Page 32: of Marine Technology Magazine (May 2015)

Remote Monitoring

Ocean measurements from spaceOcean measurements from space

SatelliteSatellite

MonitoringMonitoring

By Kira Coley

Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, billions of metric tons of car- bon dioxide (CO2) have been emitted into the Earth’s atmosphere each year.

The ocean absorbs about 25% of these global emissions annually, causing fundamental changes in seawater chemistry throughout the world’s oceans.

For more than 50 years, measurements from space have given scientists a worldwide prospective of the Earth’s climate and more recently, ocean topog- raphy. The continued advancement of satellite technology is expanding the range of ocean parameters which can be measured. The recent addition of salinity, pioneering techniques and sustained funding are set to revolutionize the way that marine and climate scientists study the ocean, hailing the start of a new era of ocean monitoring.

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