ABSTRACT
Satellites and aircraft have proven to be valuable tools for providing synoptic and temporal views of coastal environments that cannot be obtained using traditional field-sampling techniques. Additionally, the form and magnitude from the visible portion of the electromagnetic spectra from these environments can be used to derive quantitative information on the types of substances present in the water and their concentrations. This entry will present an overview of the theory and techniques used to retrieve spectral information from nearshore coastal and estuarine waters using airborne and space-based platforms. The majority of the literature on remote sensing of the ocean has concentrated, understandably, on techniques and empirical models to retrieve information from the open ocean. However, remote sensing of the near-coastal ocean and estuaries is very important as 30%–70% of the world’s population lives in coastal and estuarine regions.
