Remote sensing applied to numerical modelling

Progress and remaining difficulties in the construction of predictive mathematical models of large bodies of water as ecosystems are reviewed. Surface temperature is at present the only variable than can be measured accurately and reliably by remote sensing techniques, but satellite infrared data are of sufficient resolution for macro-scale modeling of oceans and large lakes, and airborne radiometers are useful in meso-scale analysis (of lakes, bays, and thermal plumes). Finite-element and finite-difference techniques applied to the solution of relevant coupled time-dependent nonlinear partial differential equations are compared, and the specific problem of the Biscayne Bay and environs ecosystem is tackled in a finite-differences treatment using the rigid-lid model and a rigid-line grid system.