea level changes of less than a millimeter in the
deep ocean. Two-way communication between the tsunami buoy and the
tsunami warning center means that the buoy can be controlled remotely.
This two-way communication allows for troubleshooting of the system and
also allows people to put the systems into event mode in case of a possible
tsunami or for research purposes.
9.16 OCEANOGRAPHC INSTRUMENTS

The following are few more instruments used for measuring the param-
eters of ocean.
Towed ocean bottom instrument: Towed ocean bottom instrument

(TOBI) is an instrumented vehicle which is towed close to the bottom of
the deep ocean from a ship, and uses sound to form detailed images of the
sea floor. TOBI was developed and has been in service since 1990; it is has

become one of world’s best tools for underwater geological surveys using
side scan sonar.
Autonomous underwater vehicles: Autonomous underwater vehicles

(AUVs) are robot submarines that are used to explore the world’s oceans
without a pilot or tether. Before launch from the mother ship, the AUV’s
computers are programmed with instructions of where to go, what to mea-
sure, and what depths to go to.
Seismic exploration: While seismic surveys are often used by the oil and
gas industries to find reserves, scientists can use the same techniques to
look for air bubbles, which can signify the presence of hydrothermal vents.
Surveys are a complex operation that requires skilled specialists to operate
the equipment.
Corers: Corers are used to collect sediment from the ocean floor and work
by pushing or grabbing sediment into containers. There are different types
of corer with both tubular and box varieties available. Sediment cores are
an expensive and unique resource of immense scientific value, analysis of
which can provide clues about climate change, conditions in past oceans,
and sedimentary processes.
Dredges: Dredges gather loose rocks sitting on the ocean floor using a
technique that has changed little in hundreds of years. They have a chain-
link bag with large metal-jawed opening that scoops the contents into the
bag. They are lowered to the seabed on a cable and dragged along the bot-
tom for some distance before being brought to the surface. A variety of
equipment can be used to get samples of rock that are not loose. If the rock
is soft like the mineral rich chimneys of a hydrothermal vent, it may be
picked up using grabbers or pincers, as found on the video guided robotic
underwater vehicle.
Wax corer or rock chipper: The wax corer is used to collect fresh volcanic
glass. This material is the gold standard for volcanic studies as it represents
the magmatic liquid rock. The rock chipper will smash into the ground and
capture shards of glass in wax containers. When the containers are returned
the wax is melted in beakers of hot water and the contents simply fall to
the bottom. For deeper rock samples, rock drills can be used to take core
samples of bedrock in a similar fashion to sediment cores.

1. instrument uses a strain gauge pressure transducer to

sense depth.
2. The abbreviation of SONAR and SOFAR are .
3. The echo-sounder is used to measure .
4. Give an example of a temperature sensor.
5. is the measure of the quantity of salt in a volume of sea
water.
6. instrument is used to measure water clarity.
7. What is a hydrophone?
8. is dropped from airborne platform to record ambient
noise and locate ships.
9. Sound speed is a measure of .
10. is the instrument used for measuring waves.
11. Tides are measured by .
12. An accelerometer is used to measure .
13. is the emission of light by living organisms.
14. Seismometer is used to measure .
15. are used to collect sediment from the ocean floor.
16. is a scientific instrument used to measure magnetic field
strength.
1. Write about the measurement of sea depth.

2. What are the different methods of measuring temperature?
3. Write about the method of measuring salinity.
4. What are the methods of measuring water clarity?

5. Write about sound and sound speed.

6. What are the different ways of measuring current?
7. Write about seabed sampling.
8. Write a note on research vessels.
9. Write about moorings.
10. Write a note on ferry boxes.
11. Write about the radar Doppler current profiler.
12. What is a nucleic acid biosensor?
13. Write about ASIMET.
14. Write about tsunami detection buoys.
15. How do sensors measure pH and alkalinity?
1. Explain the techniques to measure current in detail.

2. Write about oceanographic instrumentation.
3. Write about the ARGO float in detail.
4. Explain in detail about the measurement of hydrographic properties.
5. In detail explain the measurement of dynamic properties.
6. Write the techniques of wave measurement.
7. Write about BIOMAPER in detail.
8. Write about corers.
WEB LINKS
http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/
http://uskess.whoi.edu/
http://www.bodc.ac.uk/
http://www.whoi.edu/instruments/

CHAPTER
10
OCEAN OPTICS AND
OCEAN FACTS
T
his chapter deals with ocean optics and some interesting facts about
the ocean.
10.1 INTRODUCTION TO OPTICAL PROPERTIES

OF THE OCEAN
The optical properties of sea water are grouped into inherent and
apparent properties. Inherent optical properties (IOPs) are those proper-
ties that depend only upon the medium and therefore are independent of
the ambient light. The two fundamental IOPs are the absorption coefficient
and the volume scattering function. Apparent optical properties (AOPs) are
those properties that depend both on the medium (the IOPs) and on the
directional structure of the ambient light and display enough regular fea-
tures and stability to be useful descriptors of a water body. Commonly used
AOPs are the irradiance reflectance, the remote sensing reflectance, and
various diffuse attenuation functions.
Case 1 waters are those in which the contribution by phytoplankton
to the total absorption and scattering is high compared to that by other
substances. Absorption by chlorophyll and related pigments therefore plays
the dominant role in determining the total absorption in such waters and
dissolved organic matter derived from the phytoplankton also contribute
to absorption and scattering in case 1 waters. Case 1 water can range from

very clear (oligotrophic) to very productive (eutrophic) water, depending

on the phytoplankton concentration.
Case 2 waters are everything else, namely, waters where inorganic
particles or dissolved organic matter from land drainage contribute signifi-
cantly to the IOPs, so that absorption by pigments is relatively less impor-
tant in determining the total absorption. Roughly 98% of the world’s open
ocean and coastal waters fall into the case 1 category, but near-shore and
estuarine case 2 waters are disproportionately important to human interests
such as recreation, fisheries, and military operations.
The constituents are identified operationally based upon how we m easure
their optical properties and often are grouped by like optical p roperties. For
example, the distinction between particulate and dissolved is operationally
defined by the filter type/pore size. It is essential to remember 1) that the strict
chemical definition is quite different, 2) filter pore size varies, and 3) keep
track of pore sizes to ensure closure (i.e., don’t define dissolved organic matter
by the filtrate of a 0.2 micron pore-sized filter and then measure particulates
on a 0.7 micron pore size). Similarly, often all the non-phytoplankton particles
are lumped into a single compartment as their optical properties are quite sim-
ilar. Sometimes all the particulate material is lumped together into suspended
particulate material (SPM) or part of it into the particulate organic material
(POM). This is often done when studying a specific biogeochemical property
using optics. The differentiation of dissolved and particulate materials (using
a filter) does not imply that the dissolved material is organic, although this is
most often the assumption. For example, inorganic dissolved substances such
as iron oxides (rust) could contribute in certain cases.
10.1.1 Optical Constituents of Seawater

Oceanic waters are a witch’s brew of dissolved and particulate matter
whose concentrations and optical properties vary by many orders of mag-
nitude, so that ocean waters vary in color from the deep blue of the open
ocean, where sunlight can penetrate to depths of several hundred meters,
to yellowish brown in a turbid estuary, where sunlight may penetrate less
than a meter. The most important optical constituents of sea water can be
briefly described as follows.
1. Sea water (water + inorganic dissolved materials)

2. Phytoplankton
3. Colored (or chromophoric) dissolved organic material (CDOM)

Ocean Optics and Ocean Facts • 381
4. Bubbles
5. Non-phytoplankton organic particles (sometimes referred to as detri-
tus or tripton)
6. Inorganic particles
Sea water: Water itself is highly absorbing at wavelengths below 250 nm

and above 700 nm, which limits the wavelength range of interest in optical
oceanography to the near ultraviolet to the near infrared. Water contributes
to both absorption and scattering by seawater. In clear ocean waters, water
effect on ocean color in the visible cannot be neglected and hence must be
taken into account. Temperature and salinity affect both absorption and
scattering by water and hence must be taken into account when the optical
properties of water are computed.
Absorption by water: Absorption as a rich structure due to the

excitation of the different vibration modes of the water molecule
and water absorption is affected by temperature and salinity.
Elastic scattering by water: Elastic scattering by sea water de-

pends on salinity (~30% increase for range of salinities observed
in the oceans), much less so of temperature (~4% between 0 and
26°C) and pressure (~1.3% for an increase in P of 100bar).
Raman scattering by water: In Raman scattering a fraction of the

incident light of wave number υ° is absorbed and re-emitted at
wave number υs = υ° - υr . where υr is the Raman shift of a vi-
bration mode of the water molecule. For water υr = 3400 cm-1.
Raman scattering is used to calibrate the intensity of the source
of a LIDAR system as the signal leaving the ocean is proportional
to the intensity of the source.
Phytoplankton: Phytoplanktons have a major effect on the ocean color and

are one of the primary reasons for studying it. Additionally, these micro-
scopic, single-cell, free-floating organisms possess chlorophyll, pigment
that allows them to harvest the sunlight and through the process of pho-
tosynthesis produce energy-rich organic material, while releasing oxygen.
That makes them the most important primary producers in the ocean, base
of the oceanic food web, and an important component of the global carbon
cycle. For all these reasons, it is of a great importance to understand phyto-
plankton abundance and dynamics.

Absorption by phytoplankton: Phytoplankton absorbs sun light

and uses this energy to produce energy rich organic material
(photosynthesis). Chlorophylls, present in all phytoplankton cells,
will cause two dominant peaks in absorption spectra, primary at
blue (440 nm) and a secondary peak in red part of the spectra
(675 nm). Presence of other pigments (depending on species) will
cause the broadening of blue peak and appearance of additional
absorption maxima.
Scattering by phytoplankton: Scattering properties of phytoplank-

ton are important since they are directly related to remote sensing
reflectance calculations (via backscattering to absorption ratio).
Scattering and backscattering coefficients of phytoplankton as well
as the volume scattering function are derived from either theo-
retical models or direct measurements of the above-mentioned
properties. They highly depended on size, shape, and refractive
index of all components of the phytoplankton cell. Values of phy-
toplankton scattering coefficients, when compared to the rest of
the oceanic particles, are relatively low, based on their high water
content and strong absorptive properties. Exception to the rule
are coccolithophores—phytoplankton that produces small calcium
carbonate scales, that makes them very effective scatterers and
allow us to see coccolithophorid blooms from space.
Fluorescence by phytoplankton: A portion of the light absorbed by

phytoplankton cell can be emitted at another, longer wavelength; a
process referred to as fluorescence. Several phytoplankton pig-
ments (chlorophylls, pheopigments, and phycobilins) have fluores-
cence, with chlorophyll a fluorescence being the most significant
one. Although fluorescence is only a form of energy dissipation of
the absorbed light, secondary to photosynthesis, it is still signifi-
cant enough to be observed from space. Fluorescence from phy-
toplankton chlorophyll is often expressed this simplified formula
(Falkowski and Kiefer (1985):
F=PAR[chla]a*pyto Φf
Where PAR is the intensity of light impinging on the cell, [chla] is

chlorophyll concentration, a*pyto is chlorophyll specific phyto-
plankton absorption coefficient, and Φf is the quantum yield of

fluorescence the emission efficiency of the cell. Phytoplankton

fluorescence and intensity depends (via quantum yield of fluores-
cence and chlorophyll specific phytoplankton absorption coef-
ficient) on several factors: taxonomic position of algae, pigment
content and ratios, photo adaptation, physiological state of phyto-
plankton, nutrient conditions, and stage of growth.
Dissolved organic compounds: These compounds are produced during

the decay of plant matter. In sufficient concentrations, these compounds
can color the water yellowish brown; they are therefore generally called
yellow matter or colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM). CDOM ab-
sorbs very little in the red, but absorption increases rapidly with decreasing
wavelength, and CDOM can be the dominant absorber at the blue end of
the spectrum, especially in coastal waters influenced by river runoff.
Colored or chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM):

CDOM is an important optical constituent in water often domi-
nating absorption in the blue. It is based on the absorption or
fluorescence by material passing through a given filter (most often
with pore size of 0.2µm). As such, it is an absorption (or fluores-
cence) weighted sum of the different dissolved materials in the
water. Note that most of the material comprising DOM does not
absorb or fluorescence and that there exist inorganic dissolved
materials that also absorb (e.g., iron oxides, nitrate) although it is
believed that fluorescence is due solely to organic materials. From
this discussion, it follows that CDOM is thus not necessarily a
good proxy for DOM, particularly in the open ocean.
CDOM absorption: CDOM spectrum is the visible most often

described by an exponentially decreasing function:
ag(λ) = ag(λ°)exp-s(λ - λ°)[m-1]
Where, s is referred to as the spectral slope and λ° a reference

wavelength. Single bonds, which are most abundant, will absorb
short wavelength radiation while resonance of multiple bonds,
less abundant, absorb longer wavelength radiation. Since numeri-
cally there many more short bonds, the spectrum is higher at short
wavelengths. This explanation is consistent with the observation
that small values of the spectral slope of CDOM, s are associated

with higher molecular weight materials. For visible wavelength

the most common values of s appear to be near 0.014nm-1, varying
in the visible from 0.007 to 0.026 nm-1.
Elastic scattering by CDOM: CDOM contribution to scattering by

seawater is somewhat controversial. By definition, colloids are part
of DOM and, if abundant enough, could contribute significantly
to scattering (particularly to backscattering) by sea water. How-
ever, there is no observational evidence that CDOM contribute
significantly to scattering. Thus, currently, CDOM contribution to
scattering is most often neglected.
Inelastic scattering by CDOM: One of the primary methods to

quantify CDOM is through fluorescence. Since not all dissolve
material that absorbs fluorescences, this material is often denoted
as FDOM. In general, absorption and fluorescence can vary, but
their ratio can vary by orders of magnitude between different loca-
tions. The fluorescence of CDOM in the field is often limited to
a single excitation/emission band pair. With lab instrumentation,
2-dimensional excitation emission spectra (EEMS) are measured
and used to characterize the FDOM based on the size and pres-
ence of known excitation emission peaks.
Bubbles: Bubbles in the upper ocean are primarily generated by breaking

waves. When wind speed exceeds 7 ms-1, field observations have shown that
a stratus layer of bubbles forms under the sea surface and persist through
continuous supply of bubbles by frequent wave breaking and the subse-
quent advection by turbulence. As wind subsides, bubbles that have been
injected will evolve under the effects of buoyancy and gas diffusion and
merge into the background population on time scales of minutes to hours.
When wind speeds are lower than 3 ms-1, few waves break. Once formed,
bubbles are coated with surfactant material almost instantaneously and
the accumulation of organic films onto their surfaces provides a stabilizing
mechanism against surface tension pressure and gas diffusion.
Organic particles: Biogenic particles occur in many forms.
Bacteria: Living bacteria in the size range 0.2–1.0 µm can be

significant scatterers and absorbers of light, especially at blue
wavelengths and in clean oceanic waters, where the larger phyto-
plankton is relatively scarce.

Phytoplankton: These ubiquitous microscopic plants occur with

incredible diversity of species, size (from less than 1 µm to more
than 200 µm), shape, and concentration. Phytoplankton are re-
sponsible for determining the optical properties of most oceanic
waters. Their chlorophyll and related pigments strongly absorb
light in the blue and red and thus, when concentrations are high,
determine the spectral absorption of sea water. Phytoplankton are
generally much larger than the wavelength of visible light and can
scatter light strongly.
Detritus: Nonliving organic particles of various sizes are produced,

for example, when phytoplankton die and their cells break apart,
and when zooplankton graze on phytoplankton and leave cell frag-
ments and fecal pellets. Detritus can be rapidly photo-oxidized
and lose the characteristic absorption spectrum of living phyto-
plankton, leaving significant absorption only at blue wavelengths.
However, detritus can contribute significantly to scattering, espe-
cially in the open ocean.
Inorganic particles: Particles created by weathering of terrestrial rocks can

enter the water as windblown dust settles on the sea surface, as rivers carry
eroded soil to the sea, or as currents resuspend bottom sediments. Such
particles range in size from less than 0.1 µm to tens of micrometers and can
dominate water optical properties when present in sufficient concentrations.
Particulate matter is usually the major determinant of the absorption and
scattering properties of sea water and is responsible for most of the temporal
and spatial variability in these optical properties. A central goal of research
in optical oceanography is to understand how the absorption and scattering
properties of these various constituents relate to the particle type (e.g., mi-
crobial species or mineral composition), present conditions (e.g., the physi-
ological state of a living microbe, which in turn depends on nutrient supply
and ambient lighting), and history (e.g., photo oxidation of pigments in dead
cells). Bio-geo-optical models have been developed that attempt (with vary-
ing degrees of success) to predict the IOPs in terms of the chlorophyll con-
centration or other simplified measures of the composition of a water body.
10.1.2 Inherent Optical Properties (IOP) Variability

Inherent optical properties (IOPs) depend only on the properties of
the medium and its constituents, which include spectral absorption and
scattering coefficients—a(λ) and b(λ), respectively, where λ represents

wavelength. The fundamental IOPs are the absorption coefficient and the
volume scattering function, as various scattering coefficients (e.g., total,
backward) can be determined by integration of the volume scattering func-
tion over the appropriate angles. An important characteristic of IOPs is
that they are additive. This means that, for a seawater sample containing
a mixture of constituents, the absorption and scattering coefficients of
the various constituents are independent and the total coefficient can be
determined by summation. This fact arises from the definition of IOPs with
respect to collimated light. The current methods to measure IOPs can only
approximate ideal light field and collection geometry, so corrections are
sometimes required to obtain adequate estimates of true IOPs. To explain
natural variability in total IOPs and to derive estimates of ecologically and
bio–geo-chemically relevant constituents from measured IOPs, it is useful
to identify categories of constituents, each of which makes a distinct contri-
bution to the total IOPs. Typically, categories are selected on a combination
of operational and functional criteria. For total a(λ), for example, contribu-
tions from water aw(λ), chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM)
aCDOM(λ), phytoplankton aph(λ) and non-algal particles (NAP) aNAP(λ):
a(λ) = a w (λ) + a CDOM (λ) + a ph (λ) a NAP(λ) ----- 1
Similar summations can be applied to other IOPs such as b(λ), back-

scattering bb(λ) and the beam attenuation coefficient c(λ), which is defined
as the sum
c(λ) = a(λ)+ b(λ)
It should be emphasized that (eqn.1) represents an example set of con-

stituent categories, and the concept can be generalized to as many levels as
practical or important for specific problems; The following sections focus
on water constituents and their effects on IOPs.
Absorption CDOM: For optical oceanographers and many marine chem-

ists, CDOM is operationally defined by its passage through a small pore
size filter (usually 0.2 μm) and its ability to absorb visible and ultraviolet
radiation. CDOM is a poorly characterized portion of the total dissolved or-
ganic matter (DOM) pool and there are no routine analytical techniques for
chemically quantifying total CDOM; for this reason, CDOM is frequently
quantified in terms of its measurable optical properties (i.e. absorption or

fluorescence). Especially in coastal waters with substantial riverine inputs,

absorption by CDOM can be very high compared with other constituents,
and so it influences the quantity and color of light penetrating into and re-
flecting from the upper ocean. Even in the open ocean, however, absorp-
tion by CDOM cannot be neglected. CDOM absorption is characterized by
smoothly varying spectral dependence with amplitude tending to increase
exponentially towards blue and ultraviolet wavelengths. For this reason, its
contribution to absorption is usually represented by an exponential function:
a CDOM(λ) = a CDOM (λ0) e− S(λ − λ0)
Where λ0 represents a reference wavelength and S is the slope of the

exponential increase with decreasing wavelength. Both the amplitude and
the spectral slope of aCDOM depend on the composition of the dissolved
organic matter pool and this in turn depends on a variety of source and
sinks processes. Terrestrial input, primarily from riverine sources, is signifi-
cant; in addition, other processes including photo oxidation (enhanced by
CDOM’s strong ultraviolet absorption) and local microbial activity can lead
to production or loss of different forms of CDOM.
Phytoplankton: As photosynthetic organisms, phytoplankton contain high

concentrations of pigments that harvest energy from sunlight. These pig-
ments consist of different chlorophylls and carotenoids present in varying
amounts and each type of pigment has spectral properties that lend phy-
toplankton their characteristically featured absorption spectra. Due to the
ubiquitous presence of chlorophylls, absorption peaks at blue (~440 nm)
and red wavelengths (~675 nm) are always present, with the blue peak
broadened and enhanced by accessory pigments. Pigment compositions,
and thus general light absorption characteristics, are partly constrained by
phylogeny, but there are also important variations associated with environ-
mental factors that affect growth. Pigment composition and physiological
status also affect the amount of light energy absorbed by phytoplankton
that is reemitted as fluorescence at red wavelengths. The first order source
of variation in light absorption by phytoplankton is total biomass and this, of
course, depends on complex ecological and environmental factors that reg-
ulate phytoplankton growth and loss rates. Secondary effects with impor-
tant consequences for how phytoplankton absorb light include variations in
intracellular pigment concentration and composition and variations in cell
size and shape; size and shape directly impact pigment package effects.

