Future Directions in Ocean Remote Sensing

Enormous advances in ocean science and applications have already occurred in part because of the emergence of remote sensing. This paper is an informal set of general predictions about the future of ocean remote sensing. Future directions will include changes in emphasis between equities and the evolution of sensor technologies, and in platforms. There will be more emphasis and capability in coastal remote sensing and in applications oriented toward commerce, natural resources exploitation and environmental stewardship. There will be the operationalization and continued evolution of special purpose ocean remote sensing satellites and of the sensor systems on weather satellite systems. This evolution will be toward both more capability and toward enabling these assets to increase the number and type of measurements from core sensors. New ocean remote sensing platforms will emerge that are either more appropriate to emerging sensor systems or to coastal applications. These will include aircraft and geosynchronous satellite systems for LIDAR, passive microwave, and hyperspectral sensors but will also include commercial imaging satellites.