| Oceanography > Issues > Archive > Volume 17 > Issue 1 |
2004, Oceanography 17(1):8–23, http://dx.doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2004.63
Conventional Bathymetry, Bathymetry from Space, and Geodetic Altimetry
Authors | First Paragraph | Full Article | Citation
Authors
Walter H.F. Smith | NOAA Laboratory for Satellite Altimetry, Silver Spring, Maryland, USA
David T. Sandwell | Institute for Geophysics and Planetary Physics, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California at San Diego, California, USA
First Paragraph
This article offers a general introduction to those aspects of bathymetric mapping and satellite altimetry that are relevant to bathymetry from space. We begin with a review of some of the strengths and weaknesses of conventional bathymetric measurement and mapping. This context highlights the case for and value of space-based mapping: it is the only way to achieve globally uniform resolution within reasonable time and cost. However, a space mission cannot "see" the ocean floor directly; instead, it observes gravity anomalies that can be correlated with ocean floor topography. Geological factors and physical laws limit the resolution of this technique to a particular range of spatial scales (~100 km to ~5 km). While this is not perfect, it yields an enormous improvement in the resolution of global bottom roughness over traditional methods (Figure 1).
Full Article
Citation
Smith, W.H.F., and D.T. Sandwell. 2004. Conventional bathymetry, bathymetry from space, and geodetic altimetry. Oceanography 17(1):8–23, http://dx.doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2004.63.