Non-algal particles (NAP): Marine particles besides phytoplankton are

also known to absorb light. In natural samples, it is difficult to separate the
broad category of NAP into its different contributors, which can include
heterotrophic organisms such as bacteria and micrograzers, other organic
particles of a detrital nature such as fecal pellets and cell debris, and vari-
ous mineral particles of both biogenic (e.g., calcite liths and shells) and
terrestrial (e.g., clays and sand) origin. In comparison with phytoplankton,
much less is known about the optical properties of these particles, but some
generalizations have emerged. In coastal and open ocean waters, total NAP
absorption tends to exhibit an absorption spectrum that monotonically in-
creases with decreasing wavelength, similar in form to that observed for
CDOM. Consequently, aCDOM can be replaced by aNAP in eqn.1 to provide
an adequate description of NAP absorption. Because of the similar spectral
character of CDOM and NAP, for some applications these pools have been
combined into a single class, referred to as colored detrital matter (CDM;
which is technically a misnomer as it also includes living and inorganic mat-
ter), whose absorption follows eqn.1 with a composite S parameter that will
vary with the relative contributions of CDOM and NAP.
Scattering and backscattering: All particulate material whose index of re-

fraction differs from the surrounding medium will scatter light. The amount
of scattering is influenced by particle size and shape and by any absorption
that occurs within the particle. In contrast to absorption, scattering is not
completely characterized simply by specifying its wavelength dependence;
it also has angular dependence. Total scattering is summed over all possible
scattering angles, but it is also possible to define scattering coefficients over
some angular subsets. Backscattering, which is simply scattering integrated
over the backward hemisphere with respect to the direction of light inci-
dence, is a quantity that has received a lot of attention due to its importance
for ocean color interpretation. As for total scattering, backscattering de-
pends on particle concentration, size, shape, and complex refractive index.
Theoretical considerations show that backscattering is generally enhanced
relative to forward scattering as particle size decreases, so different parti-
cles may dominate total scattering and backscattering in natural waters. For
a given wavelength, scattering by polydisperse particles tends to increase
with average particle size and with the average real part of the refractive
index, so highly refractive mineral particles scatter more light than a popu-
lation of bacteria of similar concentration and size distribution, for example.
Furthermore, the wavelength dependence of the scattering cross section
tends to be steeper for smaller particles. Because of its extreme small size

(usually defined <0.2 μm) and relatively dilute nature (compared with wa-
ter molecules, for example), light scattering by CDOM can be neglected.
In general, ocean color remote sensing is a passive remote technique.
The sensor, mounted on a satellite, an aircraft or other remote platform,
detects the radiometric flux at several selected wavelengths in the visible
and near-infrared domains.
The signal received by the sensor is determined by different processes
in the water, as well as in the atmosphere [Figure 10.1].
1. Scattering of sunlight by the atmosphere

2. Reflection of direct sunlight at the sea surface
3. Reflection of sunlight at sea surface
4. Light reflected within the water body
Only the portion of the signal originating from the water body contains
information on the water constituents; the remaining portion of the signal,
which takes up more than 80% of the total signal, has to be assessed pre-
cisely to extract the contribution from the water body. There are two strat-
egies to derive oceanic constituents from the signal of ocean color sensor
Ocean colour sensor

Sun
Atmosphere
Aerosols
Gases
Sea surface
Water
Phytoplankton
SPM
Bottom CDOM
FIGURE 10.1 Sketch of different origins of light received by space-borne sensor.

at top of atmosphere (TOA), a one-step method and a two-step method.

For the traditionally used two-step method, the water leaving radiance
(or reflectance) is firstly derived from the signal at TOA (this procedure is
called atmospheric correction), and then oceanic constituents are retrieved
from water leaving radiance (or reflectance). For the one-step method, oce-
anic constituents are directly derived from the signal at TOA. The one-step
method assumes that radiative transfer in the ocean and atmosphere is cou-
pled. The oceanic constituents and aerosol properties are simultaneously
derived from satellite measurements at TOA by using the entire spectrum
available to ocean color instruments.
10.2 RETRIEVAL OF OCEANIC CONSTITUENTS FROM

OCEAN COLOR MEASUREMENTS
There are three major issues in the retrieval of oceanic constituents
from ocean color:
How to quantify the relationship between optically significant

oceanic constituents and inherent optical properties (IOPs)?
How do IOPs determine ocean color?
How to obtain oceanic constituents from ocean color measurements?

The first two issues are the so-called forward problem, and the last issue
is the so-called inverse problem.
The forward problem: The forward problem is solved by radiative trans-

fer theory. Radiative transfer theory describes the relationship between the
IOPs of the oceanic constituents and the ocean color. Based on radiative
transfer theory, two different approaches relating the ocean color to IOPs
have been developed: one analytical and one numerical. The most-used
analytical expression relates the hemispherical reflectance R just below the
sea surface to the absorption coefficient a and back scattering coefficient
bb and was
bb
R=f
a + bb
The proportionality factor f varies between approximately 0.3 to 0.5,
depending on the ambient light field and the optical properties of water.

Another analytical expression relating the remote sensing reflectance to the

IOPs of oceanic constituents was derived as
ft2 bb
Rrs =
Qn a + bb
2
where t is the transmittance of the air-sea interface, Q is the upwelling

irradiance-to-radiance ratio, which is a function of the solar zenith angle
and optical properties of water, and n is the real part of the refractive index
of seawater. The numerical approach is based on simulations of radiative
transfer. It allows including all factors determining the ocean color, i.e.,
IOPs, rough sea surface, observation geometry, inelastic scattering pro-
cesses, etc., and has a potential for the development of more advanced
retrieval methods. Another advantage is to avoid errors due to eventually
poor approximation of the factor Q and the parameter f.
The inverse problem: The determination of the oceanic constituents from

ocean color is a parameter estimation problem, where a set of parameters
C = {ci, i = 1, ..., I} are estimated from a set of measurements R = {rj, j = 1,
..., J}. The functional relationship between measurements and parameters
can be expressed as:
R = g(C) (10.3)
Inverting Equation 10.3, one obtains the set of parameters C from the
set of measurements R:
C = g –1(R) (10.4)
In this, C represents three different oceanic constituents: pigment, sus-

pended particulate matter and colored dissolved organic matter, while R
is either the remote sensing reflectance, defined as the ratio of water leav-
ing radiance to downwelling irradiance or the hemispherical reflectance,
defined as the ratio of upwelling to downwelling irradiance, at sea level in
J spectral channels.
If g would be a linear function, one could derive the inverse function
g–1, and such obtain the oceanic constituents from the measured spec-
tral reflectance. However, the functional relationship between the oce-
anic constituents and the resulting reflectance is complex and nonlinear.
It is therefore mostly impossible to achieve an analytic inversion of g.

The traditional way to overcome this problem is to make assumptions on

the functional form of g –1 and then to solve Equation 10.4 by regression
techniques or other statistical methods. In recent years, artificial neu-
ral networks (ANN) have been increasingly applied to remote sensing
data from ocean observing instruments, among those scatterometers and
ocean color sensors. ANN techniques are well suited for solving nonlinear
problems. No assumptions on the functions g or g –1 defined in Equations
10.3 or 10.4 are required. The training of the ANN requires considerable
computational effort, its application is very fast. Therefore, ANN tech-
niques are a promising method to derive oceanic constituents from ocean
color data.
10.2.1 Retrieval of Oceanic Constituents from Ocean Color at TOA

Traditionally, the retrieval of oceanic constituents is performed by a
two-step process: atmospheric correction followed by a bio-optical algo-
rithm to obtain the desired parameters. The atmospheric correction algo-
rithms which are commonly used are based on the black pixel assumption.
These algorithms were primarily designed for clear, deep ocean areas. The
information about atmospheric aerosols is derived from channels in the red
and near infrared (above 670 nm), where the water leaving radiance is close
to zero. The derived aerosol information is extrapolated towards the visible
channels and the atmospheric contribution is calculated and removed for
full spectrum. For the turbid coastal environment, the ocean can no longer
assumed to be black in the red and near-infrared because of strong back
scattering by suspended materials. Under these conditions, the black pixel
assumption is no longer valid for deriving information on atmospheric aero-
sols. Thus, the algorithms developed for applications to clear ocean waters
cannot be easily modified to retrieve water leaving radiance from remote
sensing data acquired over the coastal environments.
10.2.2 The Atmospheric Correction Problem

An instrument views the ocean from a satellite or an aircraft measures
upwelling radiances. These include contributions by the atmosphere, the
water surface, and the water column. The atmospheric contribution La
comes from solar radiance that is scattered one or more times by atmo-
spheric gases and aerosols into the direction of the sensor. The surface
reflected radiance (sun and sky glint) Lr is downwelling solar radiance
that is reflected toward the sensor by the water surface. The water leaving
radiance Lw comes from light that penetrates the ocean, is changed by the

Lu = La + Lr + Lw
La(θ, φ, λ)
Lr(θ, φ, λ)
Lw(θ, φ, λ)
Lu(θ, φ, λ)
Lt(θ, φ, λ)
FIGURE 10.2 Contributions to the total upwelling radiance above the sea surface,Lu. Yellow arrows are
the sun’s unscattered beam; orange arrows are atmospheric path radiance La; red is surface-reflected
radiance Lr; green is water-leaving radiance Lw. Thick arrows represent single-scattering contributions;
thin arrows illustrate multiple scattering contributions.
absorbing and scattering components in the water, and is then scattered

into an upward direction that eventually leaves the sea surface in the sensor
direction. Figure 10.2 shows this conceptually.
Radiance reflected by the sea surface contains information about the
wave state of the surface, which may be of interest in it or which, for exam-
ple, may be useful for detection of surface oil slicks. Radiance scattered
by the atmosphere along the path between the sea surface and the sensor
contains information about atmospheric aerosols and other atmospheric
parameters. However, only the water leaving radiance carries information
about the water column and bottom conditions. A sensor looking downward
measures the total radiance Lu = La + Lr + Lw and cannot separate the vari-
ous contributions to the total. Atmospheric correction refers to the process
of removing the contributions by surface glint and atmospheric scattering
from the measured total to obtain the water leaving radiance. The atmo-
spheric correction problem becomes even more intimidating when effects
of sun and sensor viewing directions, atmospheric conditions, and surface
wave state are considered.
Most remote sensing retrieval algorithms are developed and use the
remote sensing reflectance Rrs = Lw / Ed or an equivalent nondimensional

reflectance ρ = πLw/Ed. (If Lw were directionally isotropic, Rrs = 1 / π, so is

ρ the ratio of the actual Rrs to an idealized isotropic remote sensing reflec-
tance. The π carries units of steradian. The use of an apparent optical prop-
erty like Rrs or ρ minimizes the effects of external environmental conditions
like sun angle on the magnitude of the spectra.
10.3 OCEAN OPTICS DIP PROBE SPECTROMETERS

A solution that is colored obtains this color by absorbing light of
a complementary color in the visible spectrum. Absorbance refers
to the amount of light that is absorbed by the sample. Spectrometers
measure the percentage of light transmitted at a particular wavelength.
The absorbance is then calculated from the percent transmittance by the
relationship:
Abs = (2-log %transmittance)
A spectrophotometer has a source of light that is directed over a specific

path. In the Ocean Optics system this path is the entire blue fiber optic cable.
The light is produced with a tungsten halogen light source, the blue box in the
picture on the right. This light goes into the long blue fiber optic cable to the
dip probe seen in Figure 10.3. Fiber-optic cables are widely used in the tele-
communications industry because they can transmit light over long distances
without intensity losses or signal dispersion. At the open part of the dip probe
tip, the light interacts with the sample. The path length of this part of the dip
probe is 1 cm in length. Depending on the nature of the molecules in the sam-
ple, some of the light will be absorbed. The remaining light is then reflected
through the second fiber-optic cable that leads to a detector inside the com-
puter, seen at the right.
The detector measures the
number of photons of light
that reach it and converts
this measurement to elec-
trical current. To perform
a measurement using a
spectrophotometer, the
instrument must first be
calibrated at 0% and 100%
FIGURE 10.3 Fiber optic cable and light source. transmittance.

At 0% transmittance, all of the light produced by the light source is

absorbed and no photons reach the detector. For the ocean optics system,
the calibration for 0% transmittance is performed by blocking the light
by placing a folded sheet of paper in the slit of the light source. Next the
instrument is calibrated for 100% transmittance using a solution called
the blank, which contains all sources of absorbance except the analyte of
interest. Sometimes the blank solution is a complicated mixture (i.e., urine
or motor oil). For other analyses a pure solvent, such as distilled water, is
used as the blank. A new blank is measured for every set of analyses. When
the dip probe is placed in the blank solution, the percent transmittance is
defined to be 100%. Thus when the dip probe is placed in the sample being
measured, the analyte of interest is the only thing that contributes to the
absorbance.
The lamp of the light source will need to be turned on approximately
15 minutes prior to analysis so that it reaches a constant temperature and
the intensity of the light produced is consistent. The software used with the
Ocean Optics equipment is called OOIBase32. To verify that the detector
is receiving sufficient signal, the intensity of the highest peak should fall
between 3,000 and 4,000 counts when the probe is in a blank solution. To
check this, make sure scope mode is turned on and the probe is in your
blank solution. Your blank solution should contain all sources of absorbance
except the analyte of interest. A spectrum should be acquired that looks
like the spectrum in Figure 10.4. If the peak intensity is not between 3,000
and 4,000 counts and yet a spectrum appears, adjust the integration time,
shorter to reduce the counts or longer to increase the counts so that the
peak intensity lies within this range.
Making a measurement: An absorbance measurement of the sample of in-

terest can be made after the dark spectrum and a reference blank spectrum
have been stored and the instrument is calibrated. To make the absorbance
measurement for a sample, place the dip probe tip in the sample of interest.
1. Make sure no bubbles are present in the tip area

2. Under Spectrum, select Absorbance mode.
3. Under File - Save - Processed. Name the spectrum.
4. Open the saved spectrum by selecting File - Open - Processed

Intensity (counts)
4000
3000
2000
1000
0
400 500 600 700 800 900
Wavelength(nm)
FIGURE 10.4 Spectrum.
When done with the spectrophotometer, turn off the light source and
close the software.
10.3.1 Spectrometers
Ocean Optics revolutionized the spectrometer field when it introduced
the diffraction grating based spectrometer using a charged coupled device
(CCD) for light collection. Combined with fiber optic technology, the
Ocean Optics equipment was, and continues to be, a powerful and relatively
inexpensive research tool. The spectrometers are very compact (about the
size of a deck of playing cards) and light weight. These spectrometers utilize
USB technology, making them ideal for field use (in fact, many researchers
have their spectrometers in underwater housings for work with corals in
their natural habitats).
As mentioned, these spectrometers utilize diffraction gratings to split
incoming light into its spectral components. This diffracted light falls upon
the CCD array and specialized software analyzes and reports spectral char-
acteristics. No single diffraction grating is efficient for broadband analy-
ses (200–1,100 nm). Ocean Optics offers a choice of 14 gratings for the
USB4000. Analyses of UV (down to ~220 nm) and visible radiation will
require a specific grating, while work with visible wavelengths and near
infrared will call for a different grating. At a minimum, one should decide
what part of the spectrum is of interest for analysis. Even with the proper
grating, the reported spectral quality is not 100% correct. A grating is effi-
cient over a given spectral range (Ocean Optics uses 30% efficiency as
the cutoff). This means these spectrometers generally underreport some

wavelengths. It is most efficient at 500 nm and underreports other wave-

lengths, particularly blue and red wavelengths.
Another important consideration is of expected light intensity. Six vari-
ously sized apertures (called slits) are available for the USB4000 (5, 10,
25, 50, 100, 200 µ and “none”—the fiber optic size acts as the light regu-
lating mechanism). Low light applications (such as fluorescence measure-
ments) require larger slits (say, 200 µ), while higher light intensity requires
a smaller slit. Optical resolution is a function of slit width and holographic
grating. An optical resolution of just a fraction of a nanometer is possible.
However, the optical resolution will be generally between 2–10 nm. These
spectrometers are compatible with USB 1.1 and USB 2.0; use of a serial
port is possible with the available 5v power supply.
Fiber optics: It is not absolutely necessary to use fiber optic patch cords if
the goal is simply to measure lamp spectra—one can merely remove the
protective cover from the input aperture and point the spectrometer at the
light source. However, fiber optic cords do offer advantages in that they
can be tightly attached to the aperture, thus protecting the internal works
of the spectrometer (the thought of a drop of saltwater or debris entering
the spec housing is frightening). The fiber optic cords also offer other ad-
vantages. While it is apparent that cords are a must for connecting optional
accessories, it should be noted that the size (diameter) of the cord is also
a critical consideration. Very simply, the larger the diameter of the fiber
optic cord, the more light is transmitted. This is useful to know if high light
intensity saturates the CCD array and causes the reported intensity to be
above the maximum allowed. Use of a smaller diameter cord could attenu-
ate (weaken) the signal, thus allowing measurement. Fibers are available in
the following diameters (in µ): 8 (VIS/NIR only, range of 450–1,000 nm),
50, 100, 200, 300, (for use with UV <250 nm) 400, 600, and 1,000. Fibers
are usually 2 meters in length, and custom lengths are available.
Software and applications:

SpectraSuite: SpectraSuite is Java-based software that operates
with Windows 98/Me/2000/XP, Mac OSX, and Linux w/USB port.
Light measurements are usually reported as counts (a generic
term) but it is possible to measure absolute irradiance. Graphical
data can be copied, and numerical data exported to spreadsheets
such as Excel. Integration time is programmable, as are func-
tions such as averaging and boxcar smoothing. Two spectral charts
can be open at one time thus allowing simultaneous use of two

spectrometers (especially useful when observed fluorescence exci-

tation and emission wavelengths).
OOISensors: Software specifically for use with fluorescent pH and

dissolved oxygen probes.
OOIIrrad: Software for measure of relative and absolute irradiance.
10.3.2 Ocean Optics Visible Spectrophotometer

