Ocean Attenuation Coefficient Maps from ADEOS-II Satellite

Version 2 maps provide the attenuation coefficient at 490nm wavelength, a key optical property for ocean water clarity. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) produced this data from the GLI sensor onboard the ADEOS-II satellite, with a spatial resolution of 9 kilometers. Data collection concluded in October 2003.

Use Cases

• Modeling primary productivity by analyzing the attenuation coefficient at 490nm to estimate light availability for phytoplankton.
• Monitoring coastal water quality trends by tracking changes in the 9km-resolution attenuation coefficient maps over time.
• Calibrating bio-optical algorithms by using the Level 3 binned product's representative values for the attenuation coefficient.
• Studying global ocean carbon cycles by correlating the 1-month statistical product with other satellite-derived biological parameters.

Strengths

• Spatial resolution of 9 kilometers for detailed global mapping.
• Data available at 1-day, 8-day, and 1-month statistical periods for temporal analysis.
• Product is derived from Level 3 binned data, indicating a processed, map-projected format.

Limitations

• Data collection ended in 2003, limiting analysis to historical conditions.
• Specific sample size (row count) and file size details are unavailable for assessment.
• The HDF format may require specialized libraries for data access and processing.

Provenance

Source

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

Collection Method

Remote sensing data from the Global Imager (GLI) optical sensor onboard the ADEOS-II satellite.

Time Range

Coverage period unknown; data generation ended in 2003.

Freshness

Final update was on 2003-10-25; dataset is archival.

Geography

Global coverage.