How NOAA Satellites Monitor Ocean Health?

Editor/Mohamed Shihab

Satellites provide scientists important data they use to manage and protect fisheries and marine mammals.

NOAA’s use of satellite data to predict the weather is well known. Now, we are using satellites to track how the ocean is changing over time, and how that will impact fisheries and marine life. We can monitor the ocean’s temperature, salinity, currents, and even microscopic organisms in the water. 

Satellites can give us insights into these oceanographic drivers and processes much faster than traditional methods like ship surveys. They can help us develop models to predict where and when marine animals will be in the ocean. In fact, satellite images are so detailed, we can actually see and count individual whales from space! This information can help us better manage those species.

In this week’s podcast, we hear from Ryan Vandermeulen, NOAA Fisheries satellite remote sensing coordinator. He’s passionate about satellites and making satellite data more accessible to the average citizen. Listen to him talk about what’s in store for the next generation of satellite technology, and hear the music he created based on satellite images of phytoplankton blooms.