A spectrophotometer is an instrument capable of measuring the absor-
bance or transmittance of a sample at a selected wavelength or range of
wavelengths. A tungsten light bulb or other light source in the instrument
produces white light. The light is focused through the sample and a dif-
fraction grating then disperses the wavelengths from the lamp’s continuous
spectrum. The light that has passed through the sample (i.e., the transmit-
ted light) and been dispersed strikes an array of detectors: one for each
wavelength. These detectors record the amount of transmitted light at
each wavelength. The signal given by each detector is used to calculate the
absorbance at each wavelength; the computer displays the signal as a plot
of absorbance versus wavelength. This graph is called the spectrum of the
sample. Simple color meters use red, green, and blue filters in combina-
tion with diodes or sensor pixels for measurement. More advanced systems
use tri-stimulus filters. These work well for incandescent light sources, but
are less accurate for LEDs. Handheld color meters may measure up to
20 wavelength bands, but this is not enough for research or high accuracy
measurements. To detect small color changes, very high color resolution
is necessary. By capturing the complete spectrum, the color measurement
made by a spectrometer allows careful and detailed analysis of data. Color
meters and analyzers based on filters or detection over specific bands
simply leave a lot of information on the table to better inform the color
measurement.
Some color analyzers are also strongly dependent on lighting condi-
tions, since objects tend to appear different colors under different illumina-
tion. With the right lighting, two objects can appear to be identical in color
even if the reflected spectral power distributions differ, an effect called
metamerism. If the lighting changes, however, the colors can look signifi-
cantly different. This makes controlled lighting conditions essential to con-
sistent results. When color measurements are made with a spectrometer, a
full reflected or emissive spectrum is the starting point for all calculations.
That allows the data to be analyzed in different ways, and even recalculated

at a later date to change the observer, the illuminant, or the color space.
It offers maximum flexibility with the same high accuracy as if the calcula-
tion had been performed that way initially.
10.4 INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT THE OCEAN
Area: about 140 million square miles (362 million sq km), or nearly 71% of
the Earth’s surface.
Average depth: 12,200 ft (3,720 meters).
Deepest point: 36,198 ft (11,033 m) in the Mariana Trench in the western

Pacific.
■■ If you could evaporate all the water out of all the oceans and spread the
resulting salt over the Earth, you would have a 500-ft layer covering
everything.
■■ Do you know that life in the ocean varies as we go deep? Plants grow to
a depth of about 107 meters. Fish color changes; fish living near surface
are often blue, green, or violet. In the twilight zone, which is 180 meters
down, fish are silver or light colored. Many fish living 3,000 meters
down in the dark ocean waters have their own lights.
■■ The Red Sea in the Indian Ocean has the saltiest water; it is also known
as Dead Sea as its water is so salty that nothing can remain alive in it.
■■ The Dead Sea is so salty because it is surrounded by a hot desert whose
intense heat causes sea water to evaporate faster, and thus as much salt
remains in the sea as water goes into air. The Dead Sea exerts a lot of
upwards force due to its large quantity of salt, so people remain afloat or
can swim with no effort.
■■ The Pacific is the largest and deepest ocean in the world.
■■ The Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo spacecraft landed in the Atlantic and
Pacific oceans when they returned to earth.
■■ The Indian Ocean is the warmest ocean. The temperature of surface
water sometimes touches 36.6 degrees (C).
■■ The scientists who specialize in study of oceans are called
oceanographers.

■■ “Pacific” means “peaceful.” When Europeans first found it, they found it
very calm and peaceful, so they named it “Pacific.”
■■ An estuary is a place where a river flows into the sea.
■■ Mangroves are trees and shrubs that grow on sea shores and estuaries.
Their roots can breathe in oxygen.
■■ Splash zones are parts of the beaches which are covered by water as the
tide come.
■■ Tsunami is a Japanese word meaning “high sea-waves.”
■■ Buoys are colored metal floats which are anchored to the sea bed, used
to warn sailors about dangers of rocks, sand banks, wreckage, etc.
■■ A knot is a measure of speed at sea. One knot equals 1.85 kilometers per
hour.
■■ Scuba diving means diving under water with the help of scuba equip-
ment for under-water breathing.
■■ Salt is produced by evaporating seawater. This is done by flooding salt
pans or salt farms with seawater and allowing evaporation by the Sun to
occur. Salt is left behind by evaporating seawater.
■■ The world’s oceans contain enough water to fill a cube with edges over
1,000 kilometers (621 miles) in length.
■■ Ocean tides are caused by the Earth rotating while the Moon and Sun’s
gravitational pull acts on ocean water.
■■ While there are hundreds of thousands of known marine life forms,
there are many that are yet to be discovered. Some scientists suggest
that there could be millions of marine life forms out there.
■■ Oceans are frequently used as a means of transport, with various compa-
nies shipping their products across oceans from one port to another.
■■ The largest ocean on Earth is the Pacific Ocean; it covers around 30% of
the Earth’s surface.
■■ The Pacific Ocean contains around 25,000 different islands, many more
than are found in Earth’s other oceans.
■■ The Pacific Ocean is surrounded by the Pacific Ring of Fire, a large
number of active volcanoes.

■■ The second-largest ocean on Earth is the Atlantic Ocean; it covers over

21% of the Earth’s surface.
■■ The Atlantic Ocean’s name refers to Atlas of Greek mythology.
■■ The Bermuda Triangle is in the Atlantic Ocean.
■■ The third-largest ocean on Earth is the Indian Ocean; it covers around
14% of the Earth’s surface.
■■ During winter the Arctic Ocean is almost completely covered in sea ice.
■■ While some disagree on whether it is an ocean or just part of larger oceans,
the Southern Ocean includes the area of water that encircles Antarctica.
■■ World Oceans Day is June 8.
■■ More than 97% of all our planet’s water is contained in the ocean.
■■ The top 10 ft of the ocean hold as much heat as our entire atmosphere.
■■ The average depth of the ocean is more than 2.5 miles.
■■ The oceans provide 99% of the Earth’s living space—the largest space in
our universe known to be inhabited by living organisms.
■■ More than 90% of this habitat exists in the deep sea known as the abyss.
■■ Less than 10% of this living space has been explored by humans.
■■ Mount Everest (the highest point on the Earth’s surface at 5.49 miles) is
more than 1 mile shorter than the Challenger Deep (the deepest point
in the ocean at 6.86 miles).
■■ The longest continuous mountain chain known to exist in the universe
resides in the Atlantic Ocean at more than 40,000 miles long.
■■ The Monterey Bay Submarine Canyon is deeper and larger in volume
than the Grand Canyon.
■■ The average temperature of the oceans is 2ºC, about 39ºF.
■■ Water pressure at the deepest point in the ocean is more than 8 tons per
square inch, the equivalent of one person trying to hold 50 jumbo jets.
■■ The Gulf Stream off the Atlantic seaboard of the United States flows at
a rate nearly 300 times faster than the typical flow of the Amazon River,
the world’s largest river.
■■ The world’s oceans contain nearly 20 million tons of gold.

■■ The color blue is least absorbed by seawater; the same shade of blue is
most absorbed by microscopic plants, called phytoplankton, drifting in
seawater.
■■ A new form of life, based on chemical energy rather than light energy,
resides in deep-sea hydrothermal vents along mid-ocean ridges.
■■ A swallow of seawater may contain millions of bacterial cells, hundreds
of thousands of phytoplankton, and tens of thousands of zooplankton.
■■ The blue whale, the largest animal on our planet ever (exceeding the
size of the greatest dinosaurs) still lives in the ocean.
■■ The gray whale migrates more than 10,000 miles each year, the longest
migration of any mammal.
■■ The Great Barrier Reef, measuring 1,243 miles, is the largest living
structure on Earth. It can be seen from the Moon.
■■ More than 90% of the trade between countries is carried by ships and
about half the communications between nations use underwater cables.
■■ More oil reaches the oceans each year from leaking automobiles and
other non-point sources.
■■ Fish supply the greatest percentage of the world’s protein consumed by
humans.
■■ Most of the world’s major fisheries are being fished at levels above their
maximum sustainable yield; some regions are severely overfished.
■■ The Grand Banks, the pride of New England fishing for centuries, are
closed due to overfishing.
■■ Eighty percent of all pollution in seas and oceans comes from land-
based activities.
■■ Three-quarters of the world’s mega-cities are by the sea.
■■ By 2010, 80% of people will live within 60 miles of the coast.
■■ Plastic waste kills up to 1 million sea birds, 100,000 sea mammals, and
countless fish each year. Plastic remains in our ecosystem for years
harming thousands of sea creatures every day.
■■ Over the past decade, an average of 600,000 barrels of oil a year has
been accidentally spilled from ships.

■■ Tropical coral reefs border the shores of 109 countries, most of which
are among the world’s least developed. Significant reef degradation has
occurred in 93 countries.
■■ Although coral reefs comprise less than 0.5% of the ocean floor, it is es-
timated that more than 90% of marine species are directly or indirectly
dependent on them.
■■ There are about 4,000 coral reef fish species worldwide, accounting for
approximately a quarter of all marine fish species.
■■ Nearly 60% of the world’s remaining reefs are at significant risk of being
lost in the next three decades.
■■ The major causes of coral reef decline are coastal development, sedi-
mentation, destructive fishing practices, pollution, tourism, and global
warming.
■■ Less than 0.5% of marine habitats are protected, compared with 11.5%
of global land area.
■■ The High Seas—areas of the ocean beyond national jurisdiction—cover
almost 50% of the Earth’s surface. They are the least protected part of
the world.
■■ Although there are some treaties that protect ocean-going species such
as whales, as well as some fisheries agreements, there are no protected
areas in the High Seas.
■■ Studies show that protecting critical marine habitats—such as warm-and
cold-water coral reefs, seagrass beds, and mangroves—can dramatically
increase fish size and quantity.
■■ More than 3.5 billion people depend on the ocean for their primary
source of food. In 20 years, this number could double to 7 billion.
■■ Populations of commercially attractive large fish, such as tuna, cod,
swordfish, and marlin have declined by as much as 90% in the past
century.
■■ Each year, illegal longline fishing, which involves lines up to 80 miles
long, with thousands of baited hooks, kills over 300,000 seabirds, includ-
ing 100,000 albatrosses.
■■ As many as 100 million sharks are killed each year for their meat and
fins, which are used for shark fin soup. Hunters typically catch the

sharks, de-fin them while alive, and throw them back into the ocean,
where they either drown or bleed to death.
■■ Global by-catch—unintended destruction caused by nonselective fish-
ing gear, such as trawl nets, longlines, and gillnets—amounts to 20 mil-
lion tons a year.
■■ The annual global by-catch mortality of small whales, dolphins, and por-
poises alone is estimated to be more than 300,000 individuals.
■■ Ninety-four percent of life on Earth is aquatic. That makes us land-
dwellers a very small minority.
■■ About 70% of the planet is ocean, with an average depth of more than
12,400 feet. Given that photons (light) can’t penetrate more than 330
feet below the water’s surface, most of our planet is in a perpetual state
of darkness.
■■ Because the architecture and chemistry of coral is so like human bone,
coral has been used to replace bone grafts in helping human bone to
heal quickly and cleanly.
■■ The deep sea is the largest museum on Earth: There are more artifacts
and remnants of history in the ocean than in all the world’s museums,
combined.
■■ We have only explored less than 5% of the Earth’s oceans. In fact, we
have better maps of Mars than we do of the ocean floor.
■■ The longest mountain range in the world is under water. Called the
Mid-Oceanic Ridge, this chain of mountains runs through the middle
of the Atlantic Ocean and into the Indian and Pacific oceans. It is more
than 35,000 miles long, has peaks higher than those in the Alps and
comprises 23% of the Earth’s total surface.
■■ We didn’t send divers down to explore the Mid-Ocean Ridge until
1973—four years after Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on
the moon—when a French-American crew of seven entered the
9,000-foot-deep Great Rift in the French submersible Archimede.
■■ The ocean boasts an array of unusual geographic features, such as pil-
lars that reach several stories high and chimneys that send up sulphuric
acid. In the ocean-floor neighborhood of the Gulf of Mexico, brine pools
mark the floor, along with underwater volcanoes that spew mud and
methane, rather than lava.

■■ These wonderful formations aren’t barren. Underwater hot springs that

shoot water that’s 650°F—hot enough to melt lead—boast a profusion
of life, from 10-ft tall tubeworms to giant clams that function without
digestive systems.
■■ The part of the ocean farthest from land lies in the South Pacific and is
known as Point Nemo or “The Pole of Inaccessibility.”
The Bermuda Triangle
■■ Located in the Atlantic Ocean,
the Bermuda Triangle falls be-
tween Bermuda, Puerto Rico,
and Florida as shown in above
figure.
■■ The Bermuda Triangle has long
been believed to be the site of a
number of mysterious plane and
boat incidents have occurred.
■■ While it has become part of
popular culture to link the
Bermuda Triangle to paranor-
mal activity, most investigations indicate bad weather and human error
are the more likely culprits.
■■ Research has suggested that many original reports of strange incidents
in the Bermuda Triangle were exaggerated and that the actual number
of incidents in the area is similar to that in other parts of the ocean.
■■ While its reputation may scare some people, the Bermuda Triangle is
part of a regularly sailed shipping lane, with cruise ships and other boats
also frequently sailing through the area.
■■ Aircraft are also common in the Bermuda Triangle, with both private
and commercial planes commonly flying through the airspace.
■■ Stories of unexplained disappearances in the Bermuda Triangle started
to reach public awareness around 1950 and have been consistently
reported since then.
■■ Unverified supernatural explanations for Bermuda Triangle incidents
have included references to UFO’s and even the mythical lost continent
of Atlantis.

■■ Other explanations have included magnetic anomalies, pirates, deliber-

ate sinkings, hurricanes, gas deposits, rough weather, huge waves, and
human error.
■■ Some famous reported incidents involving the Bermuda Triangle in-
clude the USS Cyclops and its crew of 309 that went missing after leav-
ing Barbados in 1918; the TBM Avenger bombers that went missing in
1945 during a training flight over the Atlantic; a Douglas DC-3 aircraft
containing 32 people that went missing in 1958, with no trace of the
aircraft ever found; and a yacht found in 1955 that had survived three
hurricanes but was missing all its crew.
Coastlines: The total length of the world’s coastlines is about 315,000 miles,
enough to circle the equator 12 times. As coastal zones become more and
more crowded, the quality of coastal water will suffer, wildlife will be dis-
placed, and the shorelines will erode. Sixty percent of the Pacific and 35%
of the Atlantic Coast shoreline are eroding at a rate of a meter every year.
More than half the world’s population live within 100 km or 60 miles of the
coast. This is more than 2.7 billion people. Rapid urbanization will lead to
more coastal mega-cities containing 10 million or more people. By the end
of the millennium, 13 out of 15 of the world’s largest cities will be located
on or near the coast. Growing population in coastal areas leads to more
marine pollution and distribution of coastal habitats. Some 6.5 million tons
(6,500,000,000 kilo) of litter finds its way into the sea each year.
Fisheries: The sea provides the biggest source of wild or domestic protein
in the world. Each year some 70 to 75 million tons of fish are caught in the
ocean. Of this amount, around 29 million tons is for human consumption.
Global fish production exceeds that of cattle, sheep, poultry, or eggs. Fish
can be produced in two ways: by capture and by aquaculture. Total produc-
tion has grown 34% over the last decade. The largest numbers of fish are in
the Southern Hemisphere due to the fact that these waters are not largely
exploited by man. Fifteen out of seventeen of the world’s largest fisheries
are so heavily exploited that reproduction can’t keep up, with the result that
many fish populations are decreasing rapidly. Species of fish endangered
by overfishing are: tuna, salmon, haddock, halibut, and cod. In the 19th
century, codfish weighing up to 200 pounds used to be caught. Nowadays,
a 40-pound cod is considered a giant. Reason: overfishing.
Rising sea level: The sea level has risen an average of 4–10 inches (10–25
cm) over the past 100 years and scientists expect this rate to increase. Sea

levels will continue rising even if the climate has stabilized, because the
ocean reacts slowly to changes. Ten thousand years ago the ocean level was
about 330 ft (110 meters) lower than it is now. If the entire world’s ice
melted, the oceans would rise 200 ft (66 meters).
Volcanic activity: Ninety percent of all volcanic activity on Earth occurs in

the ocean. The largest known concentration of active volcanoes (approxi-
mately 1,133) on the sea floor is in the South Pacific.
Density: The density of ocean water varies. It becomes denser as it be-

comes colder, right down to its freezing point of -1.9°C. (This is unlike fresh
water, which is most dense at 4°C, well above its freezing point.)
Water temperature: Under the enormous pressures of the deep ocean,

seawater can reach very high temperatures without boiling. A water tem-
perature of 400°C has been measured at one hydrothermal vent. The aver-
age temperature of all ocean water is about 3.5°C. Almost all deep ocean
temperatures are only a little warmer than freezing (39°F).
Ice: Antarctica has as much ice as the Atlantic Ocean has water. Ten percent
of the earth’s surface is covered with ice. The Arctic Ocean is the small-
est ocean, holding only 1% of the Earth’s seawater. This is still more than
25 times as much water as all rivers and freshwater lakes. The average thick-
ness of the Arctic ice sheet is about 9–10 ft, although there are some areas
as thick as 65 ft. In the unlikely event that all the polar ice was to melt, the
sea level all over the world would rise 500–600 ft. As a result, 85–90% of
the Earth’s surface would be covered with water as compared to the current
71%. The United States would be split by the Mississippi Sea, which would
connect the Great Lakes with the Gulf of Mexico. The Arctic produces
10,000 to 50,000 icebergs annually. The amount produced in the Antarctic
regions is inestimable. Icebergs normally have a four-year lifespan; they
begin entering shipping lanes after about three years.
Carbon dioxide absorption: Oceans absorb between 30% and 50% of the
carbon dioxide produced by burning fossil fuel. Carbon dioxide is trans-
ported downwards by plankton. Any change in the temperature of the
ocean water, influences the ability of plankton to take up carbon dioxide.
This has consequences for the ecosystem, because plankton forms the base
of the food web.
Reefs: Over 60% of the world’s coral reefs are threatened by pollution,
sedimentation, and bleaching due to rising water temperatures caused by

global warming. Global Coral Monitoring Network (GCRMN) states that

currently 27% of all coral reef worldwide has disappeared and by 2050 only
30% will be left.
Rubbish/contamination: In one year, three times as much rubbish is

dumped into the world’s oceans as the weight of fish caught. A single quart
of motor oil can contaminate up to 2 million gallons of drinking water.
Oil: Oil is one of the ocean’s greatest resources. It gives us heat for our
homes, endless consumer products, and the ability to run the engines of cars,
planes, and boats for auto transport all over the world. Nearly one-third of
the world’s oil comes from offshore fields in our oceans which, as we’ve seen,
can have devastating effects on our ocean’s ecosystems. The transport of
ocean oil from the Arabian Gulf, the North Sea, and the Gulf of Mexico
reaches all corners of the globe daily. Oil was also born from the sea. Millions
of years ago, countless marine microscopic plants (phytoplankton) and ani-
mals (zooplankton) lived in the ancient seas as they do today. As they died,
the skeletal remains of these tiny organisms settled to the sea floor, mixed
with mud and silt, and over millions of years, formed organic-rich sedimen-
tary layers. Other sediments continued to be deposited and further buried
the organic-rich sediment layer to depths of thousands of feet, compressing
the layers into a rock that would become the source for oil. Over the years,
as the depth of the burial increased, pressure increased, along with the tem-
perature. Under such conditions, and over long periods of time, the original
skeletal remains of phytoplankton and zooplankton changed, breaking down
into simpler substances called hydrocarbons—compounds of hydrogen and
carbon. This process continues, although it will be millions of years before
the next batch of oil is done cooking. Refined oil is also responsible for pol-
luting the ocean.
Salinity: Some scientists estimate that the oceans contain as much

as 50 quadrillion tons (50 million billion tons = 50,000,000,000,000,000)
of dissolved solids. If the salt in the ocean could be removed and
spread evenly over the Earth’s land surface, it would form a layer
more than 500 ft (166 meters) thick, about the height of a 40-story of-
fice building. The ocean’s principal dissolved solids are sodium salts
(sodium chloride or common salt), calcium salts (calcium carbonate or
lime, and calcium sulfate), potassium salts (potassium sulfate), and mag-
nesium salts (magnesium chloride, magnesium sulfate, and magnesium
bromide). Atlantic sea water is heavier than Pacific sea water due to its
higher salt content. The freezing point of sea water depends on its salt

content. Typical ocean water has about 35 grams of salt per liter and
freezes at -19°C.
Seawater’s inorganic salt components:
Chloride Cl- 55.04%
Sodium NA+ 30.61%
Sulfate SO4-- 7.68%
Magnesium Mg++ 3.69%
Calcium Ca++ 1.16%
Potassium K+ 1.16%
Carbonic Acid HCO3- 0.41%
Bromine Br- 0.19%
Boric Acid H3Bo3 0.07%
Strontium Sr++ 0.04%
Total 99.
Desalination: Arabian Gulf reverse osmosis plants treat 500,000,000 gal-

lons of sea water to obtain 100,000,000 gallons of fresh water. Daily over
500,000,000 gallons of seawater must be heated to extremely high tem-
peratures. Mixed with toxic chemicals, the seawater is injected under high
pressure through a series of membrane filters. Only 100,000,000 gallons
of fresh water is generated. The 5:1 ratio of this highly inefficient process
means 400,000,000 gallons of untreated water are returned to the sea each
day. The higher temperature of the discharged water causes environmental
problems. Worse, the super-heated brine discharge has significantly higher
levels of total dissolved solids and toxic chemicals are mixed in with it. This
pollution is usually discharged back into the sea.
The 10 largest territorial powers (in million sq km):

