The incredible saga of satellite oceanography
Fellous J.-L. (1), Kostianoy A.G. (2)
(1) COSPAR, Paris, France
(2) P.P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, Moscow, Russia
The report reviews the past thirty years of incredibly successful series of satellite
missions devoted to ocean observation, and describe some highlights of the most
significant achievements, covering the various ocean Essential Climate Variables
now accessible to space-based measurements. Beyond the historical aspects the
paper will propose an analysis of some of the main reasons that explain this
astounding success, which has paved the way to the operational monitoring and
forecasting of the global ocean. It will provide an overview of the ocean-observing
satellite missions planned for the coming decades, which hold the promise of many
new discoveries and more generally, a better in-depth understanding of the role of
the ocean in the Earth system.
The research was supported by the Russian Science Foundation under the project
N 14-17-00555.