The Ocean Color (OC) data suite provides calibrated, atmospherically corrected ocean-optics measurements and derived biogeophysical products. This data suite includes the Apparent Optical Properties (AOP) and provides satellite-derived measures of the interaction between solar radiation and the upper ocean. AOPs are “apparent” because they depend not only on the inherent optical properties (IOPs) of seawater and its constituents but also on the ambient light field. These variables are critical for studying light penetration, primary productivity, and biogeochemical cycling.

Geophysical variables in this suite include:

• Kd_490 - Diffuse attenuation coefficient at 490 nm, KD2 algorithm (m⁻¹)
• Rrs - Remote sensing reflectance (sr⁻¹)
• angstrom - Aerosol Angstrom exponent, 443 to 865 nm
• chlor_a - Chlorophyll Concentration, OCI Algorithm (mg m⁻³)
  • l2_flags - Level-2 Processing Flags
  • aot_868 - Aerosol optical thickness at 868 nm
  • chl_ocx - Chlorophyll Concentration, OC4 Algorithm (mg m⁻³)
  • pic - Calcite Concentration, Balch and Gordon (mol m⁻³)
  • poc - Particulate Organic Carbon, D. Stramski, 2007 (443/555 version) (mg m⁻³)