Country Land Area Sea Claims Total Area
1. Australia 7,700,000 28,500,000 36,200,000
2. Russia 17,100,000 21,500,000 38,600,000
3. USA 9,400,000 20,000,000 29,400,000
4. Canada 9,900,000 12,400,000 22,300,000
5. China 9,600,000 11,400,000 21,000,000
6. Brazil 8,500,000 11,000,000 19,500,000
(Continued)

Country Land Area Sea Claims Total Area

7. France 500,000 6,000,000 6,500,000
8. Indonesia 1,900,000 6,000,000 7,900,000
9. India 3,200,000 5,700,000 8,900,000
10. New Zealand 300,000 5,500,000 5,800,000
An estimated 50–80% of all life on earth is found under the ocean sur-
face and the oceans contain 99% of the living space on the planet. Eighty-five
percent of the area and 90% of the volume constitute the dark, cold environ-
ment we call the deep sea. The average depth of the ocean is 3,795 meters.
The average height of the land is 840 meters. The oceans contain 97% of
the Earth’s water. Less than 1% is fresh water, and 2–3% is contained in
glaciers and ice caps (and is decreasing).
The speed of sound in water is 1,435m/sec—nearly five times faster than
the speed of sound in air. The highest tides in the world are at the Bay of
Fundy, which separates New Brunswick from Nova Scotia. At some times of
the year the difference between high and low tide is 16.3 meters, taller than
a three-story building. Earth’s longest mountain range is the Mid-Ocean
Ridge more than 50,000km in length, which winds around the globe from
the Arctic Ocean to the Atlantic, skirting Africa, Asia, and Australia, and
crossing the Pacific to the west coast of North America. It is four times lon-
ger than the Andes, Rockies, and Himalayas combined. The pressure at the
deepest point in the ocean is more than 11,318 tons/sq meter.
The largest recorded tsunami measured 60 meters above sea level,
caused by an 8.9 magnitude earthquake in the Gulf of Alaska in 1899 trav-
eling at hundreds of km/hr.
The average depth of the Atlantic Ocean, with its adjacent seas, is
3,332 meters; without them it is 3,926 meters. The greatest depth, 8,381
meters, is in the Puerto Rico Trench. The Pacific Ocean, the world’s larg-
est water body, occupies a third of the Earth’s surface. The Pacific contains
about 25,000 islands (more than the total number in the rest of the world’s
ocean combined), almost all of which are found south of the equator. The
Pacific covers an area of 179.7 million sq km. The Kuroshio Current, off
the shores of Japan, is the largest current. It can travel between 40–121
km/day at 1.6–4.8 km/hr, and extends some 1,006 meters deep. The Gulf
Stream is close to this current’s speed. The Gulf Stream is a well-known

current of warm water in the Atlantic Ocean. At a speed of 97km/day,

the Gulf Stream moves a hundred times as much water as all the rivers
on earth and flows at a rate 300 times faster than Amazon, which is the
world’s largest river.
Earth’s oceans are unique in the universe—as far as we know: Earth is

the only known planet or moon to have large bodies of liquid water on
its surface. Our planet lies in the “Goldilocks” zone—not too hot, not
too cold, and with enough atmospheric pressure to prevent liquid surface
water from evaporating into space. Although we don’t yet know of any
other planets or moons with liquid water oceans, it’s likely that they do
exist and we just haven’t found them. In our own solar system, there is
growing evidence that the planet Mars may have liquid water not on the
surface but underground. There is also strong evidence that liquid oceans
may be hidden beneath the thick icy surfaces of three of Jupiter’s moons
(Europa, Callisto, and Ganymede) and two of Saturn’s moons (Titan and
Enceladus).
For every species of marine life we know of, at least another three
are yet to be discovered: Our oceans teem with life ranging from the
blue whale—the biggest animal on Earth—to tiny microbes. But nobody
knows exactly how many different species live in this environment. There
is no data for around 20% of the ocean’s volume. The Census of M arine
Life, a 10-year international project to identify life in our oceans, found
nearly 250,000 species. But scientists believe a least a million species
of marine life could be out there, and that’s not counting the tens or
even hundreds of millions of kinds of microbes that make up the ma-
jority of marine life. What we do know is that ocean life survives in the
most extreme environments. Scientists have found life that can survive in
temperatures that melt lead, where seawater freezes into ice, or there’s
no light or oxygen. In fact, the dark ocean zone between 1,000 and
5,000 meters known as the abyssal zone has a far greater range of marine
life than we once thought.
Water takes around 1,000 years to travel all the way around the whole
globe: The oceans not only have waves, tides, and surface currents—they
also have a constantly moving system of deep-ocean circulation driven
by temperature and salinity. Known as the global ocean conveyor belt or
thermohaline current (thermo = temperature, haline = salinity), this deep
ocean current gets one of its starts in the polar region near Norway. As sea

ice forms, the water left behind becomes saltier and denser and begins to
sink, making room for warmer and less dense incoming surface water, which
in turn eventually becomes cold and salty enough to sink. The cold dense
water flows along the ocean bottom all the way from the Northern Hemi-
sphere to the Southern Ocean, where it merges with more cold dense water
from Antarctica and is swept into the Indian and Pacific Oceans as shown in
below figure. Eventually it mixes with warmer water and rises to the surface
before finding its way back to the Atlantic. It can take 1,000 years to com-
plete this cycle.
Half of all the oxygen we breathe is produced in the ocean: Some of this
oxygen is produced by sea weeds and sea grasses, but the vast majority of
the oxygen is produced by phytoplankton, microscopic single-celled organ-
isms that have the ability to photosynthesize. These tiny creatures live in
the surface layer of the ocean (and in lakes and rivers) and form the very
base of the aquatic food chain. During photosynthesis, phytoplankton re-
moves carbon dioxide from sea water and release oxygen. The carbon be-
comes part of their bodies.
Oceans hold around 50 times more carbon than the atmosphere
Cold water can dissolve much more CO2 than warm water, so the cold
polar regions are net absorbers of CO2. But as the cold water finds its way
to warmer tropical areas, the oceans release CO2 back into the atmosphere.
The equatorial Pacific is thought to be the biggest single natural source of

The quick carbon cycle
The ocean absorbs Phototsynthesis absorbs CO2

and releases CO2 respiration releases CO2
Burning fossil fuels
and clearing land
releases CO2
CO2 in the atmosphere. Most of this carbon is exchanged with the atmo-
sphere on a timescale of several hundred years.
Prior to the industrial revolution, the uptake and release of CO2 on land
and ocean was in a dynamic equilibrium. Since then, the oceans are thought
to have absorbed about half of the carbon dioxide released from the burn-
ing of fossil fuels, with the rest remaining in the atmosphere.
1. What are the two different types of optical properties of sea water?
2. What are the wavelengths that light absorbs highly?
3. What is Raman scattering by water?
4. is an instrument capable of measuring the absorbance or
transmittance of a sample at a selected wavelength.
5. What is the software used to measure relative and absolute irradiance?
6. software is used with fluorescent pH and dissolved
oxygen probes.

1. What is important about case 2 waters?

2. Write the properties of case 1 water.
3. What are inherent optical properties?
4. What is meant by apparent optical properties?
5. Write about the light effect on non-algal particles.
6. What is scattering and backscattering?
7. Describe the method to solve forward problem.
8. Write about the atmospheric correction problem.
9. Write a note on spectrometers.
10. Write about the ocean optics visible spectrophotometer.
1. Write the optical constituents of sea water.

2. Explain the absorption, scattering, and fluorescence by phytoplankton.
3. What are the effects of optic properties on CDOM?
4. In detail, write about the retrieval of oceanic constituents from ocean
color measurements at sea level.
5. Describe the operation of ocean optics dip probe spectrometers.
WEB LINKS
http://www.oceanopticsbook.info/

APPENDIX
I
INDIAN SATELLITES FOR
OCEAN MONITORING
Satellite Launch date Remarks

IRS-1A 17 March 1988 Earth observation satellite. First opera-
tional remote sensing satellite.
IRS-1B 29 August 1991 Earth observation satellite. Improved
version of IRS-1A.
IRS-P2 15 October 1994 Earth observation satellite. Launched
by second developmental flight of
PSLV. Mission accomplished after three
years of service in 1997.
IRS-1C 29 December 1995 Earth observation satellite. Launched
from Baikonur Cosmodrome.
IRS-P3 21 March 1996 Earth observation satellite. Carries
remote sensing payload and an X-ray
astronomy payload. Launched by third
developmental flight of PSLV.
IRS-1D 29 September 1997 Earth observation satellite. Same as
IRS-1C.
Continued
Ocean Electronics_Appendix-I.indd 415 12/09/17 10:37 AM


Oceansat-1 26 May 1999 Earth observation satellite. Carries an
(IRS-P4) Ocean Color Monitor (OCM) and a
Multi-frequency Scanning Microwave
Radiometer (MSMR).
RESOURCESAT-1 17 October 2003 Earth observation/remote sensing
(IRS-P6) satellite. Intended to supplement and
replace IRS-1C and IRS-1D.
CARTOSAT-1 5 May 2005 Earth observation satellite. Provides
stereographic in-orbit images with a
2.5-meter resolution.
CARTOSAT-2 10 January 2007 Advanced remote sensing satellite car-
rying a panchromatic camera capable of
providing scene-specific spot images.
CARTOSAT-2A 28 April 2008 Earth observation/remote sensing satel-
lite. Identical to CARTOSAT-2.
Oceansat-2 23 September Gathers data for oceanographic, coastal
(IRS-P4) 2009 and atmospheric applications. Contin-
ues mission of Oceansat-1.
CARTOSAT-2B 12 July 2010 Earth observation/remote sensing satel-
lite. Identical to CARTOSAT-2A.
RESOURCESAT-2 20 April 2011 RESOURCESAT-2, ISRO’s eighteenth
remote-sensing satellite, followed
RESOURCESAT-1. PSLV-C16 placed
three spacecraft with a total payload mass
of 1404 kg—RESOURCESAT-2 weigh-
ing 1206 kg, the Indo-Russian YOUTH-
SAT weighing 92 kg and Singapore’s
X-SAT weighing 106 kg—into an 822 km
polar Sun Synchronous Orbit (SSO).
RISAT-1 26 April 2012 RISAT-1, first indigenous all-weather
Radar Imaging Satellite (RISAT-1), whose
images will facilitate agriculture and disas-
ter management weighs about 1858 kg.
SARAL 25 February 2013 SARAL (Satellite with ARGOS and AL-
TIKA) is a joint Indo-French satellite
mission for oceanographic studies.
Continued

Appendix I • 417

IRNSS-1A 1 July 2013 IRNSS-1A is the first satellite in the
Indian Regional Navigation Satellite
System (IRNSS). It is one of the seven
spacecraft constituting the IRNSS
space segment.
IRNSS-1B 4 April 2014 IRNSS-1B is the second satellite in
the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite
System (IRNSS).
IRNSS-1C 10 November 2014 IRNSS-1C is the third satellite in the
Indian Regional Navigation Satellite
System (IRNSS).
IRNSS-1D 28 March 2015 IRNSS-1D is the fourth satellite in
the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite
System (IRNSS).
TABLE A1.1 Indian Satellites Monitoring the Ocean
Indian Remote Sensing satellites (IRS) are a series of Earth Observa-

tion satellites, built, launched and maintained by Indian Space Research
Organisation. The IRS series provides many remote sensing services
to India. Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) is a satellite program to support
the national economy in the areas of water resources, forestry and ecol-
ogy, geology, water sheds, marine fisheries, and coastal management.
IRS system is the largest constellation of remote sensing satellites for
civilian use in operation today in the world, with 12 operational satel-
lites. All these are placed in polar Sun-synchronous orbit and provide
data in a variety of spatial, spectral, and temporal resolutions. The Indian
Remote Sensing Program completed 25 years of successful operations on
March 17, 2013.
Data from Indian Remote Sensing satellites are used for various appli-
cations of resources survey and management under the National Natural
Resources Management System (NNRMS). Following is the list of those
applications:
■■ Space Based Inputs for Decentralized Planning (SIS-DP)
■■ National Urban Information System (NUIS)
■■ ISRO Disaster Management Support Program (ISRO-DMSP)
■■ Biodiversity Characterizations at landscape level

■■ Preharvest crop area and production estimation of major crops

■■ Drought monitoring and assessment based on vegetation conditions
■■ Flood risk zone mapping and flood damage assessment
■■ Hydro-geomorphological maps for locating underground water resourc-
es for drilling wells
■■ Irrigation command area status monitoring
■■ Snow-melt run-off estimates for planning water use in downstream
projects
■■ Land use and land cover mapping
■■ Urban planning
■■ Forest survey
■■ Wetland mapping
■■ Environmental impact analysis
■■ Mineral prospecting
■■ Coastal studies
■■ Integrated Mission for Sustainable Development (initiated in 1992) for
generating locale-specific prescriptions for integrated land and water
resources development in 174 districts.
The initial versions are composed of the 1 (A, B, C, D). The later ver-
sions are named based on their area of application, including OceanSat,
CartoSat, and ResourceSat. Some of the satellites have alternate des-
ignations based on the launch number and vehicle (P series for PSLV).
Data from IRS are available to its users through NRSC Data Centre and
through Bhuvan Geoportal of ISRO. NRSC data center provide data
through its purchase process while Bhuvan Geoportal provides data in
free and open domain.
IRS Launch Plans

RESOURCESAT-3: Resourcesat-3 will carry more advanced LISS-III-WS
(Wide Swath) Sensor having similar swath of RESOURCESAT-2 and re-
visit capability as advanced wide field sensor (AWiFS), thus overcoming

Appendix I • 419
any spatial resolution limitation of AWiFS. Satellite would also carry atmo-
spheric correction sensor (ACS) for quantitative interpretation and geo-
physical parameter retrieval.
CARTOSAT-3: A continuation of Cartosat series, it will have a resolution

30 cm and 6 km swath suitable for cadastre and infrastructure mapping and
analysis. It would also enhance disaster monitoring and damage assessment.
OCEANSAT-3: Oceansat-3 would carry thermal IR sensor, 12 channels

ocean color monitor, scatterometer, and passive microwave radiometer. IR
sensor and ocean color monitor would be used in the analysis for operational
potential fishing zones. Satellite is mainly for ocean biology and sea state ap-
plications. The National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) at Hyderabad is
the nodal agency for reception, archival, processing, and dissemination of
remote sensing data in the country. NRSC acquires and processes data
from all Indian remote sensing satellites like Cartosat-1, Cartosat-2, Re-
sourcesat-1, IRS-1D, Oceansat-1, and Technology Experiment Satellite as
well as foreign satellites like Terra, NOAA, and ERS.
Ocean color monitor (OCM) on Indian Remote Sensing Satellite

IRS-P4: IRS-P4 is the first Indian satellite envisaged to meet the data
requirements of the oceanographic community. The payload to be flown
on-board IRS-P4 are: (a) OCM (Ocean Color Monitor) operating in eight
narrow spectral bands in the visible/near-infrared region of the electromag-
netic spectrum and with high revisit time (2 days), and (b) MSMR (multi-
frequency scanning microwave radiometer) operating in microwave bands
6.6, 10.65, 18, and 21 GHz in dual polarization mode. The multi-frequency
scanning microwave radiometer is envisaged to provide information on
physical oceanographic parameters such as sea surface temperature, wind
speed and atmospheric water vapor. The IRS-P4 spacecraft will be a polar
orbiting satellite in sun synchronous orbit with nominal altitude of 720 km,
providing revisit time of 2 days for OCM. The main features of the OCM
instrument are outlined in Table A1.2.
The OCM is the first instrument to take advantage of pushbroom tech-
nology for achieving higher radiometric performance and higher spatial
resolution while maintaining a large swath to provide high revisit time for
ocean observations. Unlike SeaWiFS or OCTS, the instrument does not
have common collecting optics coupled to a scan mechanism for realiz-
ing the wide swath. The instrument design is an extension of the imaging

Parameter Specification
1. IGFOV at nominal
360 × 250
altitude (m)
2. Swath (km) >1420
3. No. of spectral bands 8
4. Spectral range (nm) 402–885
Central wavelength Saturation radiance
5. Spectral band
(bandwidth) in nm (mw cm-2 sr-1 µm-1)
C1 414 (20) 35.5
C2 442 (20) 28.5
C3 489 (20) 22.8
C4 512 (20) 25.7
C5 557 (20) 22.4
C6 670 (20) 18.1
C7 768 (40) 9.0
C8 867 (40) 17.2
6. Quantization bits 12
7. Camera MTF
>0.2
(at Nyquist frequency)
8. Data rate (Mbits s-1) 20.8
Along Track Steering +20, 0, 20
TABLE A1.2 OCM Instrument Features
concept adopted for IRS LISS payloads. The instrument has separate wide
angle optics and a linear array CCD detector for each of the eight spectral
channels. Individual and separate chains for each of the channels enables
optimization of the performance of one channel without interdependence
and hence the need to compromise the performance of other channels. The
issue of spectral response variation with large incidence angles is overcome
by the choice of telecentric design and use of a spectral selection filter
close to the linear array detector. The pushbroom approach has enabled
the use of a 12 bit digitizer to cover the instruments dynamic range. The

Appendix I • 421
instantaneous geometric field of view of the pixel is 360 meters across

track and the sampling interval along track is 250 meters. The instrument
is mounted on a mechanism to provide tilt in the along track direction to
avoid sun glint.
The spectral bands for IRS-P4 OCM have been selected mindful of the
optical properties of phytoplankton pigments (principally chlorophyll-a),
inorganic suspended matter, and yellow substance, and the requirements
of spectral bands for atmospheric correction. The first spectral band cen-
tered at 414 nm is selected primarily for discriminating Gelbstoffe or yellow
substance from viable phytoplankton pigment. The band at 443 nm is close
to the absorption maximum of chlorophyll, which is centered at approxi-
mately 435 nm, but it has been selected because its location minimizes
interference from a Fraunhoffer absorption line at 435 nm. This band is
used along with the 557 nm band for determining color boundaries, low
chlorophyll concentrations, and diffuse attenuation coefficient. The third
band, at 489 nm, along with a fourth channel at 512 nm would allow the use
of multi-band spectral curvature algorithms and other second derivative
algorithms to be applied to derive chlorophyll concentrations in coastal or
Case-II waters. The 512 nm band along with a 557 nm channel would also
be useful in deriving higher chlorophyll concentrations in Case 1 waters.
The spectral band at 557 nm is used as a hinge point for determining chlo-
rophyll concentration and water optical properties such as diffuse attenu-
ation coefficient. The band at 670 nm is sensitive to backscattering from
suspended matter in coastal waters, and is useful in quantifying suspended
matter along with the channel at 557 nm. The spectral bands at 768 nm and
867 nm are used in atmospheric correction procedures.
The OCM instrument mounted on IRS-P4 launched by PSLV and
placed in a polar sun synchronous 720 kilometer altitude orbit. Equatorial
crossing is at 12 noon ±20 min, descending node. The satellite has provision
for data recording onboard and will also transmit real time data to ground
stations in X band. The ground station at Hyderabad, India will acquire data
over the Indian subcontinent and the adjacent Arabian Sea and the Bay of
Bengal. IRS-P4 OCM data may also be acquired by other ground stations
with suitable augmentation / modification.
The IRS-P4 OCM data would be extremely useful for estimation of
phytoplankton in oceanic/coastal waters, detection and monitoring of phy-
toplankton blooms, coastal upwelling, suspended sediment dynamics, loca-
tion of fronts, identification of water mass boundaries, and oil pollution.

