IMOS - Satellite Remote Sensing - NOAA20 - 01 day - Chlorophyll-a concentration (OCI model)

Name: IMOS - Satellite Remote Sensing - NOAA20 - 01 day - Chlorophyll-a concentration (OCI model)
Creator: IMOS
Published: 2025-02-07
License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Updated: 2026-06-30

The NOAA20 satellite platform carries a VIIRS sensor that observes sunlight reflected from within the ocean surface layer at multiple wavelengths. These multi-spectral measurements are used to infer the concentration of chlorophyll-a (Chl-a), most typically due to phytoplankton, present in the water. There are multiple retrieval algorithms for estimating Chl-a. These data use the OCI method (Hu et al 2012, doi: 10.1029/2011jc007395) recommended by the NASA Ocean Biology Processing Group and implemented in the SeaDAS processing software l2gen. The OCI algorithm is described at https://oceancolor.gsfc.nasa.gov/atbd/chlor_a/ (and links therein).