Product Description

The new level of precision and global coverage provided by satellite altimetry is rapidly advancing studies of ocean circulation. It allows for new insights into marine geodesy, ice sheet movements, plate tectonics, and for the first time provides high-resolution bathymetry for previously unmapped regions of our watery planet and crucial information on the large-scale ocean features on intra-season to interannual time scales. Satellite Altimetry and Earth Sciences has integrated the expertise of the leading international researchers to demonstrate the techniques, missions, and accuracy of satellite altimetry, including altimeter measurements, orbit determination, and ocean circulation models.

Satellite altimetry is helping to advance studies of ocean circulation, tides, sea level, surface waves and allowing new insights into marine geodesy.

Satellite Altimetry and Earth Sciences provides high resolution bathymetry for previously unmapped regions of our watery planet.

Satellite Altimetry and Earth Sciences is for a very broad spectrum of academics, graduate students, and researchers in geophysics, oceanography, and the space and earth sciences. International agencies that fund satellite-based research will also appreciate the handy reference on the applications of satellite altimetry.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1537113 in Books
• Published on: 2000-10-26
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: 3.12 pounds
• Binding: Hardcover
• 463 pages

Review
"This book will serve as an excellent handbook and reference for those interested in applying satellite altimetry to hydrospheric and geodetic sciences, and can also serve as a textbook for a graduate level course in satellite remote sensing or satellite oceanography. . . It is well written, logically organized and provides a wealth of reference material for the practicing researcher and student. The discussions are well supported with the appropriate level of mathematical rigor and contain numerous illuminating figures and graphics. . . we consider Chapter 1 of the book especially valuable. In this chapter, one finds detailed discussions of the main techniques and principles behind radar altimetry followed by an explanation of the steps and corrections required to turn these data into accurate estimates of sea level as well as wave heights and wind speed. We know of no other reference work like this chapter, which gives such detailed explanations of all aspects of satellite radar altimetry. The breadth and detail of Chapter 1 alone justify obtaining this book."
PURE AND APPLIED GEOPHYSICS

Book Info
A comprehensive treatise on the fundamental principles of satellite altimetry, featuring earth science applications from oceanography to geophysics. Includes studies of ocean circulation and its changes from El Nino.

From the Back Cover
"Altimetry has interacted, even revolutionized, our understanding of marine geodesy and seafloor topography, of ocean circulation, surface and internal waves, ice sheets and sea level rise; given that altimetry interacts so broadly with diverse ocean disciplines, this book serves as a text on modern oceanography."

-- Walter Munk, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla


Satellite Altimetry and the Earth Sciences: Handbook of Techniques and Applications is a comprehensive treatise on the fundamental principles of satellite altimetry and features earth science applications ranging from oceanography to geodesy and geophysics. The first chapter details how the height of the sea surface is determined with centimeter accuracy from the travel time of radar signals transmitted from space. Subsequent chapters review how sea surface height measurements are manipulated to estimate ocean circulation and tides, heat storage in the ocean in relation to El Niño and La Niña, the earth's gravity field and its tectonic features, and the depth of the ocean. These applications and the challenges of employing altimeters to detect long-term changes in sea level and ice sheets are discussed in this authoritative handbook of techniques and applications.

* First text devoted to the technique of satellite altimetry
* Complete description of the fundamentals of satellite altimetry
* Applications include global ocean circulation and its changes from El Niño, global sea level rise, global tidal maps, sea surface topography and the earth's gravity field and plate tectonics, high-resolution ocean bathymetry, and long-term monitoring of ocean waves and ice sheets.