With additional input from other sensors as well as conventional data,

IRS-P4 OCM data will provide detailed information on the coastal region
owing to its increased spatial resolution. The information on pigments, in
conjunction with sea surface temperature, will greatly assist in identifica-
tion of potential fishery zones in coastal and oceanic waters. The potential
end users of the OCM data products include fisheries management, marine
industries, environmental management, and studies related to the estima-
tion of primary productivity in the oceanic basins. IRS-P4 OCM, along with
other ocean color sensors such as IRS-P3 MOS, SeaWiFS, MERIS and
MODIS will assist the ocean color community in filling data gaps, and can
also be used for the inter-calibration of different ocean color sensors.
Ocean monitor satellite launched by India: India’s workhorse Polar Sat-

ellite Launch Vehicle lifted seven satellites into orbit, bolstering global
ocean research, space surveillance, and taking miniature technology to new
heights. The mission’s seven payloads were deployed in orbit 490 miles
above Earth in less than 22 minutes, wrapping up the PSLV’s 23rd mission
and its 19th success in a row. Among the rocket’s passengers: the first aster-
oid-hunting satellite, a French-Indian ocean research craft, a small space-
craft built around a smartphone, a Canadian space surveillance satellite,
two Austrian mini-telescopes, and a CubeSat built by students in Denmark.
The 900-pound SARAL satellite, equipped with a Ka-band altimeter to
measure the height of ocean waves, separated first from the Indian booster
and unfurled its solar panels moments later. Jointly developed by France
and India, the SARAL mission will bounce radar waves off ocean and ice
surfaces to measure topography, pulling back the curtain on ocean circula-
tion and giving scientists insights into its role in global climate.
The radar signal will measure the height of waves with an accuracy of
just a few inches, a feat similar to measuring the thickness of paper lying
on the ground from the top of a skyscraper, according to scientists. SARAL
joins the U.S.-French Jason 2 satellite, which also measures ocean topog-
raphy from orbit. And SARAL’s high-frequency Ka-band radar offers twice
the spatial resolution of Jason 2’s altimeter, giving researchers better data in
coastal zones. SARAL will collect data over ice sheets. Sea-surface terrain
can be used to chart currents, water temperatures, tides, and ocean eddies.
Forecasters use ocean topography data in computer models predicting
weather and climate on time scales ranging from a few days to more than
a year. SARAL also carries a communications package named ARGOS to

Appendix I • 423
collect observations from a network of ocean buoys and ground stations

providing in situ data on wave height, period, water and air temperature,
and other conditions.
Oceansat-2: Oceansat-2 is an Indian satellite designed to provide service

continuity for operational users of the Ocean Color Monitor (OCM) instru-
ment on Oceansat-1. It will also enhance the potential of applications in
other areas. The main objectives of OceanSat-2 are to study surface winds
and ocean surface strata, observation of chlorophyll concentrations, moni-
toring of phytoplankton blooms, study of atmospheric aerosols, and sus-
pended sediments in the water.
Oceansat-2 is ISRO’s second in the series of Indian Remote Sensing
satellites dedicated to ocean research, and will provide continuity to the
applications of Oceansat-1 (launched in 1999). Oceansat-2 will carry three
payloads including an Ocean Color Monitor (OCM-2), similar to the device
carried on Oceansat-1. Data from all instruments will be made available to
the global scientific. Oceansat-2 was launched from Satish Dhawan Space
Centre on 23 September 2009 using PSLV-C14 .The mission objectives of
Oceansat-2 are to gather systematic data for oceanographic, coastal, and
atmospheric applications.
Oceansat-2 will carry two payloads for ocean related studies, namely,
the Ocean Color Monitor (OCM) and Ku-band pencil beam scatterometer.
An additional piggy-back payload called ROSA (radio occultation sounder
for atmospheric studies) developed by the Italian Space Agency (ASI) is
also included. The major applications of data from Oceansat-2 are identifi-
cation of potential fishing zones, sea state forecasting, coastal zone studies,
and inputs for weather forecasting and climatic studies. The scientific pay-
load contains three instruments. Two are Indian and one is from the Italian
Space Agency.
■■ Ocean Color Monitor (OCM) is an 8-band multi-spectral camera
operating in the visible–near IR spectral range. This camera provides
an instantaneous geometric field of view of 360 meter and a swath of
1420 km. OCM can be tilted up to + 20 degree along track.
■■ Scanning Scatterometer (SCAT) is an active microwave device designed
and developed at ISRO/SAC, Ahmedabad. It will be used to determine
ocean surface level wind vectors through estimation of radar backscat-
ter. The scatterometer system has a 1-meter parabolic dish antenna

and a dual feed assembly to generate two pencil beams and is scanned
at a rate of 20.5 rpm to cover the entire swath. The Ku-band pencil
beam scatterometer is active microwave radar operating at 13.515 GHz
providing a ground resolution cell of 50 x 50 km. It consists of a parabol-
ic dish antenna of 1-meter diameter which is offset mounted with a cant
angle of about 46° with respect to the Earth viewing axis. This antenna is
continuously rotated at 20.5 rpm using a scan mechanism with the scan
axis along the +ve Yaw axis. By using two offset feeds at the focal plane
of the antenna, two beams are generated which will conically scan the
ground surface. The back scattered power in each beam from the ocean
surface is measured to derive wind vector. It is an improved version of
the one on Oceansat-1. The inner beam makes an incidence angle of
48.90° and the outer beam makes an incidence angle of 57.60° on the
ground. It covers a continuous swath of 1400 km for inner beam and
1840 km for outer beam respectively. The inner and outer beams are
configured in horizontal and vertical polarization respectively for both
transmit and receive modes. The aim is to provide global ocean coverage
and wind vector retrieval with a revisit time of 2 days.
■■ Radio occultation sounder for atmospheric studies (ROSA) is a
new GPS occultation receiver provided by ASI (Italian Space Agency).
The objective is to characterize the lower atmosphere and the iono-
sphere, opening the possibilities for the development of several scien-
tific activities exploiting these new radio occultation data sets.
An India Space Research Organization PSLV rocket (Polar Satel-

lite Launch Vehicle) launched seven satellites from the Satish Dhawan
Space Centre in Sriharikota, India, on Feb. 25, 2013. The rocket carried
an ocean-monitoring satellite for India, two tiny space telescopes and an
asteroid-hunting spacecraft built by the Canadian Space Agency among its
payloads.
The ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization) spacecraft OceanSat-2
is envisaged to provide service continuity for the operational users of OCM
(Ocean Color Monitor) data as well as to enhance the application potential
in other areas. OCM is flown on IRS-P4/OceanSat-1, launched May 26,
1999. The main objectives of OceanSat-2 are to study surface winds and
ocean surface strata, observation of chlorophyll concentrations, monitoring
of phytoplankton blooms, study of atmospheric aerosols, and suspended
sediments in the water.

Appendix I • 425
RU
OPC
SCAT ANT. ROSA ANT.
OCM
4 pi SENSOR
TTC ANT
DTH ANT.
ES 10
+R SOLAR PANEL.
+P
+Y
FIGURE A1.1 Oceansat-2.
Coverage of applications:
■■ Sea-state forecast: waves, circulation, and ocean MLD (mixed layer
depth)
■■ Monsoon and cyclone forecast—medium and extended range
■■ Observation of Antarctic sea ice
■■ Fisheries and primary production estimation
■■ Detection and monitoring of phytoplankton blooms
■■ Study of sediment dynamics
Spacecraft: OceanSat-2 is a three-axis stabilized spacecraft config-

ured around the proven IRS bus along with improved mission specific
subsystem designs. The main structure is made up of a CFRP (carbon
fiber reinforced plastic) composite cylinder with a PSLV interface

ring. Three deployment mechanisms are included: 1) solar panel auto
deployment after separation from the launcher, 2) OCM hold down
release tilt mechanism, and 3) OSCAT antenna hold down release

mechanism. The thermal design of the spacecraft employs both passive

and active control elements.
The EPS (electrical power subsystem) uses two solar arrays with silicon
cells, the size of the arrays is identical to those of IRS-P6/P5. A power stor-
age capacity of 24 Ah is provided by 2 NiCd batteries for eclipse operations.
All onboard subsystems are supplied with two raw buses of 28–42 V, and
DC-DC converters are used to derive required voltage lines. A central-
ized BMU (bus management unit), designed with a MAR31750 micropro-
cessor, provides the service functions for AOCS (attitude and orbit control
subsystem), sensor processing, TT&C (telemetry, tracking, & command),
auto-temperature control, and for PSK demodulation of the TT&C uplink
carrier. Attitude sensing is provided by Earth horizon sensors, digital
sun sensors, tri-axial magnetometers, sun sensors with a FOV of 4π, and
a gyroscope-based inertial reference unit. Actuation is provided by four
reaction wheels (5 Nms, 0.1 Nm) mounted in a tetrahedral configuration,
two magnetic torquer coils, and monopropellant hydrazine thrusters. An
8-channel SPS (standard positioning service) GPS receiver provides both
position and velocity, improving the overall orbit determination accuracy.
The payload data handling system is a new design; it is configured
to transmit OCM and scatterometer data on a single carrier with QPSK
modulation. The OCM data will be transmitted on the I-channel, while the
OSCAT/ROSA data will be transmitted on the Q-channel. An indigenous
onboard SSR (solid-state recorder) of 64 Gbit capacity is used to record the
processed data of OSCAT and ROSA continuously; the OCM data is being
recorded per requirement.
RF communications: The payload telemetry data transmission system
is configured using SSPAs (solid state power amplifier) with a conventional
X-band antenna. In addition, there is a TT&C subsystem in S-band for
spacecraft control. The ground segment elements for OceanSat-2 include
the SCC (spacecraft control center) at ISTRAC (ISRO Telemetry, Track-
ing and Command Network), Bangalore; the payload data reception station
at NRSA (National Remote Sensing Agency) Shadnagar; data processing,
data product generation and dissemination to users at NRSA, Balanagar,
Hyderabad; data product software development at SAC (Space Application
Center), Ahmedabad; and development of mission software, flight dynam-
ics software and mission management at ISAC (ISRO Satellite Center),
Bangalore, India.

Appendix I • 427
Spacecraft bus CFRP: Al honeycomb sandwich cylinder with Al honey-

structure comb panels
Thermal system Passive/semi-active thermal control with paints,
blankets, OSRs and closed-looped auto temperature
controllers
Thermal control - Payloads: 15 ± 2ºC for OCM, 5 - 45ºC for OSCAT
- Battery: 5 ± 5ºC
- Electronics: 0 to 40ºC
Mechanisms - Solar panel deployment
- OCM hold down and release & OCM tilt
- OSCAT antenna hold down & release
EPS (Electrical - Solar panels: 3 on either side of S/C, sun tracking,
Power Subsys- area = 15.12 m2
tem) - Power: 1360 W, EOL, oriented normal to sun
- Battery: 2 × 24 Ah NiCd batteries
- Electronics: Two raw buses (28–42 V)
AOCS: - Sensors: Earth sensors, sun sensors, magnetometers, sun
Pointing accuracy sensors, IRU
Location accuracy - Actuators: Reaction wheels, magnetic torques, reaction
Drift rate control thrusters
- ±0.10º (pitch & roll), ±0.15º (yaw)
- 100-150 m (using SPS in autonomous mode)
- < 3.0 × 10-4 º/s
Data Handling - Data rate: 42.4515 Mbit/s
Subsystem - RF communications: QPSK modulated transmitter
- X band frequency: 8300 MHz
TT&C Subsystem - Uplink: PCM/PSK/PM modulation, 4 kbit/s, time tag
command facility
- Downlink: PCM/PSK/PM modulation, 4 kbit/s (real
time); 16 kbit/s (playback)
- Transponder: Uplink frequency = 2071.875 MHz,
downlink = 2250 MHSz
pacecraft mass, 970 kg,
design life 5 years
TABLE A1.3 Overview of Spacecraft Parameters.

Orbit: Sun-synchronous near circular orbit, altitude ~720 km, inclination

= 98.28º, period = 99.31 min, the LTAN (local time on ascending node) is at
12:00 hours ±10 minutes, revisit cycle of 2 days. The OceanSat-2 tracking
system is S-band tone ranging from ISTRAC (ISRO Telemetry Tracking
and Command Network) ground stations. The ranging system is CORTEX.
Tracking measurements are two-way range, Doppler, and angles (azimuth
and elevation).
FIGURE A1.2 Assessing Haiyan’s Winds with OSCAT on OceanSat-2.

Appendix I • 429
On November 6, 2013, the OSCAT instrument of OceanSat-2 mea-

sured Haiyan’s surface winds as shown in Figure A1.3. The arrows indicate
wind direction while the colors indicate wind speed, with darker shades of
purple indicating stronger winds (the strongest ones are shown in red). As is
typical of cyclones in the Northern Hemisphere, the area of strongest winds
was northeast of the storm center.
40
38 60
36
wind speed (miles per hour)

50
34
Latitude(degrees)
40
32
30
30
28 20
26
10
24
−88 −86 −84 −82 −80 −78 −76 −74 −72
Langitude (Degrees)
FIGURE A1.3 NASA-ISRO OSCAT image shows Irene’s winds before landfall on Aug. 27, 2011.
The satellite image of Hurricane Irene (Figure A1.3), showing the

storm’s ocean surface wind speed and direction, was acquired at 1:07 a.m.
EDT on Aug. 27, 2011, approximately six hours before it hit the North Car-
olina coast. The data are provided courtesy of the Indian Space Research
Organization (ISRO) from the OSCAT instrument on ISRO’s OceanSat 2
spacecraft, launched in September 2009. Wind vector data processing was
performed at NASA/JPL, Pasadena, CA. The OSCAT winds are obtained
at a resolution of 25 km × 25 km and do not resolve the hurricane’s maxi-
mum wind speeds, which occur at much finer scales. All three payloads on

board the OceanSat-2 have been successfully turned on providing good

quality data, as shown in Figure A1.4.
FIGURE 11.4 OCM-2 image of phytoplankton bloom in the Arabian Sea and OCM-2LAC data.
Sensor complement: (OCM-2, OSCAT, ROSA) OCM-2 (Ocean Color

Monitor-2):
OCM-2 is an improved version of the one flown on OceanSat-1. OCM-2
is a solid-state radiometer providing observations in eight spectral bands in
the VNIR region. The instrument employs pushbroom scanning technology
with linear CCD detector arrays (191 6K CCD) of 6,000 elements (3,730
active detectors in the center are used to cover the image field, the rest are
used to correct for dark current). A swath width of 1,420 km is provided. An
along track instrument tilt capability of ±20º is provided to avoid sun glint.
OCM optics is based on one lens per band (wide angle telecentric lens design,
refractive system). The ground resolution is 360 meters in the along-track and
236 meters in the cross-track direction. The processing electronics consists
of a video processor, timing logic, and interface circuits. An onboard calibra-
tion scheme, using light emitting diodes (LEDs) mounted near each CCD,
is incorporated to study long-term stability of the radiometric performance.

