The Chesapeake Bay

 

The Track of Hurricane Eduoard

Tehuantepec Elevation Map

Tehuantepec Temperature Map

 

Thermal Stratification of Temperate Freshwater Lakes
The Great Lakes

 
 

Link to KITES project
Go to: Lake Superior: 1993 and 1998 comparison at "Cool Images" button (Judy Budd, Michigan Tech)
 
 
 
 

Hydrodynamic modeling of the Lake Ontario Thermal Bar (D. DeAlwis, RIT)
(Thermal images from Judy Budd)

ENSO Cycle - El Nino Southern Oscillation

The NOAA climate Prediction Center has an ENSO Cycle page

Three images of El Nino forming in 1997-98 from fused data.
-Sea Surface Elevation from TOPEX
-Sea Surface Temperature from AVHRR
-Temperature with Depth from Buoys

La Nina

Eastward movement of warm water

El Nino conditions

 
 

How do these changes in the equatorial Pacific Ocean affect our weather?

 
 
 
 
 
 

Wind, waves, currents: Radar measurements
Imaging radar example: Radarsat (copyright Canadian Space Agency 1999)

image acquired at 7:03 am EST Feb 2, 1999
 

Bragg scattering of high frequency (HF, 3-30 MHz) radio waves
- link to tutorial from Rutgers University
- direction of surface winds
- direction of water currents
- wave height
- surface wind speed

Over the horizon radar with Bragg scattering basics
from the NOAA OTH page
    Bragg scattering    Wind direction
 
 
 

TOPEX/Poseidon at NASA JPL - a joint French/American satellite altimeter
for measuring sea height, wind speed, and wave height
How are these three parameters determined?
- 13.65 GHz (2.1 cm) and 5.3 GHz (5.5 cm) radar pulses
- sea height from time of flight
- wind speed from strength of return
- wave height from pulse spread

Winter in the northern hemisphere

Winter in the southern hemisphere

Check out the Satellite Oceanography Applications page at the University of Colorado at Boulder
This site describes several scientific, commercial, and recreational uses of satellite altimeter data.