Remote Sensing of the Asian Seas

573 Pages·2019·40.932 MB·English

by  Vittorio Barale, Martin Gade

Vittorio Barale
Martin Gade
Editors
Remote Sensing
of the
Asian Seas
Remote Sensing of the Asian Seas
Vittorio Barale Martin Gade
(cid:129)
Editors
Remote Sensing of the Asian
Seas
123
Editors
Vittorio Barale Martin Gade
European Commission Institute of Oceanography
JointResearch Centre University of Hamburg
Ispra, Italy Hamburg,Germany
ISBN978-3-319-94065-6 ISBN978-3-319-94067-0 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94067-0
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2018947103
©SpringerInternationalPublishingAG,partofSpringerNature2019
Chapters1and7arepublishedwithkindpermissionof©EuropeanUnion2019.AllRightsReserved.
Thisworkissubjecttocopyright.AllrightsarereservedbythePublisher,whetherthewholeorpart
of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations,
recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission
orinformationstorageandretrieval,electronicadaptation,computersoftware,orbysimilarordissimilar
methodologynowknownorhereafterdeveloped.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
publicationdoesnotimply,evenintheabsenceofaspecificstatement,thatsuchnamesareexemptfrom
therelevantprotectivelawsandregulationsandthereforefreeforgeneraluse.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this
book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the
authorsortheeditorsgiveawarranty,expressorimplied,withrespecttothematerialcontainedhereinor
for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to
jurisdictionalclaimsinpublishedmapsandinstitutionalaffiliations.
Coverillustration:PicturesweretakenfromChapter3:Baietal.,Fig.1;Chapter8:MitnikandDubina,
Fig.8b;Chapter7:Eriksenetal.,Fig.2;Chapter19:Gadeetal.,Fig.2;Chapter17:HeandChen,Fig.7.
ThisSpringerimprintispublishedbytheregisteredcompanySpringerNatureSwitzerlandAG
Theregisteredcompanyaddressis:Gewerbestrasse11,6330Cham,Switzerland
To Ching Shih
Shrewd businesswoman and pirate
Champion of the Asian Seas sailing traders
Preface
The Asian Seas have hosted sea routes known and sailed since ancient times—
especially on the southern courses that were a counterpart of the Silk Road trade
network, complementing classical land itineraries—and provided all-important
connectionsbetweeneastandwest,betweenthemightyAsiancivilizationsandthe
Middle East, as well as early European cultures. This historical role of the Asian
Seas is now continuing with renewed interest and new endeavors in both the
marine, scientific, as well as the maritime, economic, sector.
Inbroadterms,theexpressionSilkRoadidentifiedawebofcommercialroutes,
extending primarily over land from Chang’ans (now Xian) in the east to the
MediterraneanSeainthewest,establishedduringtheHanDynastyofChinainthe
second century BC. At the time, this Road linked even older, if shorter, arteries
(e.g., the Persian Royal Road opened by the Achaemenid Empire five to three
centuries BC) and ultimately connected the Chinese Empire in the east with the
RomanEmpireinthewest.Becausesilkwasthemajorproductthattraveledalong
this corridor, it was named the Silk Road in 1877 by the German geographer
FerdinandvonRichthofen.However,asthiswasnotasinglethoroughfarebetween
east and west, and included also sea legs along the way, the term Silk Routes has
become increasingly favored by historians.
One of the reasons this connection had so much importance was the range of
merchandises traded, silk and spices in the first place, and other material goods as
well. But just as important were the sundry cultural exchanges taking place: ideas,
philosophy, science, technology, architecture, language, and even religions passed
along. It can be argued that the Silk Routes, and hence the parallel Asian Seas’
links, have been a significant factor in the advance of great civilizations, such as
those of China, India, Persia, Arabia, Egypt, Greece, and even ancient Rome.
Disease also traveled along the same pathways—as evidenced in the spread of the
bubonicplaguethatreachedConstantinopleinthesixthcenturyADanddecimated
the Byzantine Empire—as well as awkward commodities such as slaves.
Thecommercialnetworkwasusedregularlytotheendofthefourteenthcentury
AD,whentheOttomanEmpireboycottedtradewiththewestandclosedtheroutes.