Appendix I • 431
Two modes in ground resolution are supported:

LAC (Local Area Coverage): 360 m (cross-track) × 236 m (along-track)
GAC (Global Area Coverage): 1 km
Parameter Value Parameter Value

Spectral range 0.4 - 0.9 µm SNR > 512 (saturation)
(8 bands) (VNIR)
Scan plane tilt ±20º, to avoid sun Effective focal 20 mm
glitter length
Camera MTF >20% at Nyquist Absolute radio- < 10%
frequency metric accuracy
IFOV at nadir LAC: No of CCD 6000
(spatial resolution) 360 m × 236 m elements
GAC: 1 km
FOV (swath) 1420 km (±43º) CCD element size 10 µm × 7 µm
Tilt capability ±20º along track Integration time 52.4 ms
Data quantization 12 bit Exposure levels 16
(gain)
Data rate (real- 20.8 Mbit/s Onboard calibra- 2 LEDs per band
time) tion
Instrument mass 78 kg Instrument power 134 W
TABLE 11.4 Specification of the OCM Instrument
The configuration of the OCM payload is identical to the one flown in

IRS-P4 (OceanSat-1) except that the spectral band is modified for band 6
and band 7. For band 6, the center wavelength is shifted from 670 nm to
620 nm to improve the reflectance from suspended sediments; for band 7,
the center wavelength is shifted from 760 nm to 740 nm to avoid oxygen
absorption. However, the bandwidth remains same in both cases.
OSCAT (OceanSat-2 Scanning Scatterometer): OSCAT is an active mi-

crowave device designed and developed at ISRO/SAC, Ahmedabad. The
objective is to monitor ocean surface wind speed and directions. The instru-
ment is a pencil beam wind scatterometer operating at Ku-band of 13.515
GHz. OSCAT is being utilized for the estimation of the radar backscattered

power and subsequent local and global wind vector (velocity magnitude and
direction) retrieval over the ocean, from the normalized radar cross-section
(σo), for cell resolution grids of 25 × 25 km over a swath of 1400 km. The
aim is to provide global ocean coverage and wind vector retrieval with a
revisit time of 2 days.
The scanning configuration of OSCAT, similar in design to Seawinds
of NASA, offers the advantages like simpler onboard payload, better radar
backscatter cross section (σo) measurement and directional accuracy, con-
tinuous and wider swath with no nadir gaps, less complex signal processing
and reduced data rates, smaller and lighter onboard instrument and sim-
plified wind retrieval model compared to conventional multiple fan beam
scatterometers.
The OSCAT onboard processing requirements are:
■■ Digital IQ demodulation and decimation
■■ Doppler shift computation for received return echo
■■ Doppler frequency compensation
■■ Reference chirp generation and de-chirping of echo returns
■■ Multiple 1 K complex FFTs of the de-chirped data
■■ Binning for estimation of signal+noise energy for every pulse
■■ Noise filtering and binning for noise-only estimation for every pulse
■■ Formatting of processed and payload and spacecraft auxiliary data
■■ Optional formatting and transmission of sensor raw data for selected
acquisitions over Indian visibility regions.
The OSCAT payload design includes many new elements; it consists of

an antenna, rotary joint, scan mechanism and switch assembly, transmitter,
receiver, frequency generator, internal calibration unit, and digital subsys-
tems, that is to say: DCG (digital chirp generator), DACS (data acquisition
and compression subsystem), and payload controller. the frequency genera-
tor provides coherent reference frequencies for other onboard units and
generates LFM (linear frequency modulated) pulses for transmission.
The OSCAT parabolic dish antenna has a diameter of 1 meter, which
is offset-mounted with a cant angle of 46º with respect to the yaw axis
(earth viewing axis). The antenna is continuously rotated at 20.5 rpm

Appendix I • 433
Digitized signal
(250 MHz Pre computed Fdc from payload controller
/62.5MHz
sampling)
Digital IQ Doppler Deramping Multiple 1K

demodulation frequency & match complex FFT Non-Coherent
& Resampling compensation filtering (7 CFFT’s) integration
@ 31.25 MHz
Serial data
Clock @ 31.25 MHz

Binning &
Formatter
Data valid
To BDM
FIGURE A1.5 Onboard signal processor implementation of OSCAT.
using a DC motor with the scan axis along the +velocity yaw axis. By using
two offset feeds at the focal plane of the antenna, two beams (inner beam
and outer beam) are being generated which scan the ground surface in a
conical fashion.
The antenna consisting of two off-axis near prime focus feeds along
with a 1-meter paraboloid reflector creates inner and outer beams, which
operate in an interleaved manner with an effective PRF (pulse repetition
frequency) of 100 Hz each. The antenna, is conically scanned about the pos-
itive yaw axis at 20.5 rpm, by an appropriate scan mechanism. The received
signal is amplified and down converted to generate the IF signal. This IF
received signal from the receiver is fed to the onboard digital system for
subsequent digitization, digital I/Q demodulation, and signal processing.
The raw and processed data are fed to the spacecraft data handling unit for
ground transmission.
The two pencil beams, inner and outer, result in a constant angle of
incidence for both beams; this allows σo measurements at multiple (4 or 2)
azimuth angles for the same point on the ocean surface. Each point in the
inner swath is viewed twice at different azimuth angles by both beams. The
region between the inner and outer swath is subjected to two measurements
by only the outer beam, and the wind vector there can only be determined
with a directional ambiguity of 180º.

Parameter Inner beam Outer beam

Orbiting altitude 720 km
Frequency 13.515 GHz (Ku-band)
4-24 m/s with accuracy of
Wind speed range
2 m/s (rms)
Wind speed accuracy Better than 20 % (rms)
Wind direction accuracy 20º (rms)
Resolution 50 km × 50 km
Polarization HH VV
Swath width 1400 km 1840 km
Scanning circle radius 700 km 920 km
Elevation angle (look angle) 42.62º 49.38º
Incidence angle 48.90º 57.60º
Footprint 26 × 46 Km 31 × 65 Km
Scanning rate 20.5 rpm
TABLE A1.5 Specification of the OSCAT Instrument
Due to the very low receiver bandwidth of ±800 kHz, a single chan-
nel digital I/Q demodulation scheme has been implemented instead of the
conventional analog I/Q demodulator. This approach results in compact
RF and digitizer hardware and offers better signal fidelity in handling low
bandwidth signals.
For the OSCAT instrument, real-time onboard signal processing involv-
ing range compression is mandatory considering the global mode of sensor
operation, as it reduces the effective output data rate of the sensor by a large
factor (~50). Also, the Doppler shift computation and subsequent Doppler
compensation (within ±550 kHz) will be carried out in the signal processor
itself, prior to range compression. To extract the range information, FFT (fast
Fourier transforms) are performed on the deramped signal and an average
periodogram is formed by applying magnitude-squaring operations. The DSP
(digital signal processor) hardware is based on an FPGA implementation.

Appendix I • 435
7.42 Km/t
42.62°
720 Km
49.38°
910 Km
700 Km
Sub-satellite track
FIGURE A1.6 Observation geometry of the OSCAT instrument.
The OSCAT instrument employs linear chirp transmission and digi-

tal deramping receiver techniques to measure surface backscatter with
better accuracy and without compromising on range resolution. It uses
digitally generated linear frequency modulation (LFM) transmit signal,
having 400 KHz bandwidth and 1.35 ms pulse duration. The return echo
signal is subsequently processed by a digital IF Receiver and signal pro-
cessor based on a high-speed digitizer and FPGA (field programmable
gate array).

ADC quantization 8 bit

ADC sampling frequency 62.5 MHz
Decimation factor 14/16
100 Hz for each beam, 200 Hz for
Transmit PRF
both beams
Transmit pulse width 1.35 ms
Transmit modulation LFM (linear frequency modulation)
Receive window 1.835 ms (4,096 samples)
Chirp signal bandwidth 400 kHz
Processing bandwidth 250 kHz
Noise bandwidth 1350 kHz
Doppler bandwidth ±550 kHz
Measurement bandwidth 10 kHz
Measured cell width 8 km
Output raw data rate 14 Mbit/s
Output processed data rate 300-750 kbit/s
TABLE A1.6 Design Specification of the OSCAT Digital Signal Processor
The onboard range compression signal processor algorithm implemented

in Xilinx XQVR600 FPGA is based on periodogram estimation approach,
where multiple 1K FFT of contiguous (50% overlapped) data partitions
are averaged and binning is performed on the averaged spectrum to obtain
signal+noise and noise-only energy estimates.
The digital receiver-signal processor hardware consists of a multi-
layered PC board called a DACS (data acquisition and range compres-
sion system) module. It is based on Atmel’s (Now E2V) TS8388B ADC and
TS81102G0 Demux and Xilinx Virtex XQVR600 FPGA. The DACS unit
has a mass of 2.25 kg and consumes 22.5 W of bus power.
ROSA (radio occultation sounder for atmospheric studies): ROSA is a

new GPS occultation receiver provided by ASI (Italian Space Agency). A
MOU (memorandum of understanding) between ASI and ISRO was signed
in Fukuoka, Japan, in October 2005. The objective of ROSA is to character-
ize the lower atmosphere and the ionosphere, opening the possibilities for

Appendix I • 437
FIGURE A1.7 Digital receiver/processor of OSCAT.
the development of several scientific activities exploiting these new radio

occultation data sets.
The ROSA instrument has been developed by TAS-I (Thales Alenia Space-
Italia), formerly Laben. The ROSA payload is a dual channel GPS receiver
with two antennae and a receiver package. The accommodation of the ROSA
instrument on board the OceanSat-2 spacecraft has been driven by the satel-
lite configuration that allows the possibility to install only one radio occultation
antenna in the flight direction of the spacecraft. This means that only rising
occultation events can be detected by the ROSA instrument in this mission.
The radio occultation antenna, looking along the satellite velocity vec-
tor, receives signals from the rising GPS satellites near the Earth horizon.
These signals get refracted by the atmosphere and from the bending angle,
the temperature and humidity profiles are derived. The POD (precise orbit
determination) antenna, looking at the zenith of the satellite, gives precise
position of the receiver.
The ROSA instrument, in its complete configuration, is composed of
the following parts:
■■ One hemispherical-coverage navigation and POD (precise orbit deter-

mination) antenna to acquire GPS signals to determine position, velocity
and time of the LEO satellite.

■■ Velocity and anti-velocity radio occultation antennas to acquire GPS

signals used in the calculus of all parameters used in the atmospheric
sounding (for complete instrument).
■■ The receiver unit which processes L1CA and L2P(Y) codeless
GPS s ignals from all the antennas. 16 dual-frequency channels
Frequencies of opera- L1: 1560 - 1590 MHz;

tion L2: 1212 - 1242 MHz
GPS codes used C/A and P code
Dual-frequency channels 16 max (without observation mode)
(navigation) 8 max (in observation mode)
Dual-frequency channels 8
(observation)
Doppler shift ± 50 kHz
Doppler rate ± 110 Hz/s
Doppler acceleration ± 0.5 Hz/s2
Antenna gain + 5 dBi for navigation antenna
+ 12 dBi for RO (Radio Occultation) antenna
Polarization RHCP
Horizontal resolution < 300 km for temperature and humidity
Vertical resolution 0.3 km (low troposphere), 1–3 km (high troposphere)
Accuracy < 1.0 K temperature
10% or 0.2 g/kg humidity
Input signal range 127 to -133 dBm POD antenna
130 to -148 dBm RO antenna
Instrument mass, power 17 kg, 36 W (standby) and 38 W (operation)
Data interface Data/Command: MIL-STD-1553B
PPS output: RS-422 (dedicated receiver connector)
Dimensions Receiver: 287 mm × 250 mm × 206 mm
Radio occultation antenna: 1035 mm × 500 mm ×
165 mm Navigation antenna: 127 mm × 49 mm
TABLE A1.7 Major Parameters of the ROSA Instrument

Appendix I • 439
(implemented in 4 AGGA-2 chips) are available in the ROSA receiver

and can be assigned to different combinations of GPS satellites and
POD or RO antennas. A MIL-STD-1553 communication interface is
used to exchange telecommand, telemetry, and measurement data with
the satellite on-board computer.
■■ The receiver processing is performed by an ADSP-21020 (analog
devices signal processor-21020).
The radio occultation data processing for the ROSA receiver,

which is called ROSA-ROSSA (ROSA-research and operational satellite
and software activities), has been supported by the Italian Space Agency
and has been developed by a pool of Italian universities and research
centers.
The ROSA data will be downlinked to the Indian and the Italian receiv-
ing stations, to be processed by the ROSA ground segment, completely
developed by Italian universities and research centers. This ground seg-
ment will be implemented at first level in an integrated computing infra-
structure installed in Matera (Italy) and mirrored at Hyderabad, India and,
at a second level, on a distributed software and hardware infrastructure.
This second infrastructure will perform the rapid POD (precise orbit deter-
mination) and prediction, the unambiguous bending and impact param-
eters profiles extraction, the ionospheric correction and the stratospheric
initialization, the refractivity, pressure, temperature, and humidity profile
retrieval, the value-added services for meteorology, climate, and space
weather applications. This will identify a prototype of distributed and multi-
mission ground processing center distributed through the various research
centers and universities involved, connected through a Web-based GRID
computing infrastructure.
The ROA (ROSA occultation antenna) accommodation has been driven
by the presence of the scatterometer by tilting of 15º on the satellite yaw
axis. Moreover, in January 2010 ISRO decided to rotate on yaw axis in the
same direction of other 20º for mission operation reasons. This final accom-
modation of the ROA antenna affects the number and type of occultation
events that can be detected with respect to the optimal, velocity point-
ing, configuration. The quantity and quality of the occultations have been
affected by the tilting of the ROA antenna of 35º on yaw axis that moreover
introduces multipath effect due to the structure of the scatterometer and
solar panel.

ROSA is flown on-board of the following three missions:
1. OceanSat-2 of ISRO, launched on September 23, 2009.

2. SAC-D of CONAE and NASA, launched on June 10, 2011.
■■ Megha Tropiques of ISRO and CNES, launched on October 12, 2011.
The OceanSat-2 tailoring features only one occultation antenna (the

velocity antenna) is shown in Figure A1.8.
Ground segment:
The existing ISTRAC stations at Lucknow, Bearslake, Mauritius and
Biak will be used for TT&C (telemetry tracking & command) support under
the control of SCC, which will carry our mission operations, satellite health
monitoring and analysis, and payload operations scheduling/programming.
The NRSA (National Remote Sensing Agency) DRS (Data Reception Sta-
tion) located at Shadnagar, Hyderabad, with minor augmentation will receive
the payload data both in real time as well as in playback from the onboard
Velocity Anti-velocity
antenna antenna
Pod antenna COPLETE INSTRUMENT FOR RADIO
OCCULATION APPLICATION
Diplexer
filter
LNA
RF POD
LNA Board DSP
board
LNA
RF RO
LNA Board #1
LNA 1563 IF
RF RO Agga
LNA Board #2 board
LNA
RF RO
LNA Board #3
LNA DC/DC
RF RO board
LNA Board #4
Ocxo oscillartor Receiver box
FIGURE A1.8 Block diagram of the ROSA instrument.

Appendix I • 441
memory. The received data will be separated instrument-wise (OCM-2,

OSCAT, ROSA) and recorded on the RAIDS (redundant array of indepen-
dent disk storage) memory of the DAQLB (data acquisition and quicklook
browsing) system. Quicklook display, browse generation, calibration analysis,
and ADIF (auxiliary data file) generation will be carried out here. The data
will be transferred to Balanagar on a high-speed data link in offline mode.
Data processing and products generation: The DPS (data processing
system) at Balanagar will be the nodal center for processing the data from
OceanSat-2, with support from SAC (Space Applications Center), Ahmed-
abad. The DPS is in charge to process the raw science data and generates
the ocean color data products with in-built work order generation, online
quality control, output media preparations, data quality evaluation, and
feedback to mission operations. Associated development of mathematical
formulations, geometric and radiometric look-up tables, and their updates,
associated software tools, and geophysical model functions for wind vector
derivation from the OSCAT data are part of the overall data products gen-
eration at different levels.
OceanSat-2 will provide two types of science data: LAC (local area cov-
erage) at 360 meter resolution, and GAC (global area coverage) at 1 km and
at 4 km resolutions.
FIGURE A1.9 Schematic view of the ROSA ground segment.

On Sept. 12, 2011, a new state-of-the-art OceanSat-2 ground station

(data reception and processing system) was inaugurated in Hyderabad.
The OceanSat-2 ground station, fitted with a 7.5 meter diameter antenna,
is capable of covering an area of 5,000 km in diameter, covering the Bay
of Bengal on the east and the Arabian Sea in the west. The ground station
was established to receive and process data from Ocean Color Monitor
on-board the Indian Remote Sensing Satellite Oceansat-2 in real time.
Research requirements in India related to the ocean: India should

develop capabilities to fully monitor the Indian Ocean region in a complete
and 3-dimensional manner. India should develop 80–110 satellites to cover
the region.

APPENDIX
II
U.S. OCEAN MONITORING 1
W
hen you watch the news and see images of weather from around
the United States or the world, you are seeing data from NOAA’s
environmental satellites.
NOAA’s environmental satellites provide data from space to monitor
the earth to analyze coastal waters, relay life-saving emergency beacons,
and predict and track tropical storms and hurricanes.
NOAA operates three types of satellite systems for the United States –
polar-orbiting satellites, geostationary satellites, and our deep space
satellite. Polar-orbiting satellites circle the earth and provide global infor-
mation from 540 miles above the earth. Geostationary satellites constantly
monitor the Western Hemisphere from around 22,240 miles above the
earth. And our deep space satellite orbits one million miles from earth, pro-
viding space weather alerts and forecasts while also monitoring the amounts
of solar energy absorbed by Earth every day.
Satellites enable us to provide consistent, long-term observations, 24
hours a day, 7 days a week. By remotely sensing from their orbits high above
the earth, they provide us much more information than would be possible
to obtain solely from the surface. Over 90 % of the data that goes into our
weather models is from satellites.
(Source : National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/U.S. Dept. of Commerce http ://www.
1
noaa.gov/)
Ocean Electronics_Appendix-II.indd 443 11/09/17 3:44 PM

They track fast breaking storms across “Tornado Alley” as well as tropi-
cal storms in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
Using satellites, NOAA researchers can also more closely study the
ocean. Information gathered by these satellites can tell us about ocean
bathymetry, sea surface temperature, ocean color, coral reefs, and sea and
lake ice. NOAA’s satellite data improve the Nation’s resilience to climate
variability, maintain our economic vitality, and improve the security and
well-being of the public.
In addition to operating our own satellites, NOAA helps promote and
enable commercial uses of satellites and space to benefit the U.S. economy.
Satellites provide other services beyond just imaging the earth. Moni-
toring conditions in space and solar flares from the sun help us understand
how conditions in space affect the earth.
Satellites also relay position information from emergency beacons to
help save lives when people are in distress on boats, airplanes, or in remote
areas. Each year, thousands of people are rescued through SARSAT - Search
And Rescue Satellite Aided Tracking.
Scientists also use a data collection system on the satellites to relay data
from transmitters on the ground to researchers in the field – such as meas-
uring tidal heights or the migration of whales.
Monitoring the earth from space helps us understand how the earth
works and affects much of our daily lives.
Ocean Electronics_Appendix-II.indd 444 11/09/17 3:44 PM

APPENDIX
III
USING SATELLITES FOR
FORECASTING (U.S.) 1
U
sing environmental satellites to observe the Earth from space is one
of the key tools in forecasting weather, analyzing climate, and moni-
toring hazards worldwide. This 24-hour global coverage provides
us with a never-ending stream of information critical for making decisions
affecting everything from what you are going to wear today to governments
making decisions about how to deal with climate change. The National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Satellite Information
Service https://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/ in collaboration with the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the U.S. Air Force,
manages and operates fleets of weather and environmental monitoring sat-
ellites. There are two main types of environmental satellites: geostationary
and polar-orbiting.
1
SOURCE : National Weather Service/NOAA http://www.weather.gov/ajk/OurOffice-Sat
Ocean Electronics_Appendix-III.indd 445 11/09/17 3:44 PM

Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites: When you watch

your local newscaster present the weather forecast, and they show an im-
age of weather over the whole United States, you are seeing imagery from
NOAA Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites, or GOES.
GOES orbit 35,800 km (22,300 miles) above the Earth’s equator at speeds
equal to Earth’s rotation, which maintain their positions relative to Earth.
The GOES provide constant monitoring of various areas of the planet. To
fully cover Alaska, Hawaii, the entire continental United States, and the Pa-
cific and Atlantic Ocean (for tropical storms), NOAA operates two GOES
satellites simultaneously - GOES-East and GOES-West. The satellites pro-
vide constant coverage of the western hemisphere by taking photographic
images every 15 minutes. These “constant eyes” are critical for identifying
severe weather, snow storms, tropical storms and hurricanes. GOES pro-
tect our lives and property every day - constantly watching for new storms
and severe weather.
Polar Operational Environmental Satellites: When you wonder on

Wednesday what the weather will be like over the weekend you turn to
weather forecasters, who rely on NOAA Polar Operational Environmental
Satellites, or POES, to help make their predictions. POES make regular
360° orbits around the Earth’s poles from about 833 km (517 miles) above
the Earth’s surface. The Earth constantly rotates counterclockwise under-
neath the path of the satellite making for a different view with each orbit.
It takes the satellite approximately 1.5 hours complete a full orbit. In a 24-
hour period, the 14 orbits of each polar satellite provide two complete views
of weather around the world. By having imagery of the whole globe, meteo-
rologists are able to develop models to predict the weather out to five to ten
days. NOAA partners with EUMETSAT to constantly operate two polar-
orbiting satellites - one POES and a European polar-orbiting satellite called
Metop. When polar-orbiting satellites fly over severe weather, they can also
give us very detailed pictures of the storms given how much closer they are
to storms than GOES. In addition to weather analysis and forecasting, data
from the POES series support a broad range of environmental monitoring
applications including climate research and prediction, global sea surface
temperature measurements, measurements of temperature and humidity
of the atmosphere, ocean dynamics research, volcanic eruption monitor-
ing, forest fire detection, and global vegetation analysis. Instruments on
POES are critical for providing long-term, sustained observations used for
determining the long term changes in climate conditions around the world.

