Seasat: A spacecraft views the marine environment with microwave sensors

Seasat-A is a new NASA satellite dedicated to oceanographic measurements of interest to a broad spectrum of the marine community. Its strong suit is an array of active and passive microwave instruments that give it the ability to view surface features on a day-night, near all-weather basis. It will measure such features as wave heights, lengths, and directions; surface wind velocities; currents; temperatures; ice cover; and the marine geoid. Sensor capabilities and examples of their data output will be given, and the usefulness of these data for understanding the coastal marine environment will be discussed.