Remote sensing of water quality

Remote sensing from aircraft has been used to determine water content in areas such as the New York Bight. Extension of the techniques developed to satellite sensing of the Chesapeake Bay will begin in 1978 with the launch of Nimbus-G. Remote sensing offers a number of interesting possibilities for investigating a reasonably large body of water, such as the Chesapeake Bay, coupled with some disadvantages. The chief advantage of remote sensing is that it offers the opportunity to cover large areas in relatively short periods of time. Low altitude satellites traveling at about 7 km/s can cover the Chesapeake Bay in about 1 minute so that the entire Bay can be studied under almost identical conditions of solar illumination.