The future bonanza in marine data from space

Since 1960, we have had a space platform, either orbiting the Earth or seemingly fixed in space, using telescopes and radars to collect global environmental information in very short periods of time. These new systems permit observations of great accuracy and on-time scales consistent with environmental changes that are important to marine users. Many R&D satellites have already proved the utility of space-based marine observations. Beginning in 1987, a large number of foreign and domestic operational marine remote sensing systems will be placed in space. This planned capability represents a $1.5B investment in systems that will usher in an important era of capabilities. The impact will be similar to the extention of communications industries in space. This paper discusses each of the emerging satellite systems and their application horizon.