Appendix III • 447
Finally, POES assist in search and rescue by locating people, planes and
ships, who have activated emergency locator beacons.
In addition to basic imagery, on-board sensors detect cloud, land, and
ocean temperatures, as well as monitor activities of the sun. NOAA GOES
are also used in identifying when satellite emergency locator beacons have
been activated to help with Search and Rescue activities.
MetOp is a series of polar orbiting meteorological satellites operated
by the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satel-
lites. The satellites are all part of the EUMETSAT Polar System.
Ocean Surface Topography Mission (OSTM)/JASON-2: One aspect of
climate change is sea level rise, which affects much of the world’s popula-
tion that live in coastal areas. To measure the height of the ocean around
the world, NOAA participates in a joint Ocean Surface Topography Mis-
sion (OSTM) program between NOAA, NASA, France’s Centre National
d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES), and European Organisation for the Exploita-
tion of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT). This is a joint effort by the
four organizations to measure sea surface height by using a radar altimeter
mounted on a low-earth orbiting satellite called Jason-2. Satellite altimetry
data provides sea surface heights for determining ocean circulation, climate
change and sea-level rise. These sea surface height measurements are nec-
essary for ocean modeling, forecasting El NiÑo/La NiÑa events, and hur-
ricane intensity prediction.
TRACKING ASH CLOUDS

Satellite imagery is also used to track the ash cloud after a volcanic
eruption.
Alaska contains over 130 volcanoes and volcanic fields, which have been
active within the last two million years. These volcanoes are catalogued on
the National Volcano Observatory’s web site.
Of these volcanoes, about 90 have been active within the last 10,000
years (and might be expected to erupt again), and more than 50 have been
active within historical time (since about 1760, for Alaska).
The volcanoes in Alaska make up well over three-quarters of U.S. vol-
canoes that have erupted in the last two hundred years.

Alaska’s volcanoes are potentially hazardous to passenger and freight

aircraft as jet engines sometimes fail after ingesting volcanic ash. Based
on information provided by the Federal Aviation Administration, that
more than 80,000 large aircraft per year, and 30,000 people per day, are in
the skies over and potentially downwind of Aleutian volcanoes, mostly on
the heavily traveled great-circle routes between Europe, North America,
and Asia. Volcanic eruptions from Cook Inlet volcanoes (Spurr, Redoubt,
Iliamna, and Augustine) can have severe impacts, as these volcanoes are
nearest to Anchorage, Alaska’s largest population center.

APPENDIX
IV
EXPLORING THE OCEAN
BASINS WITH SATELLITE
ALTIMETER DATA 1
David T. Sandwell - Scripps Institution of Oceanography

and
Walter H. F. Smith - Geosciences Laboratory, NOAA
T
he surface of the ocean bulges outward and inward mimicking the to-
pography of the ocean floor. The bumps, too small to be seen, can be
measured by a radar altimeter aboard a satellite. Over the past year,
data collected by the European Space Agency ERS-1 altimeter along with
recently declassified data from the US Navy Geosat altimeter have provid-
ed detailed measurements of sea surface height over the oceans. These data
provide the first view of the ocean floor structures in many remote areas of
the Earth. For scientific applications, the Geosat and ERS-1 altimeter data
are comparable in value to the radar altimeter data recently collected by the
Magellan spacecraft during its systematic mapping of Venus.
SOURCE : National Centers for Environmental Information/NOAA https ://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/

1
mgg/bathymetry/predicted/explore.HTML#sat_alt
Ocean Electronics_Appendix-IV.indd 449 11/09/17 3:44 PM

INTRODUCTION
The geologic and topographic structures of the ocean floor primarily
reflect plate tectonic activity that has occurred over the past 150 million
years of the 4.5 billion year age of the Earth. Seafloor geology is far sim-
pler than the geology of the continents because erosion rates are lower and
also because the continents have suffered multiple collisions associated the
opening and closing of ocean basins (Wilson Cycle). Despite their youth
and geologic simplicity, most of this deep seafloor has remained poorly
understood because it is masked by 3-5 km of seawater. For example, the
Pacific-Antarctic rise, which has an area about equal to South America, is
a broad rise of the ocean floor caused by sea floor spreading between two
major tectonic plates (see Poster southeast of New Zealand). To the west of
the ridge lies the Louisville seamount chain which is a chain of large under-
sea volcanoes having a length equal to the distance between New York and
Los Angeles. These features are unfamiliar because they were discovered
less than 20 years ago. The Louisville seamount chain was first detected in
1972 using depth soundings collected along random ship crossings of the
South Pacific. Six years later the full extent of this chain was revealed by a
radar altimeter aboard the Seasat (NASA) spacecraft. Recently, high den-
sity data collected by the Geosat (US Navy) and ERS-1 (European Space
Agency) spacecraft data show the Pacific-Antarctic Rise and the Louisville
Ridge in unprecedented detail. In an age when we are mapping the sur-
faces of Venus and Mars, it is difficult to believe that so little is known about
our own planet.
The reason that the ocean floor, especially the southern hemisphere
oceans, is so poorly charted is that electromagnetic waves cannot penetrate
the deep ocean (3-5 km = 2-3 mi). Instead, depths are commonly measured
by timing the two-way travel time of an acoustic pulse. However because
research vessels travel quite slowly (6m/s = 12 knots) it would take approxi-
mately 125 years to chart the ocean basins using the latest swath-mapping
tools. To date, only a small fraction of the sea floor has been charted by
ships.
Fortunately, such a major mapping program is largely unnecessary
because the ocean surface has broad bumps and dips which mimic the
topography of the ocean floor. These bumps and dips can be mapped using
a very accurate radar altimeter mounted on a satellite. In this brief report we
attempt to answer some basic questions related to satellite measurements

Appendix IV • 451
of the ocean basins. What causes the surface of the ocean to bulge outward
and inward mimicking the topography of the ocean floor ? How big are
these bumps ? How can they be measured in the presence of waves and
tides ? What are some of the non-military applications of these data ? What
has been discovered from the new Geosat and ERS-1 data ?
SATELLITE ALTIMETRY
According to the laws of physics, the surface of the ocean is an “equipo-
tential surface” of the earth’s gravity field. (Let’s ignore waves, winds, tides
and currents for the moment.) Basically this means that if one could place
balls everywhere on the surface of the ocean, none of the balls would roll
downhill because they are all on the same “level”. To a first approximation,
this equipotential surface of the earth is a sphere. However because the
earth is rotating, the equipotential ocean surface is more nearly matched
by an ellipsoid of revolution where the polar diameter is 43 km less than
the equatorial diameter. While this ellipsoidal shape fits the earth remark-
ably well, the actual ocean surface deviates by up to 100 meters from this
ideal ellipsoid. These bumps and dips in the ocean surface are caused by
minute variations in the earth’s gravitational field. For example the extra
gravitational attraction due to a massive mountain on the ocean floor
attracts water toward it causing a local bump in the ocean surface ; a typi-
cal undersea volcano is 2000 m tall and has a radius of about 20 km. This
bump cannot be seen with the naked eye because the slope of the ocean
surface is very low.
These tiny bumps and dips in the geoid height can be measured using
a very accurate radar mounted on a satellite (Figure). For example, the
Geosat satellite was launched by the US Navy in 1985 to map the geoid
height at a horizontal resolution of 10-15 km (6 - 10 mi) and a vertical
resolution of 0.03 m (1 in). Geosat was placed in a nearly polar orbit to
obtain high latitude coverage (+- 72 deg latitude). The Geosat altimeter
orbits the earth 14.3 times per day resulting in an ocean track speed of
about 7 km per second (4 mi/sec). The earth rotates beneath the fixed
plane of the satellite orbit, so over a period of 1.5 years, the satellite maps
the topography of the surface of the earth with an ground track spacing of
about 6 km (4 mi).
Two very precise distance measurements must be made in order to
establish the topography of the ocean surface to an accuracy of 0.03 m

(1 in) (Figure). First, the height of the satellite above the ellipsoid h* is
measured by tracking the satellite from a globally-distributed network of
lasers and/or doppler stations. The trajectory and height of the satellite are
further refined by using orbit dynamic calculations. Second, the height of
the satellite above the closest ocean surface h is measured with a micro-
wave radar operating in a pulse-limited mode on a carrier frequency of
13 GHz. (The ocean surface is a good reflector at this frequency.) The
radar illuminates a rather large spot on the ocean surface about 45 km
(28 mi) in diameter. A smaller effective footprint (1-5 km in diameter =
0.6 - 3 mi)) is achieved by forming a sharp radar pulse and accurately
recording its 2-way travel time. The footprint of the pulse must be large
enough to average out the local irregularities in the surface due to ocean
waves. The spherical wave front of the pulse ensures that the altitude is
measured to the closest ocean surface. A high repetition rate (1000 pulses
per second) is used to improve the signal to noise ratio, especially when
the ocean surface is rough. Corrections to the travel time of the pulse are
made for ionospheric and atmospheric delays and known tidal corrections
are applied as well. The difference between the height above the ellipsoid
and the altitude above the ocean surface is approximately equal to the
geoid height N = h* - h.
GRAVITY ANOMALY
As the spacecraft orbits the earth it collects a continuous profile of
geoid height across an ocean basin. Profiles from many satellites, col-
lected over many years, are combined to make high resolution images.
The Poster shows gravity anomaly derived from geoid height measure-
ments from 4.5 years of Geosat measurements and 2 years of ERS-1 mea-
surements. We have developed a new method to convert these raw geoid
height measurements, which have a variety of accuracies, track spacings
and data densities, into images (or grids) of gravity anomaly. This conver-
sion is done to enhance the small-scale features of the seafloor. More-
over, after the conversion, the satellite-derived gravity measurements can
be compared and combined with gravity anomaly measurements made
by ships. The algorithms of the conversion are based on laws of phys-
ics, geometry and statistics. Since the data sets are large, diverse, and
contaminated with errors, many sophisticated computer operations are
required. The ultimate test of the accuracy of our methods is through

Appendix IV • 453
comparisons with shipboard gravity measurements. Our latest grids show

agreement with ship data at a level of 5 milligal (mgal). One mgal is about
one millionth the normal pull of gravity (9.8 m/s2). Typical variations in
the pull of gravity are 20 milligal although over the deep ocean trenches
they exceed 300 mgal.
APPLICATIONS OF SATELLITE ALTIMETRY
Navigation
The Geosat data were collected by the US Navy to fulfill their navi-
gational and mapping requirements. Consider measuring accelerations in
a moving submarine or aircraft in order to determine your position as a
function of time. (Of course your starting position and velocity must also
be known.) If the windows of your vehicle are closed, a true acceleration
cannot be distinguished from a variation in the pull of gravity. Thus the
gravity data are needed for correction of inertial navigation/guidance sys-
tems. The military applications are obvious and provided the rationale for
the 80 million dollar cost of the Geosat mission as well as the classification
of these data, especially during the cold war when nuclear submarines were
more active than they are today. On the commercial side, Honeywell Inc. is
using these data to update their inertial navigation systems in commercial
aircraft. In particular, when this correction is not applied, they have found
large navigational errors along Pacific Ocean flight paths which follow the
major ocean trenches.
Prediction of Seafloor Depth

We are using these dense satellite altimeter measurements in combi-
nation with sparse measurements of seafloor depth to construct a uniform
resolution map of the seafloor topography. These maps do not have suffi-
cient accuracy and resolution to be used to assess navigational hazards but
they are useful for such diverse applications as locating the obstructions/
constrictions to the major ocean currents and locating shallow seamounts
where fish and lobster are abundant.
On a broad scale the topography of the ocean floor reflects the cooling
and subsidence of the plates as they move away from the spreading center.
While this process is fairly well understood, there are interruptions in this
normal subsidence caused by mantle plumes and other types of solid-state

convection in the mantle of the Earth that are current topics of research.
As the seafloor ages it also becomes covered by a slow rain of sediments.
The analysis of the gravity data along with measured can be used to map the
thickness of the sedimentary layers.
PLANNING SHIPBOARD SURVEYS

The satellite-derived gravity grids reveal all of the major structures of
the ocean floor having widths greater than 10-15 km (6-9 mi). This resolu-
tion matches the total swath width of the much higher multibeam mapping
system on a ship (100 m resolution) so the gravity maps are the perfect
reconnaissance tool for planning the more detailed shipboard surveys. Sci-
entists aboard research vessels use the gravity grids along with other mea-
surements to optimize their survey strategy ; in many cases this is done in
real time. The cost to operate a research vessel is typically $20,000 per day
so these gravity data have become an essential item.
PLATE TECTONICS
These satellite altimeter data provide an important and definitive con-
firmation of the theory of plate tectonics. Indeed, almost everything appar-
ent in the marine gravity field was created by the formation and motion of
the plates. The Indian Ocean Triple junction (27 deg S latitude, 70 deg E
longitude) is a textbook example of seafloor spreading. Spreading ridges are
characterized by an orthogonal pattern of ridges and transform faults. The
scar produced in the active transform valley is carried by seafloor spreading
out onto older seafloor leaving evidence of the past plate motions. At this
Indian Ocean site, three spreading ridges intersect forming a triple junction
as described by plate tectonic theory. The theory predicts that the ridges
would intersect at 120° angles if the three ridges were spreading at exactly
the same rate. In this case, one can measure the intersection angles and
infer the relative spreading rates of each ridge.
Plates are created at spreading ridges and destroyed (subducted) at
the deep ocean trenches. All of the major ocean trenches are evident in
the gravity map as linear troughs. The deep ocean basins away from the
trenches are characterized by fracture zone gravity signatures inherited at
the spreading ridge axis. This pattern is sometimes overprinted by linear
volcanic chains which are believed to be formed as the plate moves over a

Appendix IV • 455
stationary mantle plume. The hot plume head melts the mantle rocks which
erupt on the surface as a hot spot. Because all of these major features are
evident in the gravity maps, the geologic history of the ocean basins can
now be established in great detail.
UNDERSEA VOLCANOES
The global gravity grids reveal all volcanoes on the seafloor greater
than about 1000 m tall. Approximately 1/2 of these volcanoes were not
charted previously. One of the more important aspects of these new data
will be to locate all of these volcanoes and identify spatial patterns that
may help determine how they formed. Many volcanoes appear in chains,
perhaps associated with mantle plumes, there are many more that do not
fit this simple model. Moreover, numerous undersea volcanoes are long
linear ridges with aspect ratios of 20 or more. These features suggest that
the plates are not exactly ridged as predicted by the simple plate tectonic
theory. Using these data we are exploring the internal deformations of the
plates, especially outboard of trenches where the forces generated by the
slab-pull force of the subducted plates is greatest.
PETROLEUM EXPLORATION
All of the major petroleum exploration companies use satellite altim-
eter gravity data from Geosat and ERS-1 to locate offshore sedimentary
basins in remote areas. This information is combined with other recon-
naissance survey information to determine where to collect or purchase
multi-channel seismic survey data. Currently, the regions of most intense
exploration interest are the continental shelves of Australia and the former
Soviet Union ; recently companies have expressed interest in the Caspian
Sea. Developments in offshore drilling technology now make it economical
to recover oil from continental slope areas in water once thought prohibi-
tively deep.
While we are not directly involved in this activity, we fill data requests
from many companies including UNOCAL. Dr. Mark Odegard of UNOCAL
Inc. says “We routinely use satellite gravity data in any exploration effort in
the oceans outside of the Gulf of Mexico. We consider the current data
quality to be better than the standard regional type of survey that was run in
the previous twenty five years or so. . . . If the conventional gravity data were

collected over the continental shelves of the World, where we have interest
in exploration, the cost by my estimate, would be in the range of $200- $400
million dollars, maybe more. This obviously will not be done, but we are
beginning to collect high-resolution (shipboard) data over selected targets
outside the US The other companies that use the satellite data, that I know
of, are : Exxon, Mobil, and Texaco. UNOCAL has been a recognized leader
in potential fields in the oil industry, so we have probably been quicker to
utilize the data than many companies. I would suspect BP, Total, and AGIP
are foreign companies that probably utilize the data.”
LITHOSPHERIC STRUCTURE
There are numerous other scientific applications that cannot be
described in a short report. One of the traditional uses of marine grav-
ity measurements is to estimate the thickness of the elastic portion of the
tectonic plates. When a volcano forms on the ocean floor it provides a
large downward load on the plate causing it to deform. This deformation is
appears in the gravity field as a donut-shaped gravity low surrounding the
gravity high associated with the volcano itself. By measuring the amplitude
and width of the gravity low and relating this to the size of the volcano as
measured my a ship with an echo sounder, one can establish the thickness
and strength of the elastic plate. The new satellite-derived gravity data ena-
ble researchers to perform this type of analysis everywhere in the oceans.
Thus scientists can now probe the outermost part of the earth using these
and other methods.

