Ocean Bio-Optical Chlorophyll-A Polarization Measurements

Polarization measurements of chlorophyll-a and related bio-optical properties in ocean waters. The dataset is managed by NASA's OB.DAAC and is available on multiple platforms including NASA Earthdata and Data.gov. A future update is scheduled for March 2026 on the Data.gov platform.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the relationship between chlorophyll-a concentration and polarized light scattering in seawater.
• Validating satellite ocean color algorithms that incorporate polarization effects.
• Studying seasonal and spatial variability in ocean bio-optical properties.
• Investigating the impact of phytoplankton communities on underwater light fields.

Strengths

• Cross-platform availability on NASA Earthdata and Data.gov indicates established importance and accessibility.
• Managed by NASA's Ocean Biology Distributed Active Archive Center (OB.DAAC), a recognized authority for oceanographic data.
• Scheduled for a future update in March 2026, suggesting ongoing maintenance.

Limitations

• Key technical details like row count, file size, and specific column names are unavailable from all sources.
• Conflicting license information exists: one source lists 'other-license-specified' while others show no license.
• Temporal and spatial coverage of the measurements are not specified.

Provenance

Source

NASA Ocean Biology Distributed Active Archive Center (OB.DAAC)

Freshness

2026-03-13 (scheduled update on Data.gov)

Geography

Ocean waters (specific regions unknown)