TheshutdownofthemainSilkRoadoverlandforcedmerchantstotaketothesea
vii
viii Preface
to ply their trade, even more so than ever before, thus contributing to initiate the
Age of Discovery, in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries AD, which led to
worldwide interactions and the beginnings of a global community.
The enhancement of a maritime route along the Asian Seas gave rise to a new
breed of entrepreneurs, who developed and maintained the sea links along coastal
regions between Asia and the other continents. One of the most successful, and
famous, was Ching Shih, a shrewd businesswoman who had at her service, at the
height of her power, over 1800 ships and an estimated 80,000 men and women.
Indeed, the nature of her business was a bit awkward, and rather controversial as
well(shewasoneofthemostfearedpiratesofalltimes),butstillsheembodiesina
way the romantic and audacious ideal of the Asian Seas sailing traders, who con-
tributed to mold the ancient world. Born in humble beginnings as Shi Xiang Gu,
sometime around 1775, she started her career working in a floating brothel in
Guangzhou. In 1801, she married Zhèng Yi (a.k.a. Cheng I), a notorious Chinese
piratewithalargefleetathiscommand,theRedFlagFleet,madeupofabout300
shipsandsomewherebetween20,000and40,000men.Whenhedied,in1807,Gu
became to be known as Ching Shih, which simply means “Cheng’s widow,” and
succeeded him at the helm of the family business. With the help of Chang Pao, a
former protégé of her late husband and second in command, she continued to run
theorganizationandalsotoexpandandgovernheroutfitintosomethingthatwent
beyond just a consortium of pillaging pirates, essentially setting up her own gov-
ernment of sorts, to establish laws, a rigorous code of conduct for her people, as
well as taxes. She dominated the China Seas, regulating maritime traffic along
profitable but dangerous sea lanes, and guaranteeing safe passage to those mer-
chants who wanted to pay; she controlled nearly the entire Guangdong province
directly; and she held a vast spy network within the Qing Dynasty. The Chinese
governmentraisedafleettoattackher,andevenenlistedtheaidoftheBritish and
Portuguese navies, with little or no success. Given the unlikelihood of a military
victory,intheend,theEmpireofferedherandmostofherorganizationamnesty.So
in 1810, Ching Shih retired, at age 35, with her untouched dignity and all her
ill-gottenloot,becominganextremelywealthymemberofthearistocracy,amother
and a grandmother, and opening a gambling house in Guangzhou, which she
managed until her death in 1844.
The heritage Ching Shih left behind from the time of her rule—including con-
tinuing piracy activities in the region—has penetrated popular culture, and still
evokestheadventurouslifeoftheAsianSeas’maritimeraiders.Today,theconcept
of a modern Maritime Silk Road, proposed by the People Republic of China and
readily embraced by several other nations along the Asian Seas routes, provides a
legacy to the historical perspective of the Silk Routes and to the legendary figures
that roamed the Asian Seas, while it brings new demands for cooperation, at the
diplomatic, economic, as well as scientific level. The Chinese strategic initiative
aims to increase investments and foster cooperation across the historic sea routes,
and in particular to develop maritime infrastructures, especially ports. As such, it
also links with the existing “string of pearls”, i.e., China’s network of maritime
Preface ix
facilities in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, focusing even more attention onto the
marginal and semi-enclosed basins surrounding the Asian continent.
The present Volume, which spotlights the issues, peculiarities, and special
challenges posed by the Asian Seas, is dedicated to the extraordinary, albeit con-
troversial,figureofChingShih.Ratherthanonpillagingshipborneraids,however,
it is on modern expeditions, using Earth-orbiting satellites to collect data about
marine environment and maritime activities alike, that the present review concen-
trates. The following compilation of topical papers covers virtually the entire
remotesensingpotentialtoexploretheAsiannear-coastalwaterbodies.Itaddresses
the assessment of surface parameters by means of both passive and active tech-
niques, covering the use of reflected visible and near-infrared sunlight, of surface
emissions at thermal infrared or microwave frequencies, or again of the return of
transmittedimpulsesofmicrowaveradiation.Thepeer-reviewedpapersgatheredin
thisVolumeprovideasummaryofthemostrecentresultsachievedinthesefields,
offeringanunprecedentedinsightintosomeofthedynamicalandbio-geo-chemical
complexity of the Asian Seas.
