AER_RTAPOCEAN provides aerosol optical/microphysical properties retrieved over the oceans, along with coupled surface parameters used in the retrieval. The suite includes spectral aerosol optical depth (AOD), single-scattering albedo (SSA), complex refractive index (real/imaginary), size distribution metrics (e.g., fine/coarse effective radii and fine-mode fraction), and aerosol shape/fraction spherical; it also reports ocean surface roughness (glint/wind parameterization) and “ocean body” properties that define the water-leaving signal for consistency with the coupled atmosphere–ocean inversion. Use AER_RTAPOCEAN for aerosol-climate and air-quality studies, as aerosol context for ocean-color atmospheric correction, and for model evaluation and data assimilation; pair it with OCI/HARP2 products for cross-sensor analyses.

Core geophysical variables in this suite include:
• alh – Aerosol layer height (km)
• aot – Aerosol optical thickness (dimensionless)
• aot550 – Aerosol optical thickness at 550 nm (dimensionless)
• angstrom_440_670 – Ångström exponent, 440–670 nm (dimensionless)
• angstrom_440_870 – Ångström exponent, 440–870 nm (dimensionless)
• angstrom_490_670 – Ångström exponent, 490–670 nm (dimensionless)
• chla – Chlorophyll-a concentration (mg m⁻³)
• fmf – Aerosol fine mode fraction (dimensionless)
• fvf – Aerosol fine mode volume fraction (dimensionless)
• lidar_bsca_total – Aerosol lidar backscatter coefficient (km⁻¹ sr⁻¹)
• lidar_depol_ratio – Aerosol lidar depolarization ratio (dimensionless)
• lidar_ratio – Aerosol lidar extinction-to-backscatter ratio (sr)
• mi – Aerosol refractive index, imaginary part (dimensionless)
• mr – Aerosol refractive index, real part (dimensionless)
• reff_coarse – Aerosol effective radius, coarse mode (µm)
• reff_fine – Aerosol effective radius, fine mode (µm)
• sph – Aerosol spherical fraction (dimensionless)
• ssa – Aerosol single scattering albedo (dimensionless)
• vd – Aerosol volume density (µm³ µm⁻²)
• veff_coarse – Aerosol effective variance, coarse mode (dimensionless)
• veff_fine – Aerosol effective variance, fine mode (dimensionless)
• waterfrac_inland – Water fraction over inland pixels (dimensionless, 0–1)
• wind_speed – Wind speed (m s⁻¹)