Final answer:
Satellite remote sensing provides advantages over ship-based investigations like wide coverage, time efficiency, cost-effectiveness, accessibility, safety, and consistent data collection, enhancing ocean monitoring and navigation.
Step-by-step explanation:
The advantages of remote sensing of the ocean by satellite versus ship-based investigations are numerous:
- Wide Coverage: Satellites can cover vast areas of the ocean surface quickly, enabling data collection on a global scale that ships cannot match.
- Time Efficiency: Satellite data can be collected much more rapidly than ship-based data, which is crucial for observing dynamic ocean phenomena.
- Cost-effectiveness: While the initial cost of launching satellites is high, the long-term data collection is less expensive than the continuous operation of ships.
- Accessibility: Satellites can collect data from remote or dangerous areas without risking human life.
- Safety: Satellite observations do not pose any risk to human operators, whereas ship expeditions can be hazardous.
- Consistency: Satellites provide consistent, repeatable observations that are not subject to the variability of ship-based sampling.
Moreover, in situations such as monitoring ocean health, response to natural disasters, and navigation with systems like GPS, the satellite-based approach provides a reliable, continuous, and accessible means to gather essential data.