The Table of Contents of this book—which targets researchers working in the
EarthandMarineSciences,butalsoteachers,aswellasstudents,inthesamefields,
particularlyinAsia—includesabriefoverviewoftheAsianmarginalandenclosed
seas, followed by three introductory papers on Visible, Infrared, and Microwave
(passive and active) remote sensing applications, providing examples centered on
Asian waters. In-depth assessments of the main Asian marginal basins, in the
Arctic,Pacific,andIndianOcean,aregroupedinthreededicatedsections.Afourth
section will deal with other enclosed, or semi-enclosed, basins. Several examples
are provided of multisensor techniques, which exploit the synergies of comple-
mentary sensors and enhance the value of their combined views. In the section on
enclosed water bodies, the Caspian Sea and Aral Sea, as well as two freshwater
lakes, Balkhash and Baikal, are discussed, while Mediterranean Sea and Black sea
are not present, having been covered already by several papers appearing in pre-
viousVolumes1ofthisSeries.Atrulyinternationalgroupofscientistscollaborated
to cover the wide spectrum of environmental themes, and the diverse techniques,
dealt with in the current survey. Their fundamental input, their patience, and their
endurance in resisting the Editors’ constant harassments are acknowledged by the
inclusion of all authors’ and reviewers’ names and affiliations in the list of
Contributors. Sincere thanks are due to all of them.
Ispra, Italy Vittorio Barale
Hamburg, Germany Martin Gade
January 2018
1 Barale V, Gade M, Eds. (2008) Remote Sensing of the European Seas. Springer
Science+Business Media BV, 514 pp; and Barale V, Gade M, Eds. (2014) Remote Sensing
oftheAfricanSeas.Springer,NewYork,Heidelberg,Dordrecht,London,428pp.
Acknowledgements
This volume has been prepared and published with the support of the Joint
Research Centre (JRC), the European Commission’s in-house science service.
As the Commission’s in-house science service, the Joint Research Centre mis-
sion is to provide EU policies with independent, evidence-based scientific and
technicalsupportthroughoutthewholepolicycycle.Workinginclosecooperation
with policyDirectorates-General,the JRC addresseskey societal challenges, while
stimulating innovation through developing new methods, tools and standards, and
sharingitsknow-howwiththeEUMemberStates,thescientificcommunityandits
international partners.
xi
Contents
Part I Introduction to Remote Sensing of the Asian Seas
The Asian Marginal and Enclosed Seas: An Overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Vittorio Barale
A Historical Overview of Remote Sensing of the Asian Seas . . . . . . . . . 39
Leonid M. Mitnik and Martin Gade
An Introduction to Optical Remote Sensing of the Asian Seas:
Chinese Dedicated Satellites and Data Processing Techniques . . . . . . . . 61
Yan Bai, Lianghong Jiang, Xianqiang He and Vittorio Barale
An Introduction to Microwave Remote Sensing of the Asian Seas. . . . . 81
Martin Gade and Ad Stoffelen
Part II Arctic Ocean Marginal Basins
Sea-Ice Parameters from Satellite Remote Sensing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Stefan Kern and Sascha Willmes
Ocean Colour Remote Sensing in the Laptev Sea. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Birgit Heim, Bennet Juhls, Ekaterina Abramova, Astrid Bracher,
Roland Doerffer, Rafael Gonçalves-Araujo, Sebastian Hellman,
Alexandra Kraberg, Feodor Martynov and Paul Overduin
Ship Traffic in the Asian Arctic Seas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
T. Eriksen, H. Greidanus, M. Vespe and C. Santamaria
Part III Pacific Ocean Marginal Basins
The Sea of Okhotsk: Scientific Applications of Remote Sensing. . . . . . . 159
Leonid M. Mitnik and Vyacheslav A. Dubina
Phytoplankton and Primary Production in the Japan Sea . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Joji Ishizaka and Keiko Yamada
xiii