Xref: utzoo sci.space:6009 sci.space.shuttle:837
Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!seismo!sundc!pitstop!sun!decwrl!sgi!daisy!wooding
From: wooding@daisy.UUCP (Mike Wooding)
Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.space.shuttle
Subject: Re: NASA news - Seasat
Summary: altitude vs sea surface level
Message-ID: <1313@daisy.UUCP>
Date: 29 Jun 88 19:45:35 GMT
References: <13979@shemp.CS.UCLA.EDU>
Organization: Daisy Systems, Mt. View, CA
Lines: 27

In article <13979@shemp.CS.UCLA.EDU>, khayo@sonia.math.ucla.edu (Eric Behr) writes:
< Downloaded from NASA SpaceLink BBS, Huntsville, Ala. (205) 895 0028
< ====================================================================
 ...
<      NASA's Seasat satellite, launched 10 years ago this week,
< ushered in a new era of space research focusing on unsolved
< questions of the world's oceans and weather.
 ...
<      Among the experimental instruments Seasat pioneered were a
< synthetic aperture radar, which provided highly detailed images
< of ocean and land surfaces; a radar scatterometer to measure
< near-surface wind speed and direction; a radar altimeter to
< measure the height of the ocean surface and waves; and a scanning
< multi-channel microwave radiometer to measure surface
< temperature, wind speeds and sea ice cover. The satellite also
< carried a passive visual and infrared radiometer to provide
< supporting data for the other four experiments.
 ...
 
 How does the radar altimeter decouple its "height" above ocean
 surface from the "height" of the ocean's surface? What scales
 are involved (+-10 meters)? A reference point?

< ====================================================================
<                                                        Eric

 m wooding