The Satellite Oceanography Laboratory is part of the Department of Oceanography in the School of Earth Sciences and Technology and was established by P. Flament in 1990. From 1990 to 1999, the laboratory operated a variety of satellite receiving systems, two for tracking polar orbiting satellites, and a third for geostationary satellites. Funding for these systems was obtained from NSF, NASA, NOAA and the State of Hawaii. With five channels in the visible, near-infrared and thermal infrared, parameters such as surface temperature, cloud top temperature, albedo, vegetation index, and, under favorable geometry, aerosols optical depth and wind speed, can be derived.
Applications are in oceanography, meteorology, land ecology, and volcanology.
The second system uses a portable gyroscopically stabilized antenna for temporary use on board ships, but is otherwise identical to the first. With one channels in the visible and two in the thermal infrared, yielding cloud top temperature, albedo, and derived quantities such as wind velocity, applications are limited to meteorology and climatology. For specific experiments, the processed images are published on CD-ROMs.