An Attempt to Visualize Coastal Oceanic Features Using an Infrared Camera Suspended by a Balloon

Abstract

Low-altitude remote sensing, using an infrared camera suspended from a vessel-towed balloon, was adopted to map sea surface temperature (SST) around coastal oceanic fronts. Two field experiments were conducted in August 2013 and September 2014 to examine the capability of monitoring a fine oceanic structure typically revealed in coastal waters. The SST pattern visualized on infrared images was converted to that on a ground coordinate for geo-referencing conducted in two ways: one used buoys with the GPS receiver as reference points on the images, while the other used a wireless motion sensor attached to the infrared camera. The geo-referencing was successfully conducted in both cases, but the observation time was economized in the latter case. The fine coastal oceanic features such as frontal meander and eddies on the spatial scale of O(10) m were clearly detected by using this balloon infrared photography.