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Climate Data Issues from an Oceanographic Remote Sensing Perspective

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Book cover Remote Sensing of the Changing Oceans

Abstract

In this chapter we review several climatologically important variables with a history of observation from spaceborne platforms. These include sea surface temperature and wind vectors, altimetric estimates of sea surface height, energy and water vapor fluxes at the sea surface, precipitation over the ocean, and ocean color. We then discuss possible improvements in sampling for climate and climate change definition. Issues of consistency of different data sources, archiving and distribution of these types of data are discussed. The practical prospect of immediate international coordination through the concept of virtual constellations is discussed and applauded.

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Acknowledgements

We appreciate the contribution of: Figure 2.2 by Dr. Stanley Wilson. We are grateful for support by the U.S. National Science Foundation, NSF, by NASA and ESA for the PORSEC 2008 meeting and by the Chinese hosts, especially The South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences and the chair of the Local Organizing committee, Dr. Danling (Lingzis) Tang, who made arrangements for the Workshop on Climate Data possible on the last day of the conference in Guangzhou, China, December 6, 2008. K. Katsaros gratefully acknowledges support from an NSF research grant to University of Miami, Rosenstiel School, ATM 0631685.

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Katsaros, K.B. et al. (2011). Climate Data Issues from an Oceanographic Remote Sensing Perspective. In: Tang, D. (eds) Remote Sensing of the Changing Oceans. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-16541-2_2

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