APPENDIX
V
ACRONYMS
AOP Apparent Optical Properties

ANN Artificial Neural Network
CDOM Colored Dissolved Organic Matter
CNES Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales
CNSA China National Space Administration
COASTLOOC Coastal Surveillance Through Observation of Ocean Color
COCTS China Ocean Color and Temperature Scanner
CZCS Coastal Zone Color Scanner
DLR German Aerospace Center
DOM Dissolved Organic Matter
ESA European Space Agency
GLI Global Imager
IOP Inherent Optical Properties
ISRO Indian Space Research Organization
KARI Korean Aerospace Research Institute
Ocean Electronics_Appendix-V.indd 457 11/09/17 3:43 PM

MERIS Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (ESA)

MLP Multi-Layer Perceptron
MISR Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer
MODIS Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (NASA)
MOMO Matrix Operator Model
MOS Modular Optoelectric Scanner
NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration
NASDA National Space Development Agency of Japan
OCM Ocean Color Monitor
OCTS Ocean Color and Temperature Scanner
OSMI Ocean Scanning Multispectral Imager
PMNS Particulate Matter North Sea
POLDER Polarization and Directionality of the Earth’s Reflectances
POM Particulate Organic Matter
RMSE Root Mean Square Error
RT Radiative Transfer
RTC Radiative Transfer Calculation
S-GLI Second generation GLobal Imager
SeaBAM SeaWiFS Bio-optical Algorithm Mini-Workshop
SeaBASS SeaWiFS Bio-optical Archive and Storage System
SeaWiFS Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (NASA)
SPM Suspended Particulate Matter
TOA Top of Atmosphere
VIIRS Visible Infrared Imager Radiometer Suite
Ocean Electronics_Appendix-V.indd 458 11/09/17 3:43 PM

Index
A Alkalinity, 359–360
ALOHA, 187
Absorption, 386–387
Along track scanning radiometer, 22
Abyssal hills, 14
Altimeter, 26–27
Accelerometer, 330, 351
Antarctica, 156
Accuracy assessment, 239
Apparent optical properties, 379
Acoustic communication model, 100, 110
Arch, 9
Acoustic communication, 127–128
Argo float, 340, 341
Acoustic current meters, 328–329, 348
Array of attenuator, 258
Acoustic Doppler current meter profiler, 349
Ascending pass, 52
Acoustic Doppler current profiler, 116–117,
ASIMET, 360–362
348–349
Atlantic Ocean, 410
Acoustic tomography, 111–112, 115
Atmospheric correction problem, 392–394
Acoustic wave, 126–127
Attenuator, 258
Active remote sensing, 49, 69
Automatic identification system, 295, 308
Adaptive channel equalization, 145–146
Autonomous undersea vehicles, 100, 190
Adaptive sampling, 198
Autonomous underwater vehicle networks, 127
ADCP, 116–117, 329, 349–350
Autopilot, 297–299
Address, 206
AUV control using sound, 101
Aerial photography, 3–4, 215
AUVs, 198, 375
Aerial videography, 215
Agriculture, 5
Air cleaner, 279 B
Air inlet temperature sensor, 279 Backscattering, 388–390
Air to air after cooler, 279 Bacteria, 384
Airgun, 120 Base station, 168
Air-sea interaction meteorology, 360–362 Beach, 11
AIS work, 289, 308, 309–310 BEAM, 244
Ocean_Electronics_Index.indd 459 11-09-2017 15:51:44

460 • Index
Bermuda triangle, 405–406 D

Bioluminescence, 331–332
DACAP, 187
BIOMAPER, 362–364
DART, 103
Black body radiation, 224–225
Data logger, 324
Blue tooth, 176
Data volume, 220–222
Brightness temperature, 21
Dead Sea, 399
Bubbler gauge, 304–305
Deep ocean tsunami detection buoy, 373–374
Bubbles study, 105–106
Delay, 136
Bubbles, 384
Deployments, 182
Buoy, 36
Depth instrument, 296
Depth sounders, 286
C Desalination, 409
Capacitive level sensor, 306 Descending pass, 52
Card, 327 Detritus, 385
CARTOSAT, 419 Digital Elevation Models, 7
Case 1 water, 379–380 Digital filtering, 232
Case 2 water, 380 Digital image processing, 228
Cave, 9 Digital resolution, 57
CDMA, 140, 187 Direct sequence spread spectrum, 145–146
CDOM, 383–384 Disaster, 14
Charge coupled device, 3 Discrete return LIDAR, 39–42
Chart datum, 291 Dish engine system, 272–273
Chart plotter, 287 Diver fish finder, 110
Chlorine evolution mechanism, 177 Divers, 331
Cliff, 11 Doppler Effect, 116
Climatologist, 113 Dredges, 331
Closed cycle OTEC, 252 Drift bottle, 327
Cluster analysis, 238 Drifters, 339–341
Cluster topology, 175 Drifting buoys, 329–330
Coastal features, 9, 10 DSSS, 145–146
Coastal monitoring, 7–8 Dune, 11
Colored dissolved organic matter, 383
Combustible gas indicators, 315–316
E
Communication coverage, 197 Earth history, 97
Composite generation, 231 Earth layers, 121
Concentrating solar power technology, 271 Echo signatures, 109–110
Confusion matrix, 239 Echo sounder, 294–295, 322
Contrast stretch, 230 Echo sounding, 29, 120
Coolant temperature sensor, 279 Echolocation, 33–34
Copper corrosion mechanism, 177 Elastic scattering, 381
Corers, 331, 375 Electrical propulsion, 310–314
CSMA/CA, 187 Electromagnetic current meters, 328, 348
CTD, 324, 344 Electromagnetic spectrum, 206–208
Current meter, 346–351 Electromagnetic wave, 125
Current, 11, 155 Electronic control module, 277
Currents, 327–330 Electronic control system, 278

Index • 461
Electronic governor, 282 GIS, 3, 228

ELF, 158 Gliders, 182
E-mail, 151, 152 Global climate change, 113–115
Energy consumption, 166 Global internet access, 152
Energy harvesting device, 179 Global positioning system, 149–150
Energy storage device, 179 Globalstar, 154
Engine governor, 280 GPRS, 176
Engine monitoring tachometers, 286 GPS compass, 297
Engine, 279 GPS speedometer, 286
Erosion, 11 GPS Stray line buoys, 294
Error rate, 137 GPS, 35, 149–150
Estuary, 11 Grabs, 330
Exhaust gas temperature, 279 GRASS, 246
Expendable bathythermograph, 323 Gravimeters, 1
Expendable sound velocity, 327 Gravity corer, 365–367
Explosimeters, 315 Grey level transformation, 235
Eyes, 1 GSM, 176
F H
FDMA, 186 Hard classifiers, 236
Ferry box, 354 Headland, 11
Fiber optic cable, 134 Heat flux, 361
Fiber optics, 397–398 HF Radar, 356–357
Fire detector, 302 High pressure fuel pump, 279
Firefighting equipment, 302 High resolution, 217
Floating structure, 267 Highest tides, 410
Floats, 339–341 Histograms, 233–234
Flooding, 14 Hurricanes, 14
Fluorescence, 382–383 Hydraulically damped gravity corer,
Forestry, 5–6 366–367
Forward problem, 390–391 Hydrology, 6
Fouling, 177 Hydrophone, 99, 326
Frequency shift keying, 144–145 Hyper spectral image, 213–214
FSK, 145 Hyper spectral remote sensing, 214
Fuel injector, 279 Hyperspectral classifiers, 237
G I
Gas detection meters, 315–317 IDRISI, 246
Georeferencing, 229 IKONOS, 247
GEO, 152 ILWIS, 246
Geographical information system, 243 Image classification, 236
Geology, 6 Image enhancement, 230
Geometric correction, 233 Image restoration, 228
Geometric restoration, 230 Image transformation, 241–243
Geostationary orbit, 51 Image, 205
Geosynchronous satellites, 300 Imaging radiometer, 23

462 • Index
Indian Ocean, 399 Map, 2, 6

Indian remote sensing, 417 Marine generator, 277
Infrared radiometers, 22–23 Marine instruments, 286–292
Infrared remote sensing, 223–225 Marine magnetometer, 367–369
Infrared touch screen, 290 Marine navigation system, 318
Inherent optical properties, 385–390 Marine observation sensors, 62–64
Inmarsat satellites, 152 Marine radios, 288
Inorganic salt, 409 Mechanical current meters, 346–347
Instantaneous field of view, 55, Medium access control, 186–188
207–208 MEMS, 138–139
Integrated sailboat, 296–297 Mesh nets, 332
Intensity value, 206 Mesh topology, 174
Intensity, 206 Micro sensors, 65–66
Internet to ships, 148–161 Microwave level sensor, 305
Inverse problem, 391–392 Microwave radiometer, 21–22, 84, 225
Inverted echo sounders, 112–113 Microwave remote sensing, 225–228
Iridium satellite, 153 Microwave sensors, 21
IRS, 223, 415 Mobile, 182
Isobaths, 292 Modulation, 185
Momentum flux, 361
L Moored current meter, 327
Lagoon, 11 Moored profiler, 335–337
Land, 6 Mooring, 36, 333–335
Landmarks, 292 MOS, 62–64
Landsat software, 247 Multi beam sonar, 34
LANDSAT, 222 Multi hop routing, 200
Laser altimeter, 43 Multibeam bathymetry, 30
Laser communication, 136–138 Multicarrier modulation, 146–147
LASER, 37, 134 Multi-gas analyzer, 316–317
Leadlines, 330 Multi-layer image, 208–209
LEO, 153–154, 299–300 Multi-spectral image, 212–213
LIDAR, 37–39 Multispectral remote sensing, 212–213
Lighthouse, 292
Line of sight, 174 N
Linear grey level stretching, 235 NADIR radar, 17–20
Linear stretch, 231 Nautical chart, 291–292
Localization, 201 Navigation instruments, 293
Location address, 205–206 Navigation, 306
Longest mountain, 404 Near polar orbit, 52
Look angle, 17 Nephelometer, 325
Low resolution, 217 Network density, 166
Network layer, 189
M Network mobility, 166
MAC protocol, 199–200 Network simulator, 192
Magnetic variation, 292 Network topology, 175
Magnetometers, 1, 367 Nitrate, 324–325

Index • 463
Noncombustible gas indicator, 316 Oxygen analyzer, 315

Nucleic acid biosensor, 359 Oxygen, 324–325
O P
OBS, 369 Passive microwave radiometers, 24
Ocean bottom monitoring, 195 Passive microwave SST, 87–88
Ocean bottom seismometers, 121, 369–371 Passive remote sensing, 49–50
Ocean circulation, 11 Perfectly secure communication, 156–161
Ocean color monitor, 419–422 pH, 324–325
Ocean color radiometry, 71 Phase shift keying, 145–146
Ocean color sensor, 69–71 Phosphate, 324–325
Ocean color, 67–68, 243–246 Photomultiplier tubes, 139
Ocean column monitoring, 195 Physical layer, 184–186
Ocean current energy, 263 Phytoplankton, 359
Ocean energy, 251–253 Pixel size, 55–56, 218–219
Ocean floor, 91, 93 Pixel, 205
Ocean subduction zone, 122 Point absorber, 258–259
Ocean temperature, 12, 111–115 Polar, 12
Ocean thermal energy conversion, 261 Power management system, 179
Ocean thermal energy, 253 Power tower system, 272
Ocean turbines, 261–263 Pre processing, 228–230
Ocean wave energy technologies, 257–259 Pressure based level measurement, 304
Ocean wave energy, 254 Primary color, 210
Ocean weather, 12 Principal component analysis, 242–243
Oceanic crust, 14 Propagation velocity, 126–127
Oceanographic sensor node, 171 Propeller type meters, 346
Oceanographic WSN, 167–174 Protected reversing thermometer, 322
Oceanography, 14–15 Protocol stack, 134–136
OCEANSAT, 419 Pushbroom scanner, 54, 222
OCM, 419–422
ODESA, 243 Q
OFDM, 146–147 QAM, 147
Offshore solar energy, 270–274 QPSK, 147
Offshore wind energy, 264
Oil, 408 R
Open cycle system, 253 Radar altimeter, 225–226
Optical communication, 128–129 Radar Doppler current profiler, 355–357
Optical submarine cable repeater, RADAR, 15–16
155–156 RADARSAT, 247
Optical wave, 128 Radiometer, 21
Orbit, 428–431 Radiometric correction, 228
Orthogonal frequency division Radiometric resolution, 57–59, 220–223
multiplexing, 146 Radiometric restoration, 229
OSCAT digital signal processor, 436 RAFOS, 117
OTEC, 261 Raman scattering, 381
Overtopping device, 259 RDCP, 355–357

464 • Index
Reciprocal transmission, 117–118 Secchi disc, 325

Reefs, 407–408 Sediment monitoring, 76–79
Remote sensing, 1 Sediment, 8, 77
Remote sensor, 353 Seismic exploration, 375
Renewable source of energy, 251–253 Seismic reflection, 120–121
Reporting, 295 Seismic refraction, 120
Research vessels, 333 Seismicity, 15
RESOURCESAT, 416 Seismographs, 1
Retro reflector, 142 Self configuration, 199
Return fuel cooler, 279 Semi submersible offshore wind turbine, 267
Reversing thermometers, 342–343 Semi submersible, 267
Ridges, 34 Semi-mobile, 182
River, 11 Sensing coverage, 197
Robot, 103 Sensor nodes, 169
Robustness, 174 Sensors, 172
Rock chipper, 375 Shear probes, 353–354
Rocky islet, 9–10 Ship Bridge, 306–308
ROSA, 423 Ship speed, 307
Routing, 189, 295 Shipboard level sensors, 302–306
ROVs, 180 Shipek grab, 331
RS 232, 137 Shore based terminator, 257
Side scan sonar, 32–33
S Signal to noise ratio, 58–59
Salinity, 111, 324 Silicate, 324–325
Salinometer, 324 Single beam echosounding, 29
Sand island, 9 Single carrier phase coherent modulation,
SAR, 16, 62, 226–227 145–146
Satellite images, 2, 245 Skerry, 11
Satellite nosecone, 150 SLAR, 16
Satellite orbit, 300 Smartphone, 151
Satellite phone, 300 Smart receiver, 143
Satellite, 167, 337 Smart transmitter, 142
Scanning scatterometer, 423–424 Snappers, 330
SCAT, 423–424 SOFAR, 115, 322
Scatterometer, 24 Soft classifiers, 237
Scintillation counters, 1 Software for ocean color, 243–246
Scoops, 330 Software ocean color algorithms, 246
Sea floor, 79 Soil line, 241
Sea ice, 6, 13–14 Solar photonic technology, 273
Sea surface temperature, 12, 83–90, 225 SONAR, 4–5, 28, 103–104, 322
Sea water pressure sensor, 278 Sonobuoy, 326
Seabed qualities, 292 Sound speed, 98, 326–327
Seabed sampling, 330–331 Sound wave, 98
SeaDAS, 244 Spacecraft, 416
Seamounts, 14 Spatial resolution, 55–56, 217–219
Seanet, 148–149 Spectral bandwidth, 58
SEASOR, 324 Spectral range, 58

Index • 465
Spectral resolution, 60 Tidal power, 260

Spectral response pattern, 209–211 Tide gauge, 332
Spectral sampling, 58 Tide gauges, 351–353
Spectrometers, 396–398 Time synchronization, 189–190
Spectrophotometer, 398–399 Titanic, 180
Speed instrument, 296 Tombolo, 11
Spit, 11 Topography, 15, 43
SPOT, 207, 223 Towed ocean bottom instrument, 374–375
SPRING, 246 Towed vehicles, 338–339
SSB radio, 151–152 Tracking ship, 308–309
Stack, 9 Training areas, 236
Star topology, 174 Transceivers, 195
Static, 182 Transducer, 98–99
Stem thermometer, 322 Transmissometer, 325
Streamer, 120 Transmitting power, 270
Submarine cable map, 157 Transport layer, 189
Submarine communication cable, 155 Tree topology, 175
Submersible incubation device, 371–372 Trenches, 14
Submersibles, 337–338 Trough system, 271–272
Super spectral image, 213 Tsunamis, 102–103
Supervised classification, 236 Turbocharger, 279
Surf zone, 118–119 Two dimensional UW-ASNs, 195
Surface current, 80–81
Surface moorings, 333 U
Surface wind, 81–82 U type moorings, 335
Swath, 64 Ultrasonic level sensor, 305
Swim bladders, 107, 109 Ultrasound signal, 110
Synthetic aperture radar sensors, 62 Underwater acoustic communication, 130–131
Underwater acoustic networks, 127, 193
T Underwater acoustic sensor network
Tank level, 303 architecture, 195
TDMA, 186–187 Underwater acoustic sensor networks, 136,
Telemetry, 35–37 199–201
Temperature, 111 Underwater acoustics, 98–99
Tension leg platform, 269 Underwater cables, 157
Terminator, 257–258 Underwater communication channel, 184
Terrestrial WSN, 166 Underwater laser sensor architecture,
TFDE electrical propulsion vessel, 311–314 134–138
Thematic map, 238 Underwater laser sensor network, 134–136
Thermal infrared SST, 86–87 Underwater mobile communication, 139–144
Thermistor, 323 Underwater nodes, 357–358
Thermosalinograph, 345 Underwater optical communication, 131–134
Three dimensional networks for AUVs, 195 Unprotected reversing thermometer, 323
Three dimensional UW-ASNs, 195 Unsupervised classification, 238-239
Tidal barrages working, 260 Upper Ocean, 103–106
Tidal energy, 260 Upwelling, 90
Tidal information, 292 UW-ASN, 192

466 • Index
V Waveform recording LIDAR, 39–42

Wax corer, 375
Vegetation indices, 241
Weather monitoring station, 295
Vessel traffic system, 295
Weather satellite, 60–62
Visible Spectrophotometer, 398–399
Whiskbroom scanner, 53
VLF, 158–159
Wi-Fi, 151, 176
Voice communication, 154
Wimax, 176
Volcanism, 15
Wind instrument, 296
VTS, 295
Wind scatterometer, 226
W Wind turbine, 267–268
Wiper mechanism, 177
WASI, 244
Wireless control stations, 289–290
Water clarity, 325
Wireless sensor network, 165–166
Water column terminator, 257
Wireless underwater sensor network, 180–184
Water depth, 106
WSN architecture, 169–170
Water flux, 361
Water resistance, 174 X
Water sampling bottle, 322
Wave direction, 13 X band Radar, 356
Wave energy, 127, 254–259 XBT, 323
Wave height, 13, 82–83, 104 XSV, 327
Wave measurement, 351
Wave power, 91
Z
Wave rider buoy, 351 Zigbee, 175
Wave velocities, 104–105 Zooplankton recorder, 358–360

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Ocean

Ocean Electronics_FM.indd 1 12/09/17 10:37 AM

Ocean Electronics_FM.indd 2 12/09/17 10:37 AM

S.R. Vijayalakshmi, PhD

Mercury Learning and Information

Ocean Electronics_FM.indd 3 12/09/17 10:37 AM

Publisher: David Pallai

S.R. Vijayalakshmi and S. Muruganand. Ocean Instrumentation, Electronics, and Energy.

Library of Congress Control Number : 2016935952

171819321 This book is printed on acid-free paper.

Ocean Electronics_FM.indd 4 12/09/17 10:37 AM

Chapter 1 Remote Sensing in Oceanography....................... 1

Ocean Electronics_FM.indd 5 12/09/17 10:37 AM

1.6 Telemetry in Remote Sensing.......................................... 34

Chapter 2 Sensors and Their Measurements for

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Chapter 3 Underwater Acoustics......................................... 97

Chapter 4 Underwater Communication............................... 125

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4.4 Underwater Optical Communications.............................. 131

Chapter 5 Oceanographic Wireless Sensor Networks........... 165

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5.2.2 Common WSN Architecture.................................... 169

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Chapter 6 Image Processing for the Ocean.......................... 205

Chapter 7 Ocean Energy...................................................... 251

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7.3 Tidal Power.................................................................... 260

Chapter 8 Marine Electronics.............................................. 277

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8.9 Ship’s Bridge................................................................... 306

Chapter 9 Oceanographic Instruments................................ 321

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9.3.3 Multiple Water Sample Devices............................... 344

Chapter 10 Ocean Optics and Ocean Facts......................... 379

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10.3 Ocean Optics Dip Probe Spectrometers........................... 394

Appendix I Indian Satellites for Ocean Monitoring............... 415

Appendix II U.S. OCEAN MONITORING............................ 443

Appendix III Using Satellites for Forecasting (U.S.).............. 445

Appendix IV Exploring The Ocean Basins With

Appendix V Acronyms......................................................... 457

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Ocean Electronics_FM.indd 16 12/09/17 10:37 AM

for underwater vehicles, systems and methods in underwater optical

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Chapter 7 discusses ocean energy as a renewable source of energy,

Ocean Electronics_FM.indd 18 12/09/17 10:37 AM

Chapter 10 deals with the optical constituents of seawater, retrieval of

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1.1 INTRODUCTION TO REMOTE SENSING

1. Sensitivity to only the visible range of electromagnetic energy;

Ocean Electronics_Chapter_1.indd 1 12/09/17 10:40 AM

Because of these limitations, humans have continuously sought to develop

1. From predominantly military use to a variety of environmental analysis

Today, we define satellite remote sensing as the use of satellite-borne

1.1.1 Satellite Images vs. Maps

Thus, a map is subjective, reflecting human decisions about what to put