A wide variety of marginal basins, ranging from polar to equatorial regions, and a few sizeable enclosed basins, can all be included among the Asian Seas. The Arctic Ocean shelf seas off Siberia; the sheltered basins along the Pacific Ocean’s western rim; the coastal seas of the northernmost Indian Ocean, including the semi-enclosed Red Sea and Persian Gulf; the Caspian Sea, the remnants of the Aral Sea and a score of brackish or freshwater lakes, such as Lake Balkhash and Lake Baykal; all exhibit a multiplicity of environmental features and processes. Understanding the peculiarities of such a large and varied collection of marine and coastal types requires integrated observation systems, among which orbital remote sensing must play an essential role. This volume reviews the current potential of Earth Observations in assessing the many Asian seascapes, using both passive and active techniques in diverse spectral regions, such as measuring reflected visible and near-infrared sunlight and surface emissions in the thermal infrared and microwave range, or surface reflection of transmitted radar pulses in the microwave range. An in-depth evaluation of the available spectral regions and observation techniques, as well as of novel multi-technique methods, ensures that suitable tools are indeed accessible for exploring and managing the wealth of resources that the Asian Seas have to offer.

The Asian Marginal and Enclosed Seas: An Overview (Vittorio Barale)....Pages 3-38 A Historical Overview of Remote Sensing of the Asian Seas (Leonid M. Mitnik, Martin Gade)....Pages 39-59 An Introduction to Optical Remote Sensing of the Asian Seas: Chinese Dedicated Satellites and Data Processing Techniques (Yan Bai, Lianghong Jiang, Xianqiang He, Vittorio Barale)....Pages 61-79 An Introduction to Microwave Remote Sensing of the Asian Seas (Martin Gade, Ad Stoffelen)....Pages 81-101 Front Matter ....Pages 103-103 Sea-Ice Parameters from Satellite Remote Sensing (Stefan Kern, Sascha Willmes)....Pages 105-121 Ocean Colour Remote Sensing in the Laptev Sea (Birgit Heim, Bennet Juhls, Ekaterina Abramova, Astrid Bracher, Roland Doerffer, Rafael Gonçalves-Araujo et al.)....Pages 123-138 Ship Traffic in the Asian Arctic Seas (T. Eriksen, H. Greidanus, M. Vespe, C. Santamaria)....Pages 139-156 Front Matter ....Pages 157-157 The Sea of Okhotsk: Scientific Applications of Remote Sensing (Leonid M. Mitnik, Vyacheslav A. Dubina)....Pages 159-175 Phytoplankton and Primary Production in the Japan Sea (Joji Ishizaka, Keiko Yamada)....Pages 177-189 Complementary Remote Sensing Observations of the Tsushima Warm Current Patterns (Kaoru Ichikawa, Yutaka Yoshikawa, Akihiko Morimoto, Ken-ichi Fukudom, Jong-Hwan Yoon)....Pages 191-204 Remote Sensing of the Kuroshio Current System (Kaoru Ichikawa)....Pages 205-220 Remote Sensing of Korean Tidal Flats (Joo-Hyung Ryu, Yoon-Kyung Lee)....Pages 221-235 SAR Remote Sensing of Intertidal Flats in Korea (Byung-Hun Choe, Duk-jin Kim)....Pages 237-250 Remote Sensing for Improved Forecast of Typhoons (Yuei-An Liou, Ji-Chyun Liu, Fabrice Chane-Ming, Jing-Shan Hong, Ching-Yuang Huang, Po-Kuan Chiang et al.)....Pages 251-267 Mapping of Sea Surface Wind and Current Fields in the China Seas Using X-Band Spaceborne SAR (Xiao-Ming Li, Yong Zheng Ren)....Pages 269-284 Retrieval of Winds and Waves from Synthetic Aperture Radar Imagery (Weizeng Shao, Xiaofeng Li, Xiaofeng Yang)....Pages 285-303 Ocean Colour Remote Sensing in Chinese Marginal Seas (Xianqiang He, Xiaoyan Chen)....Pages 305-319 Observing Sea Levels in the China Seas from Satellite Altimetry (Xiangbo Feng, Yongcun Cheng)....Pages 321-338 Front Matter ....Pages 339-339 Using SAR Data for an Assessment of the Indonesian Coastal Environment (Martin Gade, Bernhard Mayer, Carolin Meier, Thomas Pohlmann, Mutiara Putri, Agus Setiawan)....Pages 341-357 Remote Sensing of Coastal Discharge of SE Sumatra (Indonesia) (H. Siegel, M. Gerth, I. Stottmeister, A. Baum, J. Samiaji)....Pages 359-376 Using WorldView-2 Imagery to Estimate Mangroves Density in the Porong Estuary (Agus Setiawan, Bernadinus Realino, Iis Triyulianti, Faisal Hamzah, Ari Murdimanto, Mutiara Rachmat Putri et al.)....Pages 377-393 Internal Waves in the Andaman Sea (Werner Alpers, Vasiliy Vlasenko)....Pages 395-410 Remote Sensing Observations of Ocean Surface Chlorophyll and Its Controlling Parameters in Southern Peninsula Indian Waters (R. K. Sarangi)....Pages 411-428 Ocean Surface Vector Wind Observations (Ad Stoffelen, Raj Kumar, Juhong Zou, Vladimir Karaev, Paul S. Chang, Ernesto Rodriguez)....Pages 429-447 Using Remote Sensing to Study Phytoplankton Biomass and Its Influence on Herbivore Fishery in the South-Eastern Arabian Sea (Ammamkuzhiyil Smitha, Sankar Syam, N. Nandini Menon, Lasse H. Pettersson)....Pages 449-465 Remote Sensing of Upwelling in the Arabian Sea and Adjacent Near-Coastal Regions (K. Ajith Joseph, Chiranjivi Jayaram, Archana Nair, Mary Swapna George, A. N. Balchand, Lasse H. Pettersson)....Pages 467-483 Remote Sensing of Phytoplankton Variability in the Arabian/Persian Gulf (Igor Polikarpov, Faiza Al-Yamani, Maria Saburova)....Pages 485-501 Front Matter ....Pages 503-503 Comprehensive Satellite Monitoring of Caspian Sea Conditions (Andrey G. Kostianoy, Anna I. Ginzburg, Olga Yu. Lavrova, Sergey A. Lebedev, Marina I. Mityagina, Nickolay A. Sheremet et al.)....Pages 505-521 Present-Day Water Balance of the Aral Sea Seen from Satellite (J.-F. Cretaux, A. Kostianoy, M. Bergé-Nguyen, A. Kouraev)....Pages 523-539 Ice Cover and Associated Water Structure in Lakes Baikal and Hovsgol from Satellite Observations and Field Studies (Alexei V. Kouraev, Elena A. Zakharova, Frédérique Rémy, Andrey G. Kostianoy, Michail N. Shimaraev, Nicholas M. J. Hall et al.)....Pages 541-555