N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180
Description
The Chlorophyll-a data suite provides global, gridded composites of surface chlorophyll-a concentration (a proxy for phytoplankton biomass). CHL supports time-series and climatologies, anomaly detection, ecosystem and fisheries applications, and teaching/training, and pairs well with AVW, PAR, Kd(490), SST, and winds for environmental context. Note: retrievals in optically complex coastal/inland waters may carry higher uncertainty—refer to the mission/algorithm documentation (e.g., OCx/OCI) for details.
Geophysical variables in this suite include:
• chlor_a — Chlorophyll-a concentration (mg m⁻³)
This activity was informed by the Satellite Needs Working Group (SNWG), an interagency effort of the U.S. Government dedicated to identifying and addressing Earth observation needs across U.S. civilian federal agencies.
Product Summary
Documents
ALGORITHM THEORETICAL BASIS DOCUMENT (ATBD)
Variables
The table below lists the variables contained within a single granule for this dataset. Variables often contain observed or derived geophysical measurements collected from a variety of sources, including remote sensing instruments on satellite and airborne platforms, field campaigns, in situ measurements, and model outputs. The terms variable, parameter, scientific data set, layer, and band have been used across NASA’s Earth science disciplines; however, variable is the designated nomenclature in NASA’s Common Metadata Repository (CMR). Variable metadata attributes such as Name, Description, Units, Data Type, Fill Value, Valid Range, and Scale Factor allow users to efficiently process and analyze the data. The full range of attributes may not be applicable to all variables. Additional information on variable attributes is typically available in the data, user guide, and/or other product documentation.
For questions on a specific variable, please use the Earthdata Forum.
| Name Sort descending | Description | Units | Data Type | Fill Value | Valid Range | Scale Factor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| chlor_a | Chlorophyll Concentration, OCI Algorithm | mg m^-3 | float32 | -32767 | 0.0010000000474975 to 100 | N/A |
| lat | Latitude | degrees_north | float32 | -999 | -90 to 90 | N/A |
| lon | Longitude | degrees_east | float32 | -999 | -180 to 180 | N/A |
| palette | palette | N/A | uint8 | N/A | N/A | N/A |