Continuing efforts in satellite systems and analysis methodology may soon result in routine production of ocean weather maps for substantial regions of the world's oceans. Such maps might illustrate positions of such mesoscale features as ocean fronts and eddies and be available to the acoustician on a routine basis. (In fact such products are presently available for the Gulf Stream region.) However, the use of such maps without guidance as to the acoustic significance of these features may have limited utility to an acoustician deciding on the deployment of an acoustic system, and may indeed serve to mislead. A front or eddy that may be clearly visible to a satellite sensor may not be acoustically significant to the system under consideration. Even if the mesoscale feature has acoustic impact, the surface expression of the feature may not coincide with the acoustically important portion of the feature. Alternately, acoustically relevant mesoscale anomalies may not be visible to a satellite sensor. To illustrate these cautions, oceanographic data taken by the U.S. Naval Oceanographic Office Ocean Measurements Program in the Northeast Atlantic and Norwegian Sea are utilized in conjunction with numerical acoustic propagation simulations. This region is typical of areas where significant mesoscale activity occurs and oceanographic sampling is sparse, so that satellite remote sensing may be very useful in predicting acoustic system performance. However, examples presented illustrate that significant work must be done before a useful satellite oceanographic product can be turned into a useful acoustic product. [Work supported by the U.S. Naval Oceanographic Office.]