1. Introduction

Coastal altimetry has been one of the key remote sensing technologies in the coastal zone where the effects of a changing climate are most severely felt. For over a quarter century, satellite altimetry technology has been used to routinely monitor sea level changes over the global open ocean, but was largely unexploited in the coastal areas. Indeed, satellite altimetry was originally designed to precisely measure the sea level of the open ocean, yet it has drawn much attention from the coastal community over the past decade.

This chapter addresses the improvements of this intriguing technology. In Section 2, the principles of satellite altimetry and the recent advances of coastal altimetry technology are reviewed, highlighting the coastal-oriental altimetry products which might attract the attention of the coastal oceanographers. In Section 3, a case study is presented at Hong Kong coast to demonstrate the potential of the new technology. This chapter ends with a brief conclusive and prospective section.
