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Ocean Color Data Access and Tools

NASA has ocean color datasets that help researchers study the composition of ocean water and the processes that take place within it. Access a range of data and data tools such as AppEEARS, SeaDAS, and Giovanni to make the most of ocean color data.

Ocean Color Datasets

View All Datasets

Dataset Sort descending	Version	Platforms	Instruments	Temporal Extent	Spatial Extent	Data Format
ADEOS-I OCTS Level-2 Regional Ocean Color (OC) Data, version 2022.0	2022.0	ADEOS-I	OCTS	1996-10-31 to 1997-06-30	N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180	netCDF-4
Aqua MODIS Level-1 Level-1 Data, version 1	1	Aqua	MODIS	2002-07-04 to Present	N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180	netCDF-4
Aqua MODIS Level-2 Regional Ocean Color (OC) - Near Real-time (NRT) Data, version 2022.0	2022.0	Aqua	MODIS	2002-07-04 to Present	N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180	netCDF-4
Aqua MODIS Level-2 Regional Ocean Color (OC) Data, version 2022.0	2022.0	Aqua	MODIS	2002-07-04 to Present	N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180	netCDF-4
Aqua MODIS Level-4 Global Binned Apparent Visible Wavelength (AVW) Data, version 2022.0	2022.0	Aqua	MODIS	2002-07-04 to Present	N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180	netCDF-4
Aqua MODIS Level-4 Global Mapped Apparent Visible Wavelength (AVW) Data, version 2022.0	2022.0	Aqua	MODIS	2002-07-04 to Present	N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180	netCDF-4
CALIPSO CALIOP Regional Particulate Backscattering Coefficient (Bbp) Data, version 1	1	CALIPSO	CALIOP	2006-04-28 to 2018-09-14	N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180	netCDF-4
COMS GOCI Level-1B Data, version 1	1	COMS	GOCI	2011-04-01 to 2021-03-31	N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180	application/gzip
COMS GOCI Level-2 Regional Ocean Color (OC) Data, version 2014.0	2014.0	COMS	GOCI	2010-06-26 to 2021-03-31	N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180	netCDF-4
DSCOVR EPIC Level 3 PAR	01	DSCOVR	EPIC	2015-06-13 to Present		HDF5

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Featured Ocean Color Observation Method: PACE

NASA's Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) platform measures the presence of phytoplankton, which are microscopic marine algae that can tint the ocean green and other colors. Phytoplankton function like plants in the ocean because they take up carbon dioxide and use it in photosynthesis to produce carbohydrates and oxygen. Phytoplankton help form the base of the ocean's food chain and are a key component of the carbon cycle. PACE and its optical spectrometer called the Ocean Color Instrument (OCI) can observe light reflected by phytoplankton and the ocean in unprecedented detail to provide essential data on its condition and health.

Learn More About PACE

True color corrected reflectance image overlaid with chlorophyll a concentrations of southwestern South Africa from the OCI instrument aboard the PACE platform

Keeping PACE: Introduction to PACE Mission, Products, and Data Discovery

Join members of NASA's Ocean Biology Distributed Active Archive Center (OB.DAAC) to learn about data from the Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) mission and how to discover, access, and use PACE data.

This is an image showing simulated chlorophyll concentrations in the ocean on March 21, 2022. The image has a black background. Regions colored in blue represent areas of low chlorophyll concentration, green are medium, and red areas have high levels. The image has strips of black running through the colored areas from the upper left to the lower right to show PACE’s orbital track around the globe and places across the ocean where it has not scanned.

Preparing for PACE Data

Simulated data help Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) users prepare a day in the life of the new satellite.

6 MIN READ

This rectangular image shows phytoplankton levels along Florida and the East Coast of the United States, the Bahamas, and Cuba. Land is colored in muted shades of brown and green, water is dark blue, and snow is white. Nearshore are bands of light to dark green depicting picoeukaryote organism levels. Further out to sea are regions in variations of light blue showing the presences of prochlorococcus cyanobacteria.

New PACE Data Tutorials

A series of Jupyter notebook tutorials show how to retrieve and use data from NASA's Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) mission.

Beyond Chlorophyll: Implementation and Distribution of Innovative Ocean Color Earth Science Data Records

MEaSUREs 2006 project focused on creating and distributing a variety of established and new Ocean Color products as candidates to become ESDRs.

Ocean Color Data Tools

View All Data Tools

Tool Sort descending	Description	Services
Earthdata Search	Earthdata Search enables data discovery, search, comparison, visualization, and access across NASA’s Earth science data holdings.	Search and Discovery, Access, Cataloging, Cloud Computing, Downloading
Ocean Color Level 3 and 4 Browser	The Ocean Color Level 3 and 4 Browser allows users to view, download, or order global composites at various spatial and temporal scales (level 3) or get results from analyses of lower-level data (level 4).	Analysis, Search and Discovery, Visualization
SeaDAS	Sea, earth, atmosphere Data Analysis System (SeaDAS) is a comprehensive image analysis package for the processing, display, analysis, and quality control of ocean color data.	Analysis, Visualization, Processing
Worldview	Worldview offers the capability to interactively browse over 1,200 global, full-resolution satellite imagery layers and download the underlying data.	Analysis, Search and Discovery, Visualization, Access, Comparison, Monitoring Natural Events

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Frequently Asked Questions

Earthdata Forum

Our online forum provides a space for users to browse thousands of FAQs about research needs, data, and data applications. You can also submit new questions for our experts to answer.

Submit Questions to Earthdata Forumand View Expert Responses