Stereo observation of lakes and coastal zones using ASTER imagery

Several other potential applications of VNIR stereo data in coastal zone and lake monitoring are considered here, including the study of internal waves (in the Strait of Gibraltar), derivation of wind velocity at cloud height, swell-wave propagation, suspended sediment transport, marine traffic monitoring and ship wake patterns. As the reflectivity of water in the near infrared reverses from low to high in the presence of Sun glitter, most of the applications discussed here involve glitter and hence some discussion of the influence of sensor view geometry is presented. The general conclusion of the paper is that future missions such as the Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS), which aim to deploy high spatial resolution stereo viewing systems primarily for land applications, should also return data of considerable value in oceanography and limnology, particularly if their observational geometry can be adjusted to permit the imaging of Sun glitter from water surfaces.