A design study for an advanced ocean color scanner system

The spaceborne ocean color scanners currently being planned for flights on Nimbus-G satellite or space shuttle craft are, in every aspect, only a modest beginning towards what is to be expected of ocean color scanners in the eighties. Improvements are necessary in the following areas: present systems provide a spatial resolution on the order of 1 km at nadir, which would not satisfy most of the coastal zone study requirements. Also the present design of radiomers is less than optimum for the removal of the atmospheric effects on ocean colorimetry.Along with a colorimetric data analysis scheme, the instrumental parameters which need to be optimized in future systems are outlined. One technique for meeting these requirements entails use of large